§ Mr. Jack Ashley (Stoke-on-Trent, South)I beg to move,
That leave be given to bring in a Bill to provide that discrimination of an unjustifiable nature against disabled people shall be illegal.The basic issue of the Bill is one of human rights because too many disabled people are suffering from a denial of those rights. They are being burdened with the dual handicap of their disability and of completely unjustified discrimination. Examples of such discrimination abound. It must be hard for a disabled person to be told that people like him should stay at home; that he is to be sacked because his work mates will not work with a disabled person; that teachers will not teach him because he is disabled; or that employers will not interview him as he has a disability, although the disability is irrelevant to that job.Sometimes the discrimination is bizarre or downright silly. For example, a draughtsman with an artificial leg was offered a job, but the offer was withdrawn when his disability was discovered. Therefore, I can presume only that the employer thought that he drew with his feet. A Butlin's holiday camp refused to accommodate disabled people in the summer but said that it would accept them in the spring or autumn. The people there said that they could not accommodate them because of the hills in the area, so I presume that those hills disappeared during the spring and autumn.
Those examples are taken from the report of the Committee on Restrictions Against Disabled People, called CORAD, under the chairmanship of Peter Large. The committee was in no doubt that the evidence of discrimination that it received was the tip of the iceberg. After studying the problem for three years it felt that discrimination against disabled people was just as extensive as discrimination on the grounds of race and sex.
So the question I want to put is: how should the House try to deal with the unnecessary burden of discrimination placed on disabled people? CORAD was in no doubt that discrimination should be made illegal and that there should be legislation. I am convinced that that is the most realistic and effective solution to the problem. I am not suggesting that legislation is the only method. Of course, it is not. There is room for education and for persuasion, which have an important role to play. However, we need something stronger. What we require is strong legislation.
The Bill, which follows the recommendations of CORAD, would make illegal unjustified discrimination on the ground of disability. It would cover all areas where discrimination occurs, including employment, education, transport and the provision of goods and services. There would have to be a commission with powers to investigate and to conciliate, if necessary with the power to take 152 appropriate legal action to stop unjustifiable discrimination. I emphasise the word "unjustifiable". I am not asking for something unreasonable. I believe that a sense of proportion is necessary. That would be embodied in my Bill.
No one pretends that disablement does not pose problems. I am not making absurd or preposterous demands for blind bus drivers; I am not suggesting that there should be deaf piano tuners. No one is making ridiculous suggestions. The Bill cannot be laughed out on those grounds.
The Bill does not seek an unreasonable ban or discrimination. For example, it would not be an offence to discriminate where the costs would be disproportionate to the benefits, if it was absolutely impractical to make changes or if the changes created definite safety hazards. I recognise all those problems and I take them into account in my Bill.
However, the Bill is necessary because unjustifiable discrimination exists. To outlaw discrimination is the most direct method of reducing it. The Bill will not immediately affect attitudes towards disabled people, but it can affect the behaviour of the public towards disabled people. In time its influence would be felt on attitudes, because antidiscrimination Acts approved by Parliament have a vital declaratory effect in contrast to the bromides that we have been hearing in recent years. Above all, such legislation would confer legal rights rather than hopeful expectations. In a generally law-abiding society such as ours, those rights will be respected and observed.
Similar legislative provision for disabled people has already been made in the United States. It is operating successfully. There has been legislation in Canada. In this country we have not proposed legislation to outlaw discrimination against disabled people, but we have legislation to outlaw discrimination on the grounds of race and sex. Therefore, we have recognised the principle of legislating against the evil of discrimination.
So far disabled people have suffered discrimination in silence, but there is absolutely no doubt that there is now a new awakening among them and a growing demand that they should have the same rights as everyone else. They look to the House to provide those rights. Although the Bill is merely a modest first step in according those rights, I hope that the House will show today and in the months ahead its determination to lighten the burden and enhance the prospects of our disabled people.
§ Question put and agreed to.
§ Bill ordered to be brought in by Mr. Jack Ashley, Mr. Lewis Carter-Jones, Mr. Jack Dormand, Mr. Alfred Morris, Mr. Dennis Skinner and Mr. Dafydd Wigley.