Disabled Persons' Rights (Hansard, 4 March 1987)

§ Mr. Robert N. Wareing (Liverpool, West Derby)
I beg to move, That leave be given to bring in a Bill to outlaw discrimination against disabled people on the grounds of their disability. Since I introduced the Chronically Sick and Disabled Persons (Amendment) Bill over three years ago there has been more irrefutable evidence of widespread discrimination against disabled people. A number of reports have given further witness to the problem. Two years ago there was the report of the British Deaf Association, and in the summer of last year the Spastics Society report, "An equal chance for disabled people : A study of discrimination in employment", gave hard statistical evidence of the disadvantages faced by handicapped people in the labour market. Incidentally, it should be noted that in the Official Report of yesterday—column 721—the Under-Secretary of State for Employment said that in 1985 the unemployment rate among those whose work would be limited by disability was 23.4 per cent. That is over double the rate of 10.6 per cent. for all other persons.
I was pleased to see today in a news release from the Spastics Society that it is giving full endorsement to my Bill. I have the overwhelming support of the public and of disabled people's organisations. In response to the report of the Government-sponsored National Advisory Council on Employment of Disabled People, the Spastics Society stated : The fundamental justification for helping disabled people lies in their right to real equality of opportunity, which at a minimum means ending direct and indirect discrimination…The Society is very disappointed that the report has not chosen to look at the problem in terms of these more fundamental concepts and can only assume that this arises from opposition to anti-discrimination legislation.
That Government's opposition has been maintained despite an increasing amount of anecdotal evidence. I can name a few instances over the past few years. The football teams of my city have come to regard Wembley as their home. It is always difficult to get a cup final ticket, and usually when somebody receives one, he rejoices. However, a number of disabled constituents in Liverpool have been faced with another problem, that of being unable to gain access to Wembley. For them the problem is not just getting the ticket but having to go to Members of Parliament to press that they be able to use that ticket equally with other fans.
Recently, an American company advertised for 37 workers for various jobs in Portmadoc in Wales. The Cambrian News of 15 August 1986 carried the advertisement which, among other things, said: All persons applying must … have no physical disability. I had a letter only yesterday from a young lady who is 23 years of age and lives in Runcorn and who suffers from a congenital deformity and ataxia-type cerebral palsy. According to her letter, it affects her very mildly, and it is worth listening to what she says: I walk unaided if a little slow and unsteady, I can manage stairs and drive my own automatic car … I am proficient at typewriting, and plan to use a micro-writer for written note-taking in court … I take no medication at all … I have never attended a 'special' school, I achieved an upper second class degree in Sociology and Psychology from Lancaster University in 1985 … I spent ten months as a Community Service Volunteer working full time and living in 874 Southwood Probation Hostel in Liverpool, where I took part in every aspect of residential work without any problems at all—indeed I loved the work. I left the Hostel to take up the full-time post of Volunteer Co-ordinator at Halton General Hospital".
That young lady was accepted for a course next September at Nottingham university to study for a certificate of qualification in social work, but so that she could go on from there into the probation service, she needed to be sponsored by the Home Office. The Home Office has turned her down on what it calls medical grounds after a perfunctory 15-minute medical. That is atrocious. It displays the sort of discrimination which I tried to eradicate in my Bill three years ago.
My Bill would apply not only to employment. serious as that is, but to all aspects of life, including education, housing, recreation, insurance, transport and membership of associations where one sees ample evidence of discrimination. The Bill would give basic human rights to all those who are disabled, whether physically, mentally or sensorily, and it would be reinforced by a commission, which would be able to tackle some of the problems on their behalf and which would include representatives of the disabled. Problems such as the pedestrianisation of many of our shopping areas in the city centres make no-go areas for many of our disabled citizens. That needs to be tackled.
When refuting the need for legislation, the Minister for Health, the hon. Member for Braintree (Mr. Newton), put the Government's emphasis on bringing about an increased understanding of disabled people's needs and promoting a spirit of positive co-operation in dealing with them. That approach has manifestly paid off." —[Official Report, 18 November 1983; Vol. 48, c. 1126.] Tell that to the disabled football fans. Tell that to the disabled people who are looking for work in Portmadoc. Tell that to the young lady in Runcorn.
This is the fourth attempt in four years to get anti-discrimination legislation, and my second attempt. The Bill has wide support. It is time that we changed the legislation, because so far the Government have treated the disabled shabbily in terms of discrimination. They have sought to hide behind the cloak of manoeuvre and procedure. They used the closure to defeat the measure last time. In the other place they have voted on Second Reading of a Bill such as this. This is an opportunity for the Government to stand up and be counted. They cannot hide behind the closure on a ten-minute rule Bill. I call for the wholehearted support of decent people and I say to the Tories that people of conscience—

§ Mr. David Winnick (Walsall, North)
That excludes the Tories.

§ Mr. Wareing
I hope that it will not exclude them today. I hope that the Bill will be allowed to go forward and the arguments heard in the House so that there can be a vote on Second Reading, and that we do not have to wait for Conservative Members, sitting in on a Friday afternoon, to destroy it with the word "Object". The country is looking today to see who is and who is no prepared to support this important measure on human rights.