Chamber
Meeting of the Parliament 05 December 2023
05 Dec 2023 · S6 · Meeting of the Parliament
Item of business
Disability Equality and Human Rights
That is absolutely fair and right. It is not just about listening to disabled people, but about having the courage to introduce policies that reflect the diversity of people’s experience and not treating disabled people as a homogenous whole.
My final point was about choice over where to live, and my uncle has lived in various places such as sheltered accommodation in Perth as well as in residential care. When I look back on the narrative of my uncle’s life, it is very clear that, in his particular example, the fighting and battling for basic rights got easier over time as Governments worked to ensure that policies reflected disabled people’s human rights.
We have made progress but, a few weeks ago, I met some hearing impaired pupils in the Highlands who are being held back at school, because of a total lack of British Sign Language teachers. That reminded me of how essential it is that we provide that choice and that freedom by focusing on young people’s education at the youngest of ages.
The point that I am making in my speech is that reaching those objectives requires more than sentiment and rhetoric once a year. It is about embedding that human rights approach in all of our work. We will have succeeded when nobody feels the need to fight against the system to get what we believe should be rightfully theirs.
In the same item of business
The Deputy Presiding Officer (Liam McArthur)
LD
The next item of business is a debate on motion S6M-11537, in the name of Emma Roddick, on championing disability equality and human rights. 14:47
The Minister for Equalities, Migration and Refugees (Emma Roddick)
SNP
I am very glad to be speaking to the motion, because, for many reasons, it is an important time of year for us to mark. First, we are just five days away fro...
Alex Cole-Hamilton (Edinburgh Western) (LD)
LD
I do not disagree with anything that the minister has said thus far in an excellent speech. Does she agree that the gold standard for protecting the rights o...
Emma Roddick
SNP
That is an excellent point. The member will be aware that the UNCRPD is one of four treaties that we are seeking to incorporate into Scots law as part of our...
Oliver Mundell (Dumfriesshire) (Con)
Con
That is not the feedback that I often get from young people in my constituency. Those living in rural areas find those programmes very hard to access, and go...
Emma Roddick
SNP
Oliver Mundell asked me recently about that particular service, and I am more than happy to reach out and speak again about what is happening. Obviously, our...
Paul O’Kane (West Scotland) (Lab)
Lab
Does the minister recognise the significant challenges in relation to delays in the administration of ADP and the challenging wait times to get through to So...
Emma Roddick
SNP
Absolutely. I would point out that Social Security Scotland has taken urgent action around decision making to speed it up. In the past quarter, we processed ...
Miles Briggs (Lothian) (Con)
Con
I apologise for the delay in my attendance in the chamber. I will open with the words of Natasha Hamilton, daughter of Anne Duke, who gave evidence last mon...
The Deputy Presiding Officer (Annabelle Ewing)
SNP
Please resume your seat for a second, Mr Briggs. I am finding your speech very interesting, but I am looking at the amendment that was selected—although it h...
Miles Briggs
Con
I absolutely am. The cases that I am referring to relate to individuals who had complex needs and care needs during the pandemic. Indeed, the first line of m...
Paul O’Kane (West Scotland) (Lab)
Lab
I am pleased to participate in the debate and to speak about the experience of disabled people in Scotland so soon after the international day of persons wit...
Alex Cole-Hamilton (Edinburgh Western) (LD)
LD
I am grateful to the Government for bringing its motion to the chamber for debate. When I think back to my time as convener of the for Scotland’s disabled ch...
Martin Whitfield (South Scotland) (Lab)
Lab
On that point, is the member aware of the stark statistic that three out of four users of the Trussell Trust’s food banks are from a household with a disable...
Alex Cole-Hamilton
LD
Something is fundamentally wrong in our provision—in the safety net that we in this place seek to provide for families affected by disability—if such a dispr...
The Deputy Presiding Officer
SNP
We now move to the open debate. I remind all members who wish to speak in the debate to ensure that they have pressed their request-to-speak buttons. 15:25
Kate Forbes (Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch) (SNP)
SNP
The aim captured in the Government’s motion is that all disabled people should have freedom, dignity, choice and control over their lives. I hope that all of...
Alex Cole-Hamilton
LD
I very much enjoyed listening to the story of Kate Forbes’s uncle, but before she told us that story, she talked about giving people with disabilities a voic...
Kate Forbes
SNP
That is absolutely fair and right. It is not just about listening to disabled people, but about having the courage to introduce policies that reflect the div...
The Deputy Presiding Officer
SNP
We have quite a bit of time in hand, so interventions can easily be taken without any reduction in speaking time. With that, I call Annie Wells to be followe...
Annie Wells (Glasgow) (Con)
Con
I welcome the chance today to talk about the challenges that disabled people face in Scotland. There is much in the motion that we can welcome. We agree that...
Kate Forbes
SNP
I appreciate the member’s contribution. I am not sure that drug and alcohol deaths are specific to the discussion on disabled people that we are having right...
Annie Wells
Con
My colleague Jeremy Balfour has proposed a bill to introduce a disability commissioner. We support increasing the distance in the adult disability payment mo...
Kevin Stewart (Aberdeen Central) (SNP)
SNP
Worldwide, more than 1 billion people are disabled, and in Scotland, that figure is well over 1 million. That is a quarter of our population whose day-to-day...
The Deputy Presiding Officer
SNP
I call Pam Duncan-Glancy, who joins us online. 15:45
Pam Duncan-Glancy (Glasgow) (Lab)
Lab
The Scottish Parliament—rightly—always recognises the international day of disabled people, and we should be very proud of that. However, this year sees a ma...
Karen Adam (Banffshire and Buchan Coast) (SNP)
SNP
It is a privilege to talk on this subject. It is no secret to the Parliament that campaigning for human rights is a deep passion of mine, mostly because of t...
Martin Whitfield (South Scotland) (Lab)
Lab
It is a real pleasure to follow Karen Adam’s very powerful speech. Her ability to illustrate her childhood resulted in me almost being transported into that ...
Clare Haughey (Rutherglen) (SNP)
SNP
I am pleased to contribute to today’s debate. The World Health Organization estimates that around 1.3 billion people worldwide—roughly one in six—have some f...
Maggie Chapman (North East Scotland) (Green)
Green
I give special thanks to the disabled people’s organisations that provided briefings for the debate. Most of them included testimonies that give voice to the...