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.