A win for who?

The DWP will pay nearly £50,000 in damages to a deaf man after repeatedly failing to provide him with the interpreters he needed for job-related interviews. Paul Rimmer said he believed his local Jobcentre failed to provide the support he needed because they found it “too difficult and too expensive”. The employment tribunal has now told DWP to pay Rimmer £49,880 in damages and interest payments for the years of discriminatory behaviour. Mr Rimmer warned most DWP staff “do not understand the difficulties facing me as a profoundly Deaf person”.

He told Disability News Service: “I am shocked about the barriers and discrimination that I have had to go through. I was shocked about the lack of training [DWP/Jobcentre] staff have had, lack of deaf awareness and how I have been stuck in a system and unable to move on. “I was shocked by what I have heard in evidence from DWP staff. I am proud of what I have achieved and hope that it helps other people as well as myself.” He added: “I know that the same thing happens at other jobcentres and I hope things will change more widely.

“I hope it doesn’t just change at Leeds but that the DWP look more widely at the training of staff across the country.” Nick Whittingham, chief executive at Kirklees Citizens Advice and Law Centre, said: “This case shines a light on the way that disabled benefits claimants are treated by the DWP, and is particularly important in light of current political rhetoric. “The indications are that failings are systemic and that provision for supporting deaf and other disabled people is limited both by funding constraints and by an institutional failure to understand, or even attempt to understand, their needs.”

A DWP spokesperson said: “We are considering this judgment. We are committed to providing accessible services to ensure customers who need extra assistance can access our help.”

ATR COMMENT:  A victory for BSL-using deaf but a hollow one for deaf or the HI who do not use sign language, with the refusal to offer them text or lip-spoken support is an accepted norm.  Even areas dedicated to their support offer access piecemeal or via post code lottery.  ATR did a FOI request to all Health trusts in Wales, none, returned data on text or lip-speaking access provision, most offered BSL instead to deaf who don't use it. Why aren't non-BSL charities more aggressive in demanding the support they are entitled to?

Inclusion For the elite few?

 

Awareness isn't working....

ATR has long advocated that since disabled and deaf people were given major inclusion and access laws, we have less now than before they were enacted. It is as if once laws were on the statute, we stopped making sure they worked properly. 

At core, was the disability organisations over-focus on the individual, as averse to the collective approach. Once we pushed the individual right, we abandoned the collective rights of others. Removal of legal aid ensured only a very few disabled could take areas to court and force them to obey the laws we all fought for. 

The Deaf area ignored this, and campaigned solely for themselves, with recent successes via a BSL Act, which wasn't needed in Wales, because the local government there had accepted the inclusion law day one, they also blurred the definitions between the individual and the collective, by using a master-stroke that was so simple, the systems never saw it coming, they just capitalised a single letter (d, to D), then, all, became one.  A minority became the majority by default, a sensory loss became a way of life and a right, and a cure or alleviation, cultural genocide. Unfortunately it also created divisions, by Db, language, and way of social life, defeating own inclusion policies.  

It labelled most with deafness and hearing loss, with a culture they never had, and a communication format they never used, which caused many to actually LOSE support, because systems had bought into the hype of the minority, and re-applied it wrongly, all emphasis was on support they didn't use or want.

Support and funding went to the minority instead.  The rest of the UK government/business has clearly not accepted or endorsed, access and inclusion laws. Even when going to court, no precedent is being set so other disabled unable to speak for themselves,  could benefit, the individual being paramount, meant all have to go to court one at a time to get needs met. The disabled/deaf communities just lobby for another Act or law.  Grassroots find legal action is impossible. HM Government had removed free legal aid.

The biggest issue we face today is a total lack of real awareness, and the state dismantling the welfare state, and attacking the most vulnerable.  Despite various charities and others going it alone, they all appear to have failed, and by own admissions, as campaigns complain society (Whoever they are), are not aware of what they need to do, but still taken £M's in funding with them, with nil, to show for it, least of all awareness. 

Others quickly realised there was a profit to be made from us, non-disabled people set up courses online, many with zero awareness or qualifications themselves, via training, and 'lessons' in awareness, etc, and they now run most of not it all. Just sub-standard and biased/poor awareness tips. Disabled/deaf became a commodity to be exploited, and others got the work and got paid for it and still do.  Charity became corporate, a business, and the bottom and their relentless line was to keep us all reliant, if not on the state, on charity itself.  The state helped them along, by offering less and less support themselves, so many had to rely on charity.

Funding has not produced awareness or any advances.  Given so many random areas joined the awareness bandwagons, setting up 'hubs' as a catch-all, centre for awareness, they endorsed 'political' campaigns and approaches to awareness, campaigning as if access and inclusion laws didn't exist at all, when the reality, was they just didn't work. This was obvious in the 1990s when Disability Act demands were well advanced.  However, Charities reneged on grassroots fearing lack of own support, and persuaded the government to adopt the Act, but agree to water down any effect it might have.

The real aim of charity, was kudos and funding for set ups run by a few, on a computer somewhere.£1000s vanished overnight as no checks were made on them. The systems then proceeded to endorse nothing with us, or to include us, and disabled memberships of leading campaigns became selective and isolated in approach. Deaf do this, Blind do that, mental health do another etc. Nobody seems to understand we cannot succeed this way, united we stand, divided we fall etc... Our biggest enemy y is our own refusal to support each other. cest la vie has made us all reluctant to say 'Look, this isn't working, you going that way, and us going the other, we need to go together.'

Gissa Job..... I'm disabled.

What Access to Work will not pay for:  Access to Work will not pay for reasonable adjustments. (These are the changes your employer must legally make to support you to do your job.)

ATR has  expressed concern to the UK central government, about the current state of employment and accessibility for disabled individuals. We believe that merely declaring one's disability or minority status does not guarantee a job, as employers demand that skills and qualifications are essential. The statement above taken from the official government website, seems to also act as a real barrier to actually getting a job. In essence any 'reasonable adjustment', must be affordable, and 'affordable' is defined by the Employer, and if the state is prepared to pay the costs or contribute to them. 

Example of when an adjustment is not reasonable because of the cost:

An employee who uses a wheelchair asks for a lift to be installed so they can get to the upper floors of their workplace. The employer makes enquiries and finds the cost would be damaging to their business. The employer can turn down the request because it is not reasonable for them. However, they must make other workplace adjustments that are reasonable, for example making changes so the employee can do their job entirely on the ground floor.

ATR also criticizes some aspects of disability policies, including Access to Work (A2W), which they consider to be inefficient and patronizing. E.G. the state paying 4 or 5 times what any disabled employee could expect as a wage, just on support provision, e.g. funding an BSL Interpreter for as many hours as a deaf person works, can be very expensive.  ATR has seen examples of £800 per week in London via deaf arts, and part, not full time work.  Strict limitations on how, and who, can apply for A2W funding, has so far proven entirely prohibitive, and negative.  

A number of disabled are taken on as employees BECAUSE they are disabled, and to fill legal quotas, this tends to only apply to larger business/companies, but many disabled are unable to 'learn on the job', or lack the skills or support required to adapt.   Anecdotal evidence suggest there are 'scams' attached to this, as some employers appear to be rotating disabled employees to maintain funding, and fulfil their obligations, in essence to avoid making any meaningful contribution themselves. Disabled employees can be replaced by another, after only 3 months, and/or they leave because the support doesn't really work for them, or the job wasn't suitable in the first place.  

ATR suggests that A2W funding should be redirected towards education and skill development from the beginning, rather than focusing on aftercare and support.  This should be accompanied by further retraining as required to meet changing employer need. There are no effective systems for that currently.  It all contributes to failure of Access to Work to be meaningful. Overall, ATR emphasizes the importance of a more effective and comprehensive approach to inclusion and employment opportunities, and training, for disabled people.