The sentencing of 11 former employees of a private hospital for abusing people with learning difficulties has become mired in confusion, with the government unable to say whether the judge treated the offences as disability hate crimes. The sentencing of the […]
Winterbourne View: Sentencing was ‘woefully inadequate’
Sentences handed to staff who admitted abusing people with learning difficulties at a private hospital near Bristol have been branded “woefully inadequate” by leading members of the self-advocacy movement. Six of the former employees of Winterbourne View were given prison sentences […]
New minister McVey offers little hope on benefit cuts
The new minister for disabled people has agreed to consider fresh demands for the government to assess the full impact on disabled people of all of its cuts and reforms to benefits and services. But Esther McVey who replaced Maria Miller […]
Labour calls for urgent investigation over ‘misleading’ Atos bid information
Labour has called for an “immediate investigation” after evidence emerged that Atos Healthcare won two lucrative disability assessment contracts by using “misleading” information about its links with disabled people’s organisations (DPOs). Anne McGuire, the shadow minister for disabled people, said the […]
Review of Equality 2025 sparks concerns
The launch of a government review has raised fears that ministers are planning to replace their advisory network of disabled people with a controversial new “alliance” of disabled people’s organisations (DPOs) charities, service-providers and private sector organisations. The new Conservative minister […]
Call for government to halt ‘barbaric’ treatment of disabled prisoner
Hundreds of campaigners have warned the Ministry of Justice that returning a seriously-ill disabled man to prison is likely to prove to be a “death sentence” for him. Protesters today handed the government a petition, signed by nearly 1, 500 supporters […]
Artist will stare “fitness for work” fears in the face with public exposure of her bed life
An award-winning disabled artist is to spend three days in bed in front of an audience, in an attempt to portray the contradictions of her impairment, and the government’s “miserable, terrifying, punishing” fitness for work assessment regime. The writer-director-activist Liz Crow […]
Report ‘paints first human picture of impact of cuts’
A new report is the first to demonstrate the likely devastating impact on disabled people’s lives of the government’s cuts to disability benefits say campaigners. The report, The Tipping Point, warns that the cuts could tip disabled people into “poverty, debt […]
Watchdog gives public bodies one last chance to act on disability hate crime
Police figures showing that some forces recorded just four disability hate crimes last year are “incredible” and “not believable”, according to the chair of the equality watchdog’s disability committee. Mike Smith, the only disabled commissioner at the Equality and Human Rights […]
Council support drops while care home admissions rise, says report
The number of working-age disabled people who received support from their local council dropped sharply last year, while the number admitted to care homes increased, according to a new report. The report found that the number of working-age disabled people receiving […]