Disabled People: Publicly Accessible Amenities

Corri Wilson Excerpts

Thursday 23rd February 2017 Westminster Hall

[Corri Wilson (Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock) (SNP)]

I thank my hon. Friend the Member for East Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow (Dr Cameron) for securing this important debate. I am delighted that we are having it at a crucial time for disabled people.

Disability policy should be based on the social model of disability—that disability is caused by the way society is organised, rather than by the person’s impairment or difference—and it is hugely important to look at ways of removing barriers that restrict life choices for disabled people. When barriers are removed, disabled people can be independent and equal in society, with choice and control over their own lives. It is therefore not the impairment or condition that disables, but society’s inability to adapt and to accommodate different needs. Our duty as parliamentarians is to ensure that disabled people are not left at a disadvantage when using facilities and services, that they are not disadvantaged in accessing employment or education and that we seek to remove the barriers that many people face in their everyday lives.

Much work has been done on the issue, and we have come a long way in recent years. The Equality Act 2010 provided some statutory protections, but we cannot sit back and suggest that means we are now all equal—we are not. The Act does not spell out what “reasonable adjustments” are in all cases, and it does not place a duty on all service providers to make specific disability adaptations. We have seen great improvements in accessible toilets, but wheelchair and ambulant-accessible toilets do not meet the needs of many people with profound learning disabilities, for example, or of those who need the help of at least one carer to lift or change them, such as people with muscular or neurological conditions, a stoma or limb loss, so I understand why people continue to campaign for facilities with additional space, hoists or an adult-sized changing bench.

I have spoken in this place before on behalf of the many people in my constituency with inflammatory bowel disease. Almost 2,000 public toilets have closed throughout the UK in the past decade, which has had a direct impact on people with IBD. A survey by Crohn’s and Colitis UK found that a quarter of young people with IBD believed that their condition made socialising almost impossible, and many cited the need to know the proximity of a toilet as a key factor. Members will be familiar with the “Breastfeeding Welcome” signs displayed in many shops, cafés and public buildings. I want to see a similar initiative for people with the “Can’t Wait” card, issued to those with Crohn’s disease, colitis and IBD. I am aware of a pilot scheme for the card, and we would welcome a national roll-out, because it could give people with IBD more confidence to take part in the kind of everyday activities that the rest of us take for granted.

A substantial number of buildings in the UK receive public funding, from libraries and museums to council buildings and town halls, and they could all be open to people with conditions such as IBD. The impact on those people’s lives would be significant. The issues faced by people with IBD are indicative of many of the barriers faced by people with hidden disabilities. I have heard repeated reports of people being berated for using accessible toilets or parking bays when they “do not look disabled”. The issue of hidden disabilities is very close to my heart, and I was delighted to hear of the moves made by Asda, which will hopefully be adopted by other major supermarket chains, to adapt its signage to reflect the reality that many conditions are not immediately apparent. That kind of action helps to combat stigma for many people, and it should be applauded.

Disabled people can live the life they choose, participating equally alongside other citizens, their families, communities and workplaces—but only if they are given the support to do so. There are many examples of good practice across the country, where voluntary groups have identified barriers to participation and come up with innovative solutions to enable access to services and amenities.

I take this opportunity to highlight the sterling work of the Girvan Youth Trust in my constituency to make the beach at Girvan accessible to wheelchair users. Its Family Sandcastles initiative will allow wheelchair users the opportunity to feel the sand between their toes and to spend time at the beach with their friends and family, rather than having to sit on the prom watching from a distance. The only other barrier to their enjoyment of this part of our fantastic Ayrshire coastline will be the one we all face—the Scottish weather. Another local group, the Carrick angling club, has installed wheelchair-accessible fishing platforms to ensure that mobility issues are not a barrier to participating in that popular activity. The club has been investigating further options to extend its accessible offerings.

We need to encourage those kinds of local initiatives to remove barriers to involvement and participation, and we need to emulate them when setting Government disability policy. It is extremely disappointing, therefore, to see UK Government policy so utterly condemned by the United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities inquiry. The findings of the UN report starkly illustrated that the Government are undermining the rights of disabled people by imposing their obsession with austerity and social security cuts on some of the most disadvantaged people in our society. In this job I have witnessed the real hardship and distress caused by the Government’s policies. The Government’s Green Paper on disability employment support alludes to reform, but the process is fundamentally flawed and needs a radical overhaul. The Green Paper was a critical opportunity to get the system right for sick and disabled people, but one cannot help but be sceptical when the Government continue to insist on pressing ahead with cuts to employment and support allowance.

[Dr Cameron]

Does my hon. Friend agree that one outcome of those cuts is a drastic reduction in people’s accessibility and mobility due to the removal of Motability cars, which they depend on and feel are a lifeline that has helped them to get into employment and achieve full lives?

[Corri Wilson]

I completely agree.

In Scotland, we aim for a fairer, more equal and more inclusive society. To that end, the Scottish National party-led Government announced just before Christmas their plan to transform the lives of disabled people in Scotland. That plan was developed with disabled people, because we believe that the more than 1 million disabled people who contribute to our society should have control, dignity and freedom to live their lives as they choose and be supported to do so. That is in stark contrast to the cuts agenda that runs through every UK Government announcement about disability support, and we now face a further hurdle to equality for disabled people: a hard Brexit. That poses a real threat to disabled people’s rights. The Government must ensure that rights and protections for disabled people are not diluted as a result of us leaving the EU and stop paying lip service to equality issues.