March 31.
A few weeks ago 231 MPs voted in favour of the Civil Rights (Disabled
Persons) Bill which would have made illegal discrimination against
people because of their disability. This meant, we understood, that the
Bill would move forward to its committee stage where it could have been
properly debated, objections aired, difficulties ironed out, and
legislation produced that would have established that disabled people
were equal citizens.
We now hear that the Bill is almost definitely going to fail as there
is no time available for the committee to produce its report.
We cannot believe that a Government with real commitment and respect
both for Parliament and for the thousands of disabled people and others
who had campaigned for the Bill could not ensure that time was available
or indeed could produce a clearer response than it has done. To do
nothing, which seems to be its response, is surely an insult to
Parliament and to disabled people.
For this organisation, representing people with learning disabilities
and their families, not only is this outrageous but it also gives us a
very real problem: how do we explain to the thousands of our members who
contacted their MPs to ask them to support the Bill that it will be
going nowhere because there isn't enough time?
It was an enormous boost to many disabled people when Parliament voted
so comprehensively against discrimination. It will be a huge
disappointment if the vote is apparently meaningless.
Norman Dunning,
Director, Scottish Society for the
Mentally Handicapped,
13 Elmbank Street,
Glasgow.
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