UNCRPD

Independent Living

November 23, 2017 0

Government’s social care plans side-line needs of working-age people

The government has announced plans for a social care green paper that side-line both the needs of working-age disabled people and their user-led organisations, say frustrated campaigners. Damian Green, the first secretary of state, said the government would publish a much-delayed green paper on “care and support for older people” by next summer –

Benefits and Poverty

November 16, 2017 0

Disabled woman takes DWP minister to court over PIP mental health changes

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A disabled woman is taking work and pensions secretary David Gauke to court over “unfair and discriminatory” changes that were made to a disability benefit. There was widespread anger earlier this year when Penny Mordaunt, minister for disabled people, announced new rules that made it harder for people in mental distress to secure mobility

Independent Living

November 16, 2017 0

Council and care company retreat over disabled woman trapped in residential home

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A young disabled woman says she has been “punished for a crime she did not commit”, as she waits for written confirmation that she can finally leave the care home where she has been trapped for nearly a month. Lakhvinder Kaur, who is still facing an eviction notice from the care home in east

Human Rights

Penny Mordaunt speaking in the House of Commons

October 19, 2017 0

UK wants to promote its disability policies to rest of the world, says Mordaunt

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The minister for disabled people has dismissed a damning UN report on her government’s disability rights record, arguing that the rest of the world should instead be learning from the UK’s policies. Penny Mordaunt was speaking weeks after the UN’s committee on the rights of persons with disabilities said the government’s social protection policies

Politics

October 12, 2017 0

Mordaunt misleads MPs… again

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The minister for disabled people has again misled MPs, after she claimed that the UK had “volunteered” to take part in a public UN examination which concluded that her government’s disability policies had caused a “human catastrophe”. Penny Mordaunt was responding to Labour’s new shadow minister for disabled people, Marsha de Cordova, who told

Human Rights

Fiona Robertson speaking to the SNP conference above a sign saying 'Progress'

October 12, 2017 0

SNP hears ‘justice for the dead’ demand as it backs call to implement UN report

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The SNP’s annual conference has unanimously called on the UK government to implement the findings of a UN committee of disability rights experts, after a disabled activist demanded “justice for the dead” and “rights for the living”. The motion proposed by disabled party activist Fiona Robertson called on the UK government to stop using

Benefits and Poverty

October 5, 2017 0

Tory conference: Gauke admits sanctions can harm mental health claimants

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Work and pensions secretary David Gauke has admitted that the system of benefit sanctions often fails to work and can instead cause harm to claimants, particularly those with mental health conditions. The long-awaited admission was yesterday described by one leading disabled campaigner as a “significant step forward” in the battle to scrap sanctions. Gauke,

Politics

Stephen Lloyd in front of a sign for the Liberal Democrat conference

September 21, 2017 0

Lib Dem conference: Disabled MP promises to ‘harry’ and ‘shame’ ministers

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A disabled Liberal Democrat MP has promised to “harry” and “shame” the government in parliament over its “shameful” record on disability rights. Stephen Lloyd, the party’s shadow work and pensions secretary, told Disability News Service (DNS) that he would use his own 25-year commitment to the social model – and his in-depth knowledge of

Human Rights

Theresia Degener sits, talking, behind a name plate saying T Degener

September 14, 2017 0

Portraying disabled people as ‘parasites’ could lead to ‘violence and killings’, says UN chair

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Disabled people could be at risk of violence, and even “killings and euthanasia”, because of their portrayal by the UK government and media as “parasites” who live on benefits, according to unpublished comments by the chair of a UN committee. Theresia Degener, who chairs the UN committee on the rights of persons with disabilities,

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