Date: Monday, 11th December 2023
Time: 3pm – 5pm
Place: Grimond Room, Portcullis House, SW1A 2LW
British Sign Language Interpretation will be provided
Co-chairs: John McDonnell, MP & Navin Kikabhai, Chair, Alliance for Inclusive Education [ALLFIE]
Speakers: John Harris, journalist; Ellen Clifford, Disabled People Against Cuts and author of The War on Disabled People; Chelsea Hughes (mother of survivor); Mark Harrison, Reclaiming Our Futures Alliance; Maresa MacKeith, ALLFIE Youth Parliamentary Officer; Lucy Wing, ALLFIE Our Voice, Simone Aspis, Inclusion London Free Our People Network; Sanneke Fidler, Free Our People Network; Asha Nauth, Deaf Ethnic Women’s Association; Tracey Norton, WinVisible
All too frequently we hear in the media about scandals exposed in under-cover reporting revealing abuse and torture of disabled people perpetrated by staff within institutional settings. The public are rightly outraged by such incidences of cruelty and neglect. Investigations, safeguarding reviews and public inquiries follow, yet the lessons are never learned and the scandals keep coming. This is because behind the public exposés is a system that relies on abuse and neglect in order to make up funding short falls and to maximise shareholder profits. The government has missed successive targets for de-institutionalisation. Disabled people and their families are told that institutionalisation is the only option because there is no available support in the community.
A number of Deaf and Disabled People’s Organisations [DDPOs] and allies have come together to form a campaign to end the torture and abuse.
This meeting will hear from DDPOs and from individual survivors about why we need a campaign and will be a chance to discuss how we can take action to secure justice for disabled people subject to torture and abuse and to prevent further rights violations.
Hashtags: #JusticeNotProfit #EndTortureOfDisabledPeople
Directions and access information
Nearest accessible tube station is Westminster accessible from platform to street level Jubilee line
Buses 3, 11, 12, 24, 53, 87, 88, 149, 211, 453 all stop near Parliament/Portcullis House
Nearest train stations: London Charing Cross (Southeastern), Waterloo (South West trains)
JUST LIKE THE TORIES TO ATTACK THOSE WHO CAN’T FIGHT BACK