Covid-19: Disability-Inclusive Response

Andrew Rosindell Excerpts

Thursday 15th October 2020 Westminster Hall

[Andrew Rosindell (in the Chair)]

I remind Members that there have been some changes to the normal practice in order to support the new call list system and to ensure that social distancing can be respected. Members should sanitise their microphones with the cleaning materials provided before they use them, and they should respect the one-way system around the room. Members should speak only from the horseshoe. Members can speak only if they are on the call lists; this applies even if debates are undersubscribed. Members cannot join a debate if they are not on the call list. Members are not expected to remain for the winding ups. Members in the latter stages of the call list should use the seats in the Public Gallery and move to the horseshoe when seats become available. I remind hon. Members that there is less of an expectation that Members stay for the next two speeches once they have spoken; this is to help manage attendance in the room. Members may wish to stay beyond their speech, but they should be aware that doing so may prevent Members in seats in the Public Gallery from moving to seats on the horseshoe.

[Dr Lisa Cameron (East Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow) (SNP)]

I beg to move,

That this House has considered a disability inclusive covid-19 response.

It is an absolute honour to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Rosindell. I thank the many Members who have been in touch with me all week and have dedicated their time today to speak in the debate. I declare my interest as chair of the all-party parliamentary group for disability, and I thank the organisations that have been in touch and that have supported people with disabilities across the United Kingdom during the pandemic. They include Disability Rights UK, Inclusion Scotland, Sense, Scope, Mencap, Leonard Cheshire, Care England, Age UK and Disability at Work, just to name a few.

Some 14 million people live with a disability in the United Kingdom. Although people with disabilities make up the largest minority group in the country, they have reported feeling largely forgotten in this time of crisis. In many ways, they have been the invisible victims of the coronavirus pandemic across the UK. Tragically, people with disabilities have accounted for six out of 10 deaths involving covid-19.

It is clear that the pandemic has had a disproportionate impact on people with disabilities, and the all-party parliamentary group for disability therefore sent an open letter to the Prime Minister in April of this year. It has since been signed by more than 100 MPs and peers of different parties. It called for five things. First, it called for Government guidance and restrictions to be communicated in a way that is accessible to people with disabilities. Secondly, it called for social distancing measures to be mindful of people with disabilities who need exemptions. Thirdly, it called on the Government to provide clear guidance on the implications of changes to the Care Act 2014 under the covid-19 legislation. Fourthly, it asked the Government to meet the needs of disabled people in the allocation of additional funding, training and personal protective equipment provision throughout the pandemic. Fifthly, it requested that the Government place people with disabilities at the very heart of their economic recovery plan.

It is very difficult to overestimate the disruptive impact that the covid-19 restrictions, which were implemented with little or no notice, have had on the lives of many people with disabilities. The restrictions have fundamentally affected not just whether people can go out socially with friends but whether the care services that many rely on day in, day out, are available to them. Some 75% of unpaid carers have reported receiving no information about support and care being reduced prior to that happening.

I am sure hon. Members would agree that it is of grave importance to ensure that Government guidance, communications and changes regarding the restrictions that we face are accessible for those with disabilities. All televised Government press conferences should, therefore, be interpreted live via British Sign Language and should have televised subtitles as standard. All Government communications about new guidance and policies must be created in accessible formats.

More and more, we rely on mobile devices, although I am quite technologically challenged in many ways. These devices, which we rely on so heavily, should now incorporate disability functionality and accessibility into their design. These issues must be researched and taken forward quickly.

This pandemic, as we know, is not going away. Communications must be improved at all levels of government, including local government. Will the Minister build an inclusive approach to communications and involve people with disabilities in the communications strategy?

Regarding restrictions, a survey conducted in April by the Office for National Statistics found that nearly nine out of 10 disabled adults expressed concern about the effect of the pandemic on their lives and their levels of isolation. Many have found it difficult to build confidence to go out, particularly after shielding for so many months. Some 42% of disabled people have reported feeling lonely or isolated due to the pandemic, and 41% of those interviewed by Scope believe that life will become worse for them over the long term.

Sense’s “Forgotten Families” campaign has demonstrated that the health and wellbeing of disabled adults and their family members has been adversely affected by this pandemic. It is vital that people have confidence to go back out into the community within safe restrictions given by Government.

Individuals with health conditions and disabilities are often exempt from wearing face masks. However, as chair of the all-party parliamentary group for disability, I have received numerous reports from people with disabilities across the UK who tell me that they have been verbally abused or harassed in the community because they were not wearing a face mask. They have since lost all confidence to go out. Will the Minister support a public awareness campaign about these exemptions and standardise techniques, such as the accessibility of lanyards for people with disabilities or those who may be exempt in a wider group, so that they can go outside with confidence in a safe way, and never again feel the need to justify and explain themselves or deal with harassment?

It would be remiss of me not to highlight the significant consequences of the Coronavirus Act 2020 on the health and care provisions afforded to people with disabilities over the past six months. One service user from Inclusion Scotland described their situation:

“I have gone from 20 hours of care… to ZERO. I am now bedbound completely because of this.”

Another said,

“I am so lonely and feel so depressed. I feel suicidal.”

Research by Leonard Cheshire shows that 55% of disabled people in receipt of social care have experienced changes to their care packages since April and 18% reported difficulties in even accessing food. Action is, therefore, desperately needed to support disabled people and their families to recover from the impact of lockdown. Testing will be fundamental to that, in terms of management in non-community settings; perhaps designating one person per resident as a special visitor in care home accommodation would increase vital contact with family. I would be obliged if the Minister could look at that issue.

The Government must commit to switching off the Care Act easements as soon as it is safely possible and provide reassurance that the high bar set in these easements will not become the new normal in terms of social care for those with disabilities across the UK.

To conclude, I would like to highlight the importance of an inclusive economic recovery plan in education, employment, business and beyond. This is an immense opportunity in many ways for disability inclusion in employment practices across the UK, and to develop strategies to help disabled people start their own businesses and become entrepreneurs.

However, I must begin with a word of caution. Analysis by Disability at Work shows that, historically, disabled people have been disproportionately impacted by economic downturns, in terms of new employment and redundancy. It is therefore vital that inclusion is a core element in the build back better plans that the Government are developing. However, I was incredibly disappointed that the Government’s plan for jobs, which was published recently, mentioned disability only once. I am sure the Minister will highlight that to his Cabinet colleagues to ensure that disability is a priority and retains the status that it should have.

The all-party parliamentary group for disability made several recommendations about employment and preventing people with disabilities from losing their jobs and livelihoods as a result of the long-term consequences of this pandemic. We are asking the Government to monitor and regularly publish data on disability prevalence. Beyond that, we have long recommended that they take steps towards introducing mandatory reporting of employers’ performance on disability inclusion in the workplace. We believe it is vital to make kickstart available to disabled candidates by guaranteeing funding for reasonable adjustments through the Access to Work scheme, but that must be done in a timely manner. We must better promote and fund Access to Work so that it can widen the support that it gives, as it has helped many people into work and to remain in work as disabilities arise.

We believe that there must be a review of the impact and promotion of home working, which might offer flexibility for people with disabilities and help them into employment. The Government should consider introducing a new support scheme or extending furlough for those who are at high risk due to health issues and are unable to return to work safely when furlough comes to an end.

We believe that it is absolutely vital that we change the narrative on entrepreneurship. People with disabilities are pigeonholed unfairly into single issues by the Department for Work and Pensions. There should be a great harnessing of potential, skills and ability. We support self-employment and entrepreneurship among disabled people. I recommend that hon. Members join the new all-party parliamentary group for inclusive entrepreneurship, which has been set up to maximise those ends.

Many hon. Members wish to speak, so I will finish in a moment. I have not been able to touch on education or many of the other areas affected, but I hope other hon. Members will be able to lend their voices to those issues. I agree with the World Health Organisation director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who said that those with disabilities

“must not be left behind”

in the covid-19 response. We must ensure that that is undertaken domestically and internationally. I understand that the Minister will not be able to respond on behalf of all his Cabinet colleagues, but I want to reiterate that UK aid should be supporting people with disabilities internationally. We must have a leadership role in the aim of leaving no one behind and meeting the sustainable development goals. We must show true leadership in the UK and beyond.

I am asking the Minister to cover a wide base, and I realise that he will have to speak to his colleagues in order to do that. I thank everyone who has come to the debate, which has wide, cross-party support. I look forward to hearing people’s thoughts, ideas and recommendations. I hope we can have a consensual debate that highlights the great support that people from across parties and across the United Kingdom have for people with disabilities. It is important that we prioritise and support their needs.

[Andrew Rosindell (in the Chair)]

We are quite short of time, so I ask colleagues to keep their remarks to four minutes or four and a half minutes—

[Andrew Rosindell (in the Chair)]

We are quite short of time, so I ask colleagues to keep their remarks to no longer than four minutes or four and a half minutes—five minutes maximum—if we are to get everybody in.

[Joy Morrissey (Beaconsfield) (Con)]

I thank the hon. Member for East Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow (Dr Cameron) for calling this debate on such an important topic.

I want to highlight some of the issues that constituents or local charities have directly contacted me about; I will shamelessly go through them all. However, this debate is really about the wider issue of disability inclusivity and I will ask the Minister to consider a disability awareness charter, whereby we can encourage businesses and local communities to think about the disabled—particularly the visually impaired, the hearing impaired and those with more complex disabilities—in relation to practical things such as shopping and other everyday activities during covid-19.

There is a local charity in Beaconsfield called Blind Ambition, which works with the visually impaired. It is excellent and one of the things that it has highlighted during covid-19 was the difficulty that the visually impaired have at their local supermarket. When someone who is visually impaired goes to a supermarket, they may need to touch items and feel their way around, which was difficult during covid. Oftentimes they bring a buddy with them, but during the total lockdown they were not allowed to bring a companion, the store was not able to give them one and they were unable to get a delivery, so they felt very cut off and isolated. They could not even receive an explanation as to why they could not bring a buddy with them.

In places where there are more restrictive measures in place for covid-19, I ask that we consider encouraging supermarkets to allow a visually impaired person to bring a companion or a volunteer with them, to help them—in a covid-secure way—around the supermarket. That is just so that they have dignity and quality of life, and are not afraid, thinking, “How will I get my daily food delivery?” There is a shortage of supermarket slots for delivery online; there is that challenge for them, as well.

The visually impaired also had challenges around NHS appointments, so it would be very helpful if the NHS could consider how it can help visually impaired people when they come to a hospital or a GP’s surgery. The same restriction applies; they are not allowed to bring a companion. However, they feel very insecure about going through the hospital or even the waiting room, and I have had visually impaired people asking me, “What should I do?” and “What should I wear?”, and feeling very frightened, to the point that they did not want to go to their GP or hospital for any reason, because they were just so afraid. Having that information at the NHS and public health level for the visually impaired would be incredibly helpful.

The same applies for face masks and those who are hearing impaired, because if someone reads lips and they can no longer see what someone is saying, it is very difficult. If they are standing there waiting, say at the bus stop, and someone says, “You are too close”, or is shouting something at them, because of the face mask they cannot actually see what that person is saying. We have had reports of hearing-impaired people being abused, kicked and spat on, because they could not hear and they could not see that someone was speaking to them.

I have a few of the transparent face masks, so that the lips can be seen, but having that level of awareness of other people and trying to help them to carry on in normal society is important. I do not think there is anything that the Minister or anyone can do; it is about having an awareness of other people and how covid is affecting them.

My last point is on community or day centres, which are a lifeline to people who might have an adult living with them who has complex disabilities or severe autism. The day centre is a lifeline for that family. Sometimes, the disabled person may be in the day centre for eight hours a day, or it may just be an hour, but it is perhaps the only time, depending on the level of complex disability, that the care-giver or the parent has to take a shower or indeed do anything. What happened during lockdown was that these carers were given 24/7 care of their loved one, who was usually very disabled. They could cope with that on a normal basis, but they had their support completely removed; carers could not find anyone to speak to for support. This does not just come from speaking to people in my constituency. It was national, across the board. I have an incredible day centre in my constituency, Burnham Opportunities Centre, and they were coming in, helping and volunteering for as long as they possibly could, but as the severity of the lockdown continued, they also had to close. I have heard from family after family that if they had a child, or an adult, with complex disabilities living with them, they could not cope by the end, and then returning to work was more than they could handle. Some of them had to quit their employment because they simply could not handle the stress and ongoing responsibility of full-time care.

I know I have gone over my time, but thank you, Mr Rosindell, and I appreciate this consideration of these wider issues. I hope that we will consider a disability awareness charter.

[Andrew Rosindell (in the Chair)]

I ask Members to try to stick to time, otherwise some people will not be able to make a contribution.

--- Later in debate ---

[Several hon. Members rose—]

[Andrew Rosindell (in the Chair)]

Order. I ask Members to stick to four minutes, please. I do not want to have to impose a strict rule, but, if we do not stick to that, not everyone will get in to speak.