:

“The implications of the Bill which you are about to read
are enormous but they are intended to deal with an
enormous problem - years of discrimination against
disabled people.  They have been helpless so far but this
Bill will enable them to fight back and provide them with
essential new rights.”

In his opening remarks in the House of Lords, Lord Ashley said:  “The Bill aims to change the whole ethos
of the debate on disability from a discussion on how we take care of helpless people into a discussion of
equal citizens who happen to have a disability”.  He paid tribute to the Disability Rights Commission, its
chairman, Bert Massey, and Caroline Ellis who have all worked hard to bring the Bill thus far.

When I first heard of the Bill I did wonder if these were just words we have heard before.  Would this Bill
make the real differences that disabled people need?

Lord Ashley explained why this Bill is different.  He said: “The springboard for the Bill is the appalling
discrimination that disabled people still suffer.  In realistic terms they are second class citizens and are
treated as such.”.

Lord Ashley went on to say: “70% of our councils offer services only to people whose needs are judged to
be ‘critical’ or ‘substantial‘.  The rest can go to pot.  The rights they have are disgracefully minimal”.

On the subject of mental health needs, Lord Ashley said: “People with mental health needs have no right
to assessment of support for their needs………I hope that, like me, other noble Lords feel ashamed and
angry at this neglect.”

He added: “As a starting point for assessing needs, I want to emphasise that the assessment should
come from disabled people themselves.  In the simple but profound words of Plato:  ‘Only the wearer
knows where the shoe pinches’.  Disabled people are the best qualified to define their own requirements.

This is one hundred times better than a local authority assuming what they are and simply handing out
what it thinks is best or will pay for.”

Lord Ashley commented on the fact that many disabled people are still forced to live in institutions or with
people they do not want to live with just because they are disabled.  If the Bill becomes law, it will be
unlawful to force anyone into an institution against their will and many disabled people will need
comprehensive support.  The Bill addresses those needs.

“Local Authorities will have to identify all disabled people....(and) provide a wide range of assistance,
such as communication aids…technology.... independent advocacy and practical assistance in the
home and elsewhere…we must aim high....This kind of element in the Bill will ensure that people
are not left fighting alone with their disability.  There will be a new system of individual budgets.”  
The current range of funding for personal care, equipment and adaptations will be brought together.  
Disabled people will be able to use their individual budgets to spend as they wish, on housing, equipment,
personal assistance, transport or whatever they desire.

Lord Ashley commented: “I assume that some local authorities will try to evade their responsibilities,
although of course I cannot calculate how many.  To outmanoeuvre them, the Bill provides that regulations
will be made specifying minimum outcomes”.

Lord Ashley hoped that Gordon Brown would support the Bill although David Cameron, whilst sharing the
overall vision, has said he remains unconvinced that legislation is the right way to go.  Yet history has
shown that the voluntary approach does not bring about the desired progress in these matters.  Lord
Ashley said “I firmly and deeply believe that simply requesting a change is like the cooing of a dove in a
cage - it sounds good, but it  is ineffective…We need strong legislation to ensure that these things
happen.”

Lord Ashley pointed out that the net cost of investing in independent living will be much less than people
think.  Costs to health and social services will become less.  Disabled people will become more
independent and more will be able to find work and support the economy.

In summing up, Lord Ashley said:  “It is not possible to do justice to the many provisions in the Bill in such
a short debate.  I hope that the House will accept that the thrust of the Bill is to transform the lives of
millions of disabled people and to provide them with the necessities for real independence which we all
take for granted but which are so cruelly denied them”.

Many people may think that The Disability Discrimination Act and other recent changes have solved all
the problems faced by disabled people, but of course disabled people, their families and friends will
know different.  The truth is that without the right practical support services many people cannot even  
take the first step into an “equal world“.  A variety of practical difficulties may hold them  back.

Lord Ashley’s Bill could change the lives of very many people in very positive ways.  It is a bold, sensitive,
sensible and comprehensive vision for the future and it deserves to make it onto the statute books..

      The above summary of  his House of Lords Speech was personally approved by Lord Ashley.


                                             Update, December 2007

Lord Ashley presented this Bill to Parliament in mid 2006.  It passed successfully through its first hurdle in
the House of Lords.  On the 19th of October 2007 it was presented to the House of Commons.  
Unfortunately, the Bill was placed at number 26 on the list for discussion that day.  The result was that no
time wasavailable for discussion and the Bill failed.

bother with it, somebody else may take up the cudgels”.

To read the transcript of the House of Lords debate, please select the following link:
                                                              [ Hansard 14 Dec 2007 ]

Connect2u supports this Bill and we believe that we all need to urge those in power to support this
important piece of legislation by writing to our MPs and in any way we can.
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