An LA to set up user-led group to focus on disabled barriers

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A local authority has become the second in London to set up an independent, user-led commission to investigate the barriers faced by disabled residents.

Lewisham commission hopes to put disabled people at heart of decision-making

A local authority has become the second in London to set up an independent, user-led commission to investigate the barriers faced by disabled residents.

Lewisham Disabled People’s Commission (LDPC) will be led by disabled people and will examine organisational, attitudinal and physical barriers faced by disabled adults in the borough, and how Lewisham council and others can address those barriers.

They will review key research and information and hear from local disabled residents and users of local services before producing a final report for the council, with recommendations for change.

The commission was set up after an election manifesto commitment by Lewisham Labour council candidates and will be chaired by disabled writer, poet and campaigner Jamie Hale, with its report expected in about a year’s time.

Hale (pictured) said one of the key issues the commission would examine was the impact of social care charges.

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Thanks for the link, Butterfly.

Great that they will look at the impact of charges.

I hope they remember to balance the opinions of those with physical disabilities with opinions of those with learning disabilities and autism and also collect the view of those who cannot easily advocate for themselves. Too often the opinions of those with physical disabilities are taken to represent the voice of all disabled people - in yet their view and challenges are very different.

Melly1

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Bottom line almost guaranteed to be lack of monies … with the only , current , alternative to raise Council Tax … on one of the most deprived manors
in the UK ? … and then ring fence the surplus ???

Commissions are good but … not so when most already know the outcome ?

Shades of the Care Act , 2014 … murdered at birth by … the lack of available funds.

Here in Worksop , where would one start ?

Public transport ( Buses with space for 2 wheelchairs at the maximum running at half hourly intervals at best … no service after 7 pm and a very limited service on Sundays
and Bank Holidays ?

Pacer built trains ) / housing / support services / inaccessible shops and pavements / roads with pot holes ?

Gp surgeries with waiting times into weeks as opposed to days and still operating on a five day 9 - 6 schedule , emergencies on a Saturday morning ?

Emergency pharmacies outside the town centre needing private transport to visit ?

All are in a dire need of a major rethink.

Even then , if any improvements need monies , raise CT thus removing even more monies from the wallets / purses of the disabled ???

When it comes to funding through CT , the words of the Liverpool Mayor should echo through this thread :

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Liverpool’s Labour Mayor Joe Anderson - who grew up in poverty himself - there is no subject more pressing and personal than the cuts that have ravaged his authority and left it struggling to provide the most basic of services.

He has a thing or two to say about the claims from Ms Truss that councils have been freed up to collect more cash in tax - and have not been the subject of cuts.

“Nearly 50% of our Council Tax budget is now spent on supporting the most vulnerable people in our city,” he says.
> "We also have around £35m in uncollected Council Tax and about £25m of that is from people who are on benefits and who are receiving support payments from us.

“How can I take someone to court for not paying Council Tax, who is actually already on benefits that we are paying to them? It is a totally perverse situation.”

Just how many agencies would need to be represented at a Commission ?

The TRUE answer lies with Government policy.

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I just read the other day that Jeremy Hunt now regrets having made cuts so severe. The Central Government tree of money needs drastically shaking to it’s roots; coz the way I see it money is there they just need to release it quick smart.

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Don’t worry , we have all been told that the end of Austerity is nigh !

Trouble is , after Thursday , would that now be 2024 … at the very earliest ?