Disabled election candidates: Liberal Democrat Richard Whelan

Life for disabled people is hard, and getting harder, and they feel “constantly under attack”, according to Liberal Democrat election candidate Richard Whelan.

One of his priorities, if elected, would be to ensure that the Equality Act 2010 is properly enforced.

Too many employers pay “lip service” to equality laws, he said, and he pointed to his own experiences as evidence.

At the age of 47, he has always struggled to secure permanent employment.

Having initially made “no progress” at a special school, his parents – both doctors – sent him to a mainstream prep school where he “began to thrive academically”.

He eventually attended university, leaving with a good degree (a 2:1) in international relations and politics.

But his degree has not led to a permanent job.

Many employers still see disabled people as “burdens” who are “perceived as not as good” as non-disabled people, he said.

He added: “I know as much because in feedback to failed interviews they admit such sentiments directly to my face.

“There are still far too many instances of disabled people both struggling to find work, and when they do, struggle in the role they’ve been appointed to, because they do not have the adequate support they need to succeed.”

It is these widespread negative attitudes to disabled people that have politicised him as a disabled person, he said.

Whelan (pictured) is standing in Basingstoke, where one of his opponents will be the Conservative former minister for disabled people, Maria Miller.

He said the current government’s record on disability is “abysmal”.

“You do not threaten to take benefits off disabled people and force them back to work without adequate support provision to ensure they can work in the first place.

“Support provision for disabled people in general leaves a lot to be desired and the Conservatives neither understand, nor can adequately address, the hopes and desires of disabled people in today’s Britain.”

Asked why his party, the Liberal Democrats, have more to offer disabled voters at the general election than other parties, he points to their pledge to provide free personal care to all adults whose needs are seen as eligible for council-funded support.

He said: “This would save a disabled person a considerable amount of money and ensure that their personal care is guaranteed.

“Whilst not sufficient, it is at least a start and a strong platform on which to build in future years.”

Another priority, if elected, is to push for reform of the disability benefits system.

He wants to “actively promote the need for disabled people to have control over their own lives and not have this determined by others”.

Whelan said he wants to see a new system that would enable a disabled person to employ a team of “all-encompassing personal assistants” who would provide support with all aspects of their life, including personal care and administrative support in the workplace, with this integration allowing disabled people to live “an independent life where the home is only one of the settings they need support in”.

He said: “Life for disabled people in today’s Britain, compared to when the Conservatives came to power in 2010, is hard, and getting harder, as benefit changes, such as the introduction of personal independence payment, which replaced the old disability living allowance, is removing support that disabled people once took for granted.”

He points to those with fluctuating conditions often having their benefits removed “because it is assumed they can do an activity that in reality they can only do occasionally”, while those with conditions that will never change face the “constant need for five-yearly reviews”, which causes “unnecessary worry and doubt”, while they have to wait months for a decision.

He said: “There has to be a more compassionate approach to these matters that treats disabled people as the individuals they are and gives them the support they need to live independent lives.

“Because, as things stand, disabled people feel consistently under attack, fearful they will not get the support they need to live, with any support they do have under constant threat of being withdrawn.”

Whelan said he also wants to see an emphasis on improving access, particularly from owners and managers who hide behind a building’s listed building status.

He said he wanted to stand for parliament so he could be “a role model for other disabled people and offer them hope that they can fulfil their dreams if they set their mind to it”.

*This is part of a pre-election series of articles that will give some of the disabled people standing as candidates at the general election a chance to describe why they wanted to stand, how they became politicised, and the kind of barriers they have faced as disabled people. The aim is to raise the profile of some of the disabled people seeking elected office. DNS has analysed party manifesto commitments separately

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