Hospitals could be breaching the human rights of mental health patients by keeping wards permanently locked and imposing blanket bans on mobile phones and internet access, according to a report by the care watchdog. The concerns were raised in the Care […]
Welsh station access is ‘unacceptable’, say assembly members
Access to railway stations in Wales is “unacceptable”, with more than half of the 221 stations across Wales not fully accessible, according to a new report by a committee of politicians. The report by the Welsh assembly’s equality of opportunity committee […]
Activists question care commission’s missing commitment to human rights
A disabled peer has criticised the commission set up to examine the long-term funding of care and support for failing to mention equality and human rights in its guiding “principles”. Baroness [Jane] Campbell raised her concerns at a parliamentary meeting addressed […]
‘Terrified’ survivors burn Osborne effigy in cuts protest
Government plans to force mental health service-users into work and cut their disability benefits are like “throwing a hand grenade into people’s lives” according to activists who staged a protest in London this week. More than 80 activists took part in […]
Miller savaged over cuts to disability benefits
Furious politicians and disability campaigners have attacked the minister for disabled people after she tried to justify the latest round of government cuts to disability benefits. Activists, and MPs and peers from more than 10 disability-related all party parliamentary groups – […]
Forced marriage information ‘will bring new cases to light’
Scores of people with learning difficulties are being forced into marriages against their will every year, government figures have revealed. Last year, 35 people with learning difficulties, as well as 14 disabled people with physical impairments, contacted a government helpline set […]
BBC rapped over Clarkson’s disablist comment
The BBC has been criticised by the communications watchdog over a programme in which presenter Jeremy Clarkson made offensive, disablist comments about people with learning difficulties. Clarkson told viewers of the popular BBC2 motoring show Top Gear that the Ferrari F430 […]
‘Growing anger’ with government over contaminated blood
There is “growing anger” among people with haemophilia at the government’s failure to implement the recommendations of an inquiry into the NHS contaminated blood disaster, peers have heard. Lord [Alf] Morris, president of the Haemophilia Society, was speaking at the second […]
Government spending review: Disabled people ‘will take to the streets’
Activists have pledged that disabled people will take to the streets to protest at the impact of the government’s programme of spending cuts. The pledge came from campaigners who took part in a protest march in Birmingham during the Conservative party […]
Government spending review: New benefit cuts spark anger
Hundreds of thousands of disabled people are set to lose their out-of-work disability benefits, as part of new government plans to cut another £7 billion a year from the welfare bill. The announcement by the chancellor, George Osborne, in this week’s […]