Black
Disabled People Need Better Representation
'For disabled people, carers and those with long term
impairments from our communities to have a real say in the
decision making process in the UK, we have to be there
too."
National
Council of Disabled People, Carers from Black
Community
A new study on
disabled black people and employment has found that they
are worse off than other people with disabilities and that
disability organisations are failing to acknowledge this
racial disadvantage.
The report: Ethnicity,
Disability and Work, which included
interviews with 28 people of African origin and 20 people
of African Caribbean origin, shows that some black people
feel the political agenda of disabled organisations tend to
give their concerns a very low priority and consequently
voluntary and community organisations are not seen as being
particularly helpful in securing employment for disabled
blacks.
Specifically, the report claims that 'there is a tension'
between the perceptions of disadvantages that arise from
'disabilism' (discriminatory, oppressive or abusive
behaviour arising from the belief that disabled people are
inferior to others) and those resulting from racism.
The report recommends that both statutory and voluntary
disability organisations should focus on placing race
higher up the agenda and should reconsider their own
attitudes and practices to ensure that they meet the
requirements of race relations legislations, as well as
heir obligations under disability legislation.
The report calls on the government to establish a quota
system for employing blacks with sensory disability and
suggests job applications should not include a declaration
of disability until after the short-listing stage. Only 15%
of black adults (and those termed 'ethnic minorities') with
sensory impairments in the UK are in employment according
to this study. The three-year projects is the first major
study on this issue which gives a voice to some of the
concerns of black disabled people whose views are often
ignored or neglected by the mainstream. Black Britain tried
to contact Julie Charles, founder and chair of Equalities
National Council (an independent enterprise run by its
service users), for this story but she was unavailable.
A release by the emerging National Council of Disabled
People, Carers and those with long term impairments from
the black community affirmed their belief that the needs of
black disabled people were not adequately catered for.
The release said: "For disabled people, carers and those
with long term impairments from our communities to have a
real say in the decision making process in the UK, we have
to be there too not as a tokenistic lonely minority figure
but collectively and as a decisive voice on policy. If we
are not represented nationally then our needs will not get
the recognition they rightly deserve." ❏
Black
Britain
www.blackbritain.co.uk
