Highlands influences disability law reform
DISABLED people’s human rights could take a giant leap forward as a result of an Inverness summit.
The issues were the focus of an information gathering event at Eden Court, where delegates gave their opinions on new United Nations (UN) recommendations to strengthen legislation.
The process to enhance the rights of disabled Scots should influence change by the Scottish Government.
The city event was hosted by the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) and the Scottish Human Rights Commission (SHRC) in partnership with Inclusion Scotland and People First Scotland.
This information will be sent to the Scotland’s minister with responsibility for disability Jeane Freeman.
John Beaton, Highland officer at Inclusion Scotland, said: "We already know that disabled people are experts by experience in the topics covered by the committee’s concluding comments and recommendations, and the workshop discussions we had genuinely reflected this at the Highland, local level.
"Discussions also highlighted a need for training on disabled people’s human rights in Highland. We look forward to working with these organisations again."
The EHRC’s Scottish chief John Wilkes said: "We hope the event will have identified what needs to happen to implement the committee’s recommendations, when it needs to happen and who should be in charge of taking it forward."
Inclusion Scotland Highland officer John Beaton said: "We’re delighted that the EHRC and SHRC are investing in making human rights accessible to disabled people in Highland.
"That UN work continues to resonate from an international to a local level is key to disabled people recognising themselves as rights holders in their own communities."
The event featured a live link to a "question time" panel discussion taking place at a conference in Edinburgh.
There were also workshops based on recommendations made by the UN committee.
The UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities is an international agreement the UK has signed up to. It sets out what countries must do to ensure disabled people have equal rights.
Every four years, a UN disability committee reviews how well the UK is performing. Last August, the committee reviewed the UK’s performance for the first time.
Disabled people, national human rights organisations and the UK and devolved governments all gave evidence to the UN.
Recommendations to Holyrood include reducing poverty among families with disabled children, doing more to stop hate crime against disabled people and ensuring sufficient funding to allow disabled people to choose where they live.
Other aims include making sure that disabled people get support to make their own decisions, doing more to tackle disability discrimination and harassment in schools, providing more support to allow disabled people to work and tackle disability discrimination in employment and doing more to address the high suicide rate among disabled people, especially people with learning disabilities.
