THE 12th Winter Paralympics came to a spectacular end this weekend, but sometimes it can feel like we have barely started to tackle the inequality that disabled people face in wider society. In schools, in universities, in the workplace, and in public places, disabled people face persistent obstacles, sometimes based on the kind of prejudices, thoughtlessness, or simply lack of planning, that we should have seen the back of years ago.
The experience of Mark Cooper is a case in point. In 2009 Mr Cooper, who uses a wheelchair, was on a night-out with friends in Edinburgh when he discovered that the only toilet in the pub was down a flight of stairs. Angry at the situation, Mr Cooper started to campaign for a change in the law that would make it easier for disabled people to know what was and was not available in pubs and nightclubs.
Now, nearly 10 years on, the law is finally about to come into force. From the end of this month, publicans will have to declare how accessible their premises are for disabled users in their application for a drinks licence. The idea is that this will then help people with disabilities to find accessible venues.
It is a welcome change in the law, although an obvious question to ask is why a relatively straightforward reform has taken so long to implement. The Labour peer George Foulkes, an early supporter of Mr Cooper’s idea, says this is often what happens in the fight for disabled equality. Society pays lip service to equal opportunities and facilities, but fails to act because of cost, the perceived bureaucracy or the worst offence of all: indifference.
Mr Cooper’s experiences and the slow start to the reform of the licensing laws also point to the much bigger problem, which is that the obstacles disabled people face affect almost every part of public and private life. It can be a flight of stairs in a pub, but it can also be the career ladder that many others can access as a matter of course.
As with almost every inequality you can think of, the problem starts in school. In theory, the Scottish education system is based on mainstreaming – the idea that disabled pupils should be educated alongside their peers – but the system is under severe strain. Disabled children are twice as likely to be excluded from school as their able-bodied peers; the number of support teachers has also been consistently cut in Scotland, meaning that the system cannot give able-bodied and disabled pupils an equal and fair chance.
Unsurprisingly, the inequality carries on beyond school into college, university or work. The employment rate for adults with a learning disability in Scotland is estimated at 5.3 per cent, compared to the overall rate of 75.2 per cent. There is also a disproportionately low number of students with disabilities at university with just 11.5 per cent of full-time students identified as disabled – in the general population, the figure is 20 per cent.
Tackling profound inequality of this kind will have to happen on a number of fronts. The Paralympics has helped to change perceptions, but day to day disabled people still face low aspirations and negative attitudes from some teachers and employers. There is also a huge amount of work to be done to remove or alleviate the kind of physical barriers Mr Cooper faced on his night out in Edinburgh.
However, it is the inequality in school, university and work that is at the heart of the issue. Schools must have the resources they need to make mainstreaming work. Universities should consider what effect disability may have played in the results of a disabled student. And employers should have much more support to help them take on disabled staff. In the words of Mr Cooper, disabled people still have to fight for things that non-disabled people take for granted; it is the responsibility of all of us to change that.
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