[By Mark Harrison, CEO Equal Lives]
Accessible Britain Challenge a Sick Joke
In September last year Mark Harper, Minister for Disabled People launched the Accessible Britain Challenge. He did this 4 months after his Department had committed to closing the inaccessible disability assessment centre in Norwich and re-locating to suitable premises. That centre is still open, still inaccessible and is still turning away disabled people 8 months after the decision to close it was made.
The Department for Work and Pensions publicity states:
The Accessible Britain Challenge encourages communities to be inclusive and accessible. That means working with disabled people to remove the barriers that stop them participating fully in their community.
Far from working with disabled people Mr Harper has ignored us and refused to enter into a dialogue or even answer our letters.
The cheery, welcoming sight that enhances the customer experience of visitors to Maximus’ inaccessible disability assessment centre in Norwich.
What makes it more perverse is that a new provider Maximus, an American outsourcing firm takes over the multi million pound Work Capability Assessment (WCA) contract from Atos next Monday and will continue to operate from St Mary’s House, 3 years after the DWP was made aware of the access issues.
Disabled campaigners and our supporters will be demonstrating between 12.30 – 1.30pm on Monday 2nd March outside St Mary’s House against this injustice.
Mark Harrison, CEO of Equal Lives said “This shows that the Accessible Britain Challenge is just a publicity stunt. We have been campaigning for 3 years outside St Mary’s House. They are even presenting awards in conjunction with the British Institute for Facilities Management and one of the categories is ‘innovative use of buildings, spaces and places’. The winners are to be announced on 15 March. I am sure the irony of this is not lost on the thousands of disabled people who have been forced to travel hundreds of miles for their assessments because the DWP won’t lease suitable premises.”
“It also demonstrates the contempt this Government has for disabled people. How can you appoint a new provider for the hated assessments and force them to use an inaccessible building which the DWP leases through another private sector provider Telereal Trillium? This clearly demonstrated that we are not all in this together. There is one rule for disabled people and another for the private sector, bankers and Ministers who see themselves as being unaccountable and above the law”.
About Equal Lives
Equal Lives is a user-led human rights organisation supporting all disabled people in Norfolk. It was formed in 1996 by groups of disabled people in Norfolk. The organisation is led by a Board of Trustees all of whom are disabled people and elected by and from its membership.
There is another wrinkle to accessibility. Small mobility scooters can have difficulty in getting up severe incline wheelchair ramps. Many places do not have automatic doors for access, even a disabled wheelchair lift in one WH Smiths to get up to the post office.
If you do not have a carer along with you, and just in a small mobility scooter, how do you open the door and drive the scooter forward.
To reverse back out is hard to see behind you to ensure don’t run over some rampant little kid with a mania for getting under your wheel, even in pedestrianised areas with kids running backwards without looking what is about them right from one side of the street to the other.
And the snaking line in post offices do not help a small scooter driver that needs the scooter to get about a shop.
The logo says Who To Vote 4. Yet the media does not say anything about most other parties, especially those who grant most hope for the poor disabled of all ages, and especially those where benefits end at 64 and yet state pension is being lost to huge numbers of men and women from next year, 2016.
See why under my petititon, in my WHY IS THIS IMPORTANT section, at:
https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/state-pension-at-60-now
My little personal pages, with me not being a member of anything, seems to be lone such information.
You might care to please share the website name on your social media Facebook and Twitter.
<a href="www.anastasia-england.me.uk"
http://www.anastasia-england.me.uk
Is this still open? In Dec 14 we had PIP assessment at the old DVLA premises on Prince of Wales Road which was very accessible (shame the assessment wasn’t up to the same standard) and I know of another that attended a medical at St Francis House on Queens Road in Dec also. Seems odd that DWP are funding 3 venues in the city.(?)
Last Thursday night I was invited to a Norwich TTIP meeting by 38 Degrees. When I got there (early) it was inaccessible because the disabled parking had been shut off.