Years of inaction, prejudice and cuts have become so bad that UK is now in breach of human rights
An influential report has warned that the basic human rights and dignity of people with learning disabilities are being routinely ignored.
The study by academic Robin Jackson says decades of disability and human rights progress is now in reverse, blaming years of austerity and cuts in welfare support.
Jackson, who wrote the Back to Bedlam report for the Centre for Welfare Reform, says the fact that the government implements arbitrary policies without any significant accountability or discussion means the UK is now in breach of international standards.
The report states: “Austerity has targeted disabled people for cuts in income and support; yet the government’s response to their severe criticism by the United Nations has been arrogant and confused denial.”
The fear, says Jackson, “is that the current pursuit of the policy of austerity when combined with the likely negative consequences of Brexit will set in train an irreversible process that will adversely affect all people with a learning disability and their families,” he states.
“If something is going to be done to reverse this process then it needs to be done very soon as time is fast running out.”
People with a learning disability have become a target for politically inspired injustice - Dr Simon Duffy
Dr Simon Duffy, Director of the Centre for Welfare Reform, said: “The UK political system and the charitable and academic sectors are failing people with a learning disability.
“Along with other disabled people, people with a learning disability have become a target for politically inspired injustice and there is no accountability in the current system.
“The failure of the charitable sector is particularly concerning, for they are perceived to represent the interests of people with a learning disability to the general public. If the sector speaks no evil, then ordinary members of the public will hear no evil.”
The report goes on to call for the UK government to promote and ensure all human rights and fundamental freedoms for all persons with disabilities which are set out in the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
