Equal Opportunities Committee, 09 Sep 2003

Meeting date: Tuesday, September 9, 2003

Official Report 106KB pdf

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European Year of Disabled People

A draft approach paper on the European year of disabled people has been circulated.

It is important that we continue this work. As we know, a lot of legislation will impact on the issue this year and next year. It would be interesting to hear what improvements people have noticed as a result of the European year. I said at the away day that I am interested in access to further and higher education. I would like to know what improvements there have been, how the various aspects of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 have impacted on people's lives, and what barriers to education—if any—still exist.

So you want to know whether the European year of disabled people has made any difference at all.

Yes. Obviously, although I am interested in all the issues that are raised in the paper, I am interested in education in particular. It would be useful to take stock of what is happening throughout the country.

It is important that we have the event that is proposed in the approach paper. I wonder whether it is possible to make child-care arrangements. I do not see the provision of such arrangements mentioned in the paper and I wonder whether other members agree that that would be important in making the event accessible.

I would not want to prejudge what will come out of the event, but it is important to remember that we have had representations on the effects of poverty on children with disabilities, which is dealt with in paragraph 3 of the paper. We should also consider the effect on children who are living with disability, rather than only the effect on disabled children themselves. As I say, we have had such representations, and I would like them to be considered as part of the committee's inquiry on disability. However, I accept that we should wait and see what comes out of the event before we make any final decisions.

Were the carers of people with disabilities involved in preliminary evidence taking before the European year of disabled people got going?

It was generally people with disabilities themselves, and organisations that represent them.

A number of people with disabilities have long-term carers. Those carers could have a significant input to our inquiry.

It is clearly important that we have an opportunity to listen to people's experiences before we make any decisions. The clerks will produce another paper that will finalise arrangements for the participation seminar. I hope that, following that seminar, we can consider how to proceed with our inquiry, bearing in mind the strands that people have mentioned.

It is important, when a year is designated as the year of the disabled, or the year of anything else, that things do not stop at the end of that year. The year must mean things to people and expectations that are raised should go beyond the year. It is our job to consider the issues and to help to highlight them.

That is a very important point. The Equal Opportunities Committee must follow up on issues. All the issues are on-going and we need to keep track of them. More than just saying something, we need to ensure that we are doing something and that the work is carried forward.

The clerks will produce a paper. I assume that the seminar may be held outwith Edinburgh. Who knows?