International Day of Persons with Disabilities

Debbie Abrahams Excerpts

Tuesday 3rd December 2024 Commons Chamber

[Debbie Abrahams (Oldham East and Saddleworth) (Lab)]

Today marks International Day of Persons with Disabilities—or disabled people, as we often refer to that group. Language is important, so I will use both terms. “Persons with disabilities” is understood internationally, but “disabled people” is often the preferred term in the UK.

This year’s theme is “Amplifying the leadership of persons with disabilities for an inclusive and sustainable future,” recognising the important role that disabled people have to play in creating a more inclusive and sustainable world. The refrain “Nothing about me without me” emphasises the importance of disabled people not just passively participating in but actively leading decision-making processes that affect their lives. I implore the Government to commit to that.

Disabled people are defined not by their limitations but by their boundless potential, talents and aspirations. Across the globe, they are leading as innovators, creators, athletes, entrepreneurs, educators and advocates, inspiring us with their stories and showing us that a more inclusive world is not only possible but essential. Yet despite progress, significant barriers remain, and the number of disabled people reaching their full potential is still far too low. Many disabled people—children and adults—still face discrimination, inaccessible environments, unequal access to education, employment and healthcare, and worse.

[Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)]

I commend the hon. Lady. The word “champion” is often used, but she has been a champion for disabled people. More work must be done to allow those with disabilities to live, work and travel independently, including through enhanced public transport with lifts and ramps for wheelchair users to get on to planes and the tube. Although this day rightly focuses on the tremendous impact of disabled people in our society, it also highlights failures in society that must be rectified. Does she agree?

[Debbie Abrahams]

The hon. Member will not be surprised to hear me say that I absolutely agree with him. I will come to the issues on which we need to provide challenge.

Since 2010, disability hate crime has increased almost sevenfold—that is absolutely shocking. Not only are such challenges obstacles for individuals but they limit society. As leaders, we need to demonstrate that we want an inclusive society in which we all thrive, not just a minority. The social model of disability views it as a result of societal barriers rather than a person’s impairment or difference, whether of mind or body. If we are truly serious about having an inclusive society, we need to address those barriers. Thirty years on from the Disability Discrimination Act 1995, that work is well overdue.

This year’s IDPD theme is particularly significant as it encourages the international community, including the UK, to consider how to remove barriers to enable disabled leaders to develop and thrive.

[Steve Darling (Torbay) (LD)]

I highlight in particular the good work of those at the National Federation of the Blind, who were on the estate today campaigning on floating bus stops. Does the hon. Member agree that the Government need to ban floating bus stops?

[Debbie Abrahams]

The hon. Member—a fellow member of the Work and Pensions Committee—makes a good point. I am sorry that I was unable to attend that event myself, but I will certainly give that matter some consideration, and I hope that the Government will, too.

More than 16 million people in the UK have a disability—nearly one in four of us—and nearly half of all disabilities are acquired during a person’s lifetime. In recognition of that, in 2009 the UK not only became a signatory to the UN convention on the rights of persons with disabilities, which includes 40 articles ranging from education and work and employment to the right to life, but enshrined disability as a protected characteristic in the Equality Act 2010. We should be proud that we as a country have adopted that, but now it is about how we put it into practice, because we have unfortunately gone backwards in many ways.

Despite the important moves that the then Government had undertaken, the austerity brought in by the coalition Government in 2010, and amplified by the Conservative Government in 2015, not only restricted financial and other state support for disabled people—adding further challenges to their lives—but created a culture of fear, particularly for those reliant on social security support who were unable to work. All too often, disabled people were treated as workshy, with the shirker-scrounger narrative perpetuated in policy and practice and, unfortunately, also in our media.

[Warinder Juss (Wolverhampton West) (Lab)]

I congratulate my hon. Friend on securing this debate on International Day of Persons with Disabilities. Does she agree that a lot of the disabilities that we need to be aware of are hidden disabilities such as autism, depression and other mental conditions? We do not see those disabilities directly, but we need to be aware of them, and to deal with issues such as unconscious bias that we sometimes come across.

[Debbie Abrahams]

My hon. Friend makes such an important point—I absolutely agree. I talked about societal barriers and a social model of disability; we need to recognise that disabilities can also be hidden, so I thank my hon. Friend for pointing that out.

The reality is that most people, disabled or not, try to do the right thing, but as the Joseph Rowntree Foundation has shown, if you are a disabled adult or a disabled child, your family is more likely to be living in poverty or destitution. Things became so bad that in 2016, the then Conservative Government were investigated for having breached the UN CRPD. Following an investigation, the UK Government were found guilty in 2017 of systemic violations. As a UN committee spokeswoman declared,

“the committee can confirm that some violations were grave, some others were systematic, and some were both: grave and systematic.”

In particular, the investigating committee found that the rights of disabled people to an adequate standard of living and social protection, to work and employment, and to independent living had been breached.

[Jonathan Davies (Mid Derbyshire) (Lab)]

I recently met with an organisation called Deaf-initely Women, which supports deaf and hard of hearing women in Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire. It became apparent to me that the voices of those women are not being heard in the way that services are designed. I wondered whether my hon. Friend might reflect on that as part of her speech.

[Debbie Abrahams]

Again, that is a very important point. We have seen the decimation of services—social services, but also those in the charity sector—so my hon. Friend is absolutely right to raise that point.

The investigating committee found that the Government had implemented a policy aimed at reforming their welfare system, and that those reforms had been justified in the context of austerity measures to achieve consolidation of fiscal and budgetary policy. However, the impact assessments conducted by the Government prior to the implementation of several of their welfare reform measures expressly foresaw an adverse impact on disabled people, but those assessments were ignored. Evidence gathered nationally by many disabled people’s organisations, charities, academics and many more showed the adverse and disproportionate effects of those welfare reform measures on persons with disabilities.

The impacts on the health of disabled people were also documented in a 2021 report assessing the health effects of the Welfare Reform and Work Act 2016. This should have been a wake-up call for the Government of the day, but unfortunately, even after the tragic deaths of dozens if not hundreds of disabled social security claimants over the past five years, the UN committee published a follow-up report in March this year in which it said that

“no significant progress has been made in the state party concerning the situation of persons with disabilities addressed in the inquiry proceedings”.

That report stated that while some measures had been taken to address the committee’s recommendations, there were also

“signs of regression in the standards and principles of the convention”.

As my right hon. Friend the Minister will be aware, the committee has asked for a report by March 2029 to update it on the implementation of those recommendations. I know that he takes this issue very seriously, but despite the introduction of the Disability Discrimination Act 30 years ago, we have seen other areas of discrimination against disabled people. The Office for National Statistics conducted qualitative research that examined the experiences that people with disabilities had with activities, goods and services in the UK. It found barriers including physical access, restrictive building layouts, inaccessible online services, poor information provision and inflexible design of customer services that do not consider accessibility for a broad range of needs.

Our train network does not have level access, about which we heard Dame Tanni Grey-Thompson make a plea in the summer, when what she was put through was outrageous. When I had a presentation on the trans-Pennine route upgrade, I was absolutely shocked to find that the rolling stock, which is yet to be commissioned, is not going to provide level access. It is absolute nonsense that that is not even in the design for that procurement, so we must do better. Given that the new rolling stock will not be out until 2029, I am hoping there will be time for people to think again, because that is just not good enough.

The difference in education outcomes is also shocking. According to the ONS, only a quarter of disabled people aged 21 to 64 have a degree or equivalent as their highest qualification compared with nearly 43% of non-disabled people. In addition, disabled people are almost three times more likely to have no qualifications than non-disabled people. Disabled people are also less likely to have GCSE grades of C and higher in comparison with non-disabled people. We know that disabled people do not have the same experience of UK schools as their non-disabled counterparts, and that barriers exist for these children across the educational system. I remember doing some work on this in my own constituency, and it was quite shocking to see the difficulties that disabled children face.

The cost of living crisis has hit disabled people harder than the wider population. Many disabled people have vital equipment that is expensive to run. The extra costs are estimated at over £975 a month on average. Imagine if that additional cost was one that everybody had to face, because we would really feel the pinch. A survey carried out by Sense found that 85% of people with complex disabilities are worried about this rising cost of living. If we look at employment, we need to remember that the disability employment gap sits at nearly 30%, as it has for many years. According to the ONS, there are 2.2 million disabled people who want to work but need support to get into work. Disabled jobseekers can face barriers on seeking employment, including from employers who believe that it is too difficult, risky or expensive to hire someone with disabilities. All organisations need to understand the challenges faced by disabled jobseekers.

[Richard Baker (Glenrothes and Mid Fife) (Lab)]

Does my hon. Friend agree that it is unacceptable that only 7% of people with a disability in our country are in paid employment when so many more want to work? Does she also agree that it is vital that, as the Government look to get more people into work, we have equal opportunities and equal access to the workplace for disabled people?

[Debbie Abrahams]

I absolutely agree, and that is the point I am trying to make. There is a 30% gap between non-disabled and disabled people in work, with so many—as I say, 2.2 million—who want to work and are able to work. We must do better on that, and I know my right hon. Friend the Minister is absolutely committed to doing so. On top of that, we also have the disability pay gap, at nearly 14%, which again has increased. This is just not good enough.

I was really reassured by the statement by the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions on the “Get Britain Working” White Paper last week, with the recognition of what we need to do and how we need to change, and I look forward to seeing how this evolves. I am pleased that the Government will, for example, be introducing disability pay gap reporting, which will help lead the way in addressing the lack of disabled people in senior roles. When I was writing this speech, I remembered when I introduced a ten-minute rule Bill on this point back to 2015. Again, let us try and get this going a little bit more quickly.

Shining a light on inequality in pay encourages organisations to examine critically their hiring, promotion and compensation processes. Again, we all know from our own experience how, if we report something that we find is not working correctly, we are more likely to change things. I know my right hon. Friend recognises that not all disabled people can work, and that we must provide appropriate, timely and adequate financial support for disabled claimants, without a punitive and burdensome application and assessment process. I look forward to the Green Paper on that in the spring. I was heartened by the Secretary of State’s commitment to work with disabled people on that. She used the phrase “Nothing about me without me”, which should reassure people.

At its core, the theme of this year’s International Day of Disabled Persons is all about leadership, and as a nation we are introducing legislation and policy to enable a new generation of leaders with lived experience of disabilities. As a Parliament we must continue to lead by example and ensure that we make the right accommodations and adjustments for disabled colleagues. I am proud that nine of my parliamentary colleagues have declared a disability in this House, but we have a long way to go to being proportionately representative of the population as a whole in that sense.

Nearly four years on from another Adjournment debate I secured, I close my remarks by remembering those disabled people who lived in vulnerable circumstances and were let down by the then social security system. As I said earlier, there are dozens if not hundreds of families affected by the death of a vulnerable claimant, and the book “The Department” by John Pring describes some of those tragic deaths. I have got to know the families of Errol Graham, Philippa Day and Jodey Whiting. Errol Graham was a grandfather with a severe mental illness who starved to death alone in his flat, months after having his benefits stopped. He weighed five and a half stone when he was found. Philippa Day was a young mum who was found dead with a letter beside her from Capita, contracted by the Department for Work and Pensions, refusing her a home assessment visit over her benefits. Jodey Whiting also had poor mental health and other complex needs. She took her own life a fortnight after her benefits were wrongly cut off in 2017. They were appallingly let down by the Government of the day who should have been there for them.

Earlier this year the Equality and Human Rights Commission finally launched an investigation into potential discrimination at the Department for Work and Pensions through failure to protect claimants with learning disabilities or severe mental illness. I pay tribute to the families, charities, organisations, and individuals who constantly pushed on that issue to keep pressure on the EHRC to act. As Chair of the Work and Pensions Committee, I am pleased that we have re-opened the inquiry into safeguarding vulnerable claimants, which was paused due to the general election. Although the Government have changed, and with them has come a change in attitude, the Department’s failure over the last 14 years must be fully examined to ensure that no more vulnerable claimants die. I urge Members to reflect on the past treatment of disabled people, and look ahead at creating a welfare system that, like our NHS, is there for all of us in our time of need.