• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • About DNS
  • Subscribe to DNS
  • Advertise with DNS
  • Support DNS
  • Contact DNS

Disability News Service

the country's only news agency specialising in disability issues

  • Home
  • Independent Living
    • Arts, Culture and Sport
    • Crime
    • Education
    • Employment
    • Housing
    • Transport
  • Activism & Campaigning
  • Benefits & Poverty
  • Politics
  • Human Rights
You are here: Home / News Archive / Duncan Smith could face election contest with disabled activist

Duncan Smith could face election contest with disabled activist

By John Pring on 17th May 2013 Category: News Archive

Listen

theweeksubThe architect of the government’s unpopular welfare reforms could face an attempt to unseat him at the next general election from a leading disabled activist.

Julie Jaye Charles, who lives in Iain Duncan Smith’s Chingford and Woodford Green constituency, said she wanted to oppose the Conservative MP as a black disabled woman with bipolar disorder.

Jaye Charles is founder and chief executive of the black and minority ethnic (BME) disabled people’s organisation Equalities National Council (ENC), and is a government adviser and expert on issues around race, disability, health and social care.

She said: “I just want people to feel comfortable that people with mental health difficulties are not stark raving mad.

“I have lived experience of mental health but I have been a successful CEO and ambassador for BME disabled people.

“I just feel that it is time to stand as an MP to support the needs of the most grassroots communities, particularly the needs of people with long-term conditions, disabled people, people with learning difficulties and those with mental health difficulties.”

She has already secured support from the government’s new access to elected office fund, which helps disabled people with the extra disability-related costs they face while campaigning.

If she is selected by Labour to fight the seat, it could force Duncan Smith into a high-profile defence of the impact of his welfare cuts and reforms on disabled people.

Jaye Charles said: “He has made it quite clear in the way he has done business that he wants huge changes around what services disabled people should receive, and he has made it clear that he is making it difficult for us to access services.

“He has also made it clear on welfare reform that he is targeting people with long-term conditions and disabled people and so I think it is important not only that I am someone with a mental health difficulty but also that I am a black woman.”

Jaye Charles said that – if selected – she would campaign for more accessible housing, better access to health and social care, and more support for disabled people to get back into employment, including efforts to force employers to employ more disabled people.

Duncan Smith retained the seat in 2010 with a majority of nearly 13,000 over Labour, taking nearly 50 per cent of the vote.

16 May 2013

Share this post:

Share on TwitterShare on FacebookShare on WhatsAppShare on Reddit

Related

‘Muddled’ blue badge reforms ‘are to blame for renewal delays’
6th February 2015
UN debate will be reminder of true inclusive education
6th February 2015
IDS breaks pledge on PIP waiting-times, as tens of thousands still queue for months
30th January 2015

Primary Sidebar

Access

Latest Stories

Government’s pandemic failings have led to ‘bleak picture of marginalisation’

Secret report casts doubt on DWP’s ‘no duty of care’ claim

Disability Unit accused of ‘shameful manipulation’ over disability strategy note

Autistic activist tells MPs of ‘brutal… aggressive… sink or swim’ support system

Frustration and anger at Labour’s new ‘tick-box’ roadshow plans

Foxcroft defends Labour’s near-silence over death of Philippa Day

Clear gap between charities’ words and actions on disabled leaders, says research

Post-COVID Scottish government ‘must look to rights and co-production’

Planning failure ‘meant government had to start shielding scheme from scratch’

Partner of ‘distraught’ ESA claimant says DWP drove him to his death

Advice and Information

DWP: The case for the prosecution

Readspeaker

Footer

The International Standard Serial Number for Disability News Service is: ISSN 2398-8924

  • Accessibility Statement
  • Privacy Policy
  • Site map
  • Facebook
  • Twitter

Copyright © 2021 Disability News Service

Site development by A Bright Clear Web