Labour will make a positive difference to the life of disabled people

Labour’s manifesto centres on the idea that Britain only succeeds when working people succeed. I’m proud that we’ve made it clear that this includes disabled people. We will focus on what we achieve at school and university, how we get jobs and keep them, take part in community life and support our families. In that way we will break the link between disability and poverty with an economic recovery in which disabled people can prosper.

The Tories regard anyone who claims benefits as a ‘scrounger’. They don’t use the word but it comes through in what they do. They created chaos and anxiety for disabled people in many ways:

• The bedroom tax – two thirds of those hit (440,000) are disabled people;
• Extra Costs – Trying to dismantle Disability Living Allowance with Personal Independence Payments;
• Closures – Scrapping the Independent Living Fund, Disabled Student’s Allowance and Access to Elected Office Fund;
• Employment – Fewer disabled people have been getting Access to Work support.

The last Labour government signed the UN Convention on the Rights of Disabled Persons. We’re determined that those rights become a reality by, for example, making disability hate crime a specific criminal offence.

Labour will create a new cross governmental committee, bringing together ministers from all relevant government departments and disabled people themselves. We will take practical steps to secure equality for disabled people, by assessing the impact of policies, mitigating against adverse effects and identifying new opportunities for disabled people to thrive.

Disabled people tell me constantly they want to work, but we face barriers in the labour market. We can’t get the start needed or lose our job with the onset of disability. For disabled people the Work Programme has been a failure. Labour will overhaul the ineffective Work Capability Assessment and set up a new specialist Work Support programme to help disabled people into jobs.

Support for disabled people locally won’t just focus on employability. Local partnerships will bring together health, housing, education and other support to enable more disabled people to find work and develop a career.

Sometime ago I managed Access to Work contracts for RNIB across the UK, so I know only too well that specialist knowledge and experience of disability will get things done effectively. That’s why I know that JobCentre Plus has failed disabled people.

Only one in five disabled people were born with their disability. Most acquire it throughout their lifetimes – 70% are in work when they do. That’s why we need to step in at the onset of disability to help stay in work. Once you are out of the job market it’s hard to get back in – especially if you have a disability.

Disabled people are more likely to be in low paid work than employees generally. The £8 an hour Minimum Wage will have a huge impact on disabled people. So too will better employment conditions for paid carers. It will be good for them and the people they support.

I know from personal experience that our flagship policy of saving the NHS will have particular resonance with many disabled people. My experience as a child when I had one eye operation after another and when I was supported through that difficult journey by our NHS, will strike a chord with many other disabled people with similar experiences. That’s why I, like they are, want to see the Coalition’s competition framework obliterated along with its Tory and Lib Dem architects.

Our reforms aren’t about another top down re-organisation. Instead, we focus on how things need to be done differently. So our commitment to integrate physical and mental health and social care will improve the life chances of disabled people. Labour’s better plan will bring services together to provide ‘whole-person’ co-ordinated care with a single contact. It will transform the life chances of disabled people.

Our ‘better plan for disabled people’ in the mainstream and disability-specific manifestos, draws together a comprehensive range of measures for transforming the lives of disabled people. It is a compelling agenda. I’m confident it will secure the support of disabled voters and will make a positive difference to our lives.

Emily Brothers one of Labour’s few disabled candidates in this election, is contesting Sutton and Cheam, which is a battleground seat in South West London