Local Government Elections 2017
Our Manifesto for Inclusion

Despite being rich in natural resources, talent and cultural heritage, Scotland remains scarred by poverty, inequality, discrimination and exclusion. One of the groups worst affected is disabled people.

We are still largely excluded from many areas of Scottish economic, political and social life. At every stage of our lives we face barriers to inclusion.

Local Government has responsibility for a number of policies and services that are of great importance to disabled people. These include social care, occupational therapy, local transport, planning and building control, accessible housing, community facilities, supported employment and inclusive education.

Local Government therefore has a vitally important role to play in removing barriers to inclusion and enabling us to exercise our human rights.

Community empowerment and health and social care integration will change how local authorities work with the communities and individuals who use their services. Working with disabled people and their organisations can help local authorities to set the right outcomes and understand where they have been successful (or not).

The Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA) developed, with disabled people, a Disability Delivery Plansetting out what Local Authorities will do to promote disabled people’s human rights under the UN Convention. Whether or not Local Authorities are members of COSLA, the fulfilment of disabled people’s human rights should not be a matter of post-code lotteries. Much remains to be done.

There is no excuse.

 / Disabled people and their organisations must be properly resourced to participate in Local Democracy

The problem:

Disabled people face additional barriers to participating in community and public life, including holding elected office.

Disabled people will be unable to take part in Participatory Budgeting,local Community Planning, and engagement on health and social care integration unless barriers are addressed.

The potential therefore exists that disabled people’s exclusion from community life could be further reinforced rather than reduced.

Our Solutions:

  • Disabled people must be empowered to participate in local political and community life and the value of their potential contribution and lived experience recognised.
  • Local Disabled People’s Organisationsshould be recognised asan asset which needs to be properly resourced to assist disabled people’sparticipation in local democracy.
  • Barriers to disabled people’s involvement in Participatory Budgeting and Local Community Planning need to be identified and addressed.

 / Disabled people should be able to live in an accessible home and access local services

The Problem:

There are 975,000 households in Scotland where there is someone with a long term condition (LTC) or disability.

Forty thousand disabled people cannot get in and out of their own home whilst 38,000 have great difficulty/cannot use their own bathroom or toilet.

17,042 wheelchair users in Scotland have unmet housing needs

Because of austerity measures access to local services such as libraries, local council offices and bus services is being reduced.

Our Solutions:

  • At least 10% of new developments of 20 homes or more should be built to fully wheelchair-accessible standard.
  • We need a new accessible design standard for all new-build housing.
  • Housing strategiesneed to accurately identify and address the unmet needs of disabled people
  • Access panels should be “statutory consultees” for planning applications.
  • Disabled people must be involved in impact assessments when council services are being re-aligned.

 / Social Care should support disabled people’s participation in all aspects of Scottish society

The Problem:

Raising of eligibility criteria, restricting social care support to ‘life and limb’ cover

Care assessments governed more by budgetary considerations than the outcomes disabled people want to achieve.

Care charges rising far faster than the rate of inflation.

With the integration of health and social care, social care support is becoming nothing more than healthcare delivered in the community.

Our Solutions:

  • An end to social care charges.
  • The establishment of an independent Commission to examine the role and funding of social care
  • New regulations on the portability of care packages, to ensure that disabled people can choose where they want to live.
  • A commitment to the role of social care support in enabling independent living, choice and control.

 / Disabled children should receive the support they need to benefit from education

The Problem:

Disabled children are more likely than non-disabled children to be bullied at school or face harassment when going about our daily lives.

Children with Additional Support Needs (ASN) are six times (12%) as likely to leave school with no qualifications as children with no ASN (2%).

The number of Additional Support for Learning Teachers dropped by 13%, from 3,363 to 2,963, between 2010 and 2014.

Our Solutions:

  • Local Disabled People’s Organisations working in and with schoolsso that children develop positive attitudes towards disabled people.
  • The cuts to Addition Support for Learning Teachers must be halted or reversed or the Attainment Gap will never be closed.

 / Disabled people who want to work should receive the support they need.

The Problem:

Only 43% of Scottish disabled people of working age are in work compared to 81% of non-disabled people.

At age 19 young disabled people are three times as likely to be Not in Education, Training or Employment (NETE) as their non-disabled peers.

Our Solutions:

  • Internships and Apprenticeships for young disabled people should be established in every Local Authority and NHS Board.
  • When Councils buy services they should require those delivering the services to provide better employment opportunities for disabled people.

Hayweight House23 Lauriston StreetEdinburgh EH3 9DQTelephone: 0131 281 0860

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