ESF Disability Rights seminar
“Disabled people's struggle for rights - Can the European Union deliver?"
First things first, a confession and apology. I arrived forty five minutes late for the talk on Disability Rights in Europe. This meant that I missed the speeches by David Morris of Independent Living Alternatives, Bob Mills of Mad Pride and Tomato Lichy of Greater London Association for Deaf People. I arrived midway through a speech by Ugo Vernizzi of Italy’s Cooperativa La Cruna, but by the time I had been supplied with a translating device, the speech was ending. Fortunately, I had time for the final speech by Caroline Gooding of the Trade Union Disability Alliance and the follow-up speeches and questions from members of the audience. Caroline replaced Stefan Tromal of the European Forum of Disabled People.
So If I write that this seminar sometimes felt like a group of people dancing on the spot for two hours, then it must be quantified. It’s not that I disagree with what was said, but rather that I left without any great plan of action for progress.
The answer to the title question, according to Caroline was no, Europe can’t deliver. It may no longer be permissible, for example, to discriminate against people in the workplace, but the value of such anti-discrimination legislation is reduced if the accessible education and transport isn’t available and if disabled people are still incarcerated in special housing that marginalises them from the community. As she put it ”a law is a dead letter unless it’s backed by a powerful social movement.”
Post 9/11, the quality of life for disabled people is being reduced. The government’s obsession with privatisation ensures that the care service supplied is often mediocre, and money that could be spent on social care is diverted into the “War on Terror”. Given that many people face multiple forms of discrimination, disability politics needs to be hooked into opposition to sexism, racism and homophobia
I may not have left this meeting invigorated but it is impossible to underestimate the importance of bringing disability to the ESF since disability politics have often been shamefully neglected by the left. In this writer’s opinion, the charitable sector is at best restrained by its need to appeal to the general public, and at worst works directly against the interests of its supposed client group. Disability rights alone isn’t enough, sympathy is demeaning, and activism and Direct Action is still the most progressive way for disabled people to achieve equality with those without bodily, sensory or mental impairments.
Owing to a rigmarole involving a website fiddly for the visually impaired and unhelpful (borderline hostile) organisers, I arrived unsure whether I would be let in. Luckily, staff when I arrived were much friendlier, but the extreme contrast highlights the importance of disability activism.
STEPHEN PORTLOCK
First things first, a confession and apology. I arrived forty five minutes late for the talk on Disability Rights in Europe. This meant that I missed the speeches by David Morris of Independent Living Alternatives, Bob Mills of Mad Pride and Tomato Lichy of Greater London Association for Deaf People. I arrived midway through a speech by Ugo Vernizzi of Italy’s Cooperativa La Cruna, but by the time I had been supplied with a translating device, the speech was ending. Fortunately, I had time for the final speech by Caroline Gooding of the Trade Union Disability Alliance and the follow-up speeches and questions from members of the audience. Caroline replaced Stefan Tromal of the European Forum of Disabled People.
So If I write that this seminar sometimes felt like a group of people dancing on the spot for two hours, then it must be quantified. It’s not that I disagree with what was said, but rather that I left without any great plan of action for progress.
The answer to the title question, according to Caroline was no, Europe can’t deliver. It may no longer be permissible, for example, to discriminate against people in the workplace, but the value of such anti-discrimination legislation is reduced if the accessible education and transport isn’t available and if disabled people are still incarcerated in special housing that marginalises them from the community. As she put it ”a law is a dead letter unless it’s backed by a powerful social movement.”
Post 9/11, the quality of life for disabled people is being reduced. The government’s obsession with privatisation ensures that the care service supplied is often mediocre, and money that could be spent on social care is diverted into the “War on Terror”. Given that many people face multiple forms of discrimination, disability politics needs to be hooked into opposition to sexism, racism and homophobia
I may not have left this meeting invigorated but it is impossible to underestimate the importance of bringing disability to the ESF since disability politics have often been shamefully neglected by the left. In this writer’s opinion, the charitable sector is at best restrained by its need to appeal to the general public, and at worst works directly against the interests of its supposed client group. Disability rights alone isn’t enough, sympathy is demeaning, and activism and Direct Action is still the most progressive way for disabled people to achieve equality with those without bodily, sensory or mental impairments.
Owing to a rigmarole involving a website fiddly for the visually impaired and unhelpful (borderline hostile) organisers, I arrived unsure whether I would be let in. Luckily, staff when I arrived were much friendlier, but the extreme contrast highlights the importance of disability activism.
STEPHEN PORTLOCK
posted by Stephen Portlock at 12:35 AM
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