Meeting of the Parliament 05 December 2023
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 disproportionate number have to rely on food banks.
In August this year, the Scottish Human Rights Commission said that the Scottish Government “has not done enough” to support the human rights of people with disabilities. In that report to the UN, the commission also raised concern about what it called a “crisis” for disabled people’s rights. Its executive director, Jan Savage, said:
“The Scottish Government has not done enough to ensure disabled people’s human rights are fully realised”.
He went on to say:
“the situation for disabled people overall in Scotland has not got better”.
That is a damning indictment. I recognise that progress is coming with the forthcoming bill to incorporate the UNCRPD, but we must go further.
Those remarks speak to a Scotland with a Mental Welfare Commission that is all too ready to appoint a curator to speak for a person deemed not to have the capacity to communicate, even though that person actually has such capacity. With a small amount of effort, their voice could be put at the centre of a process that could determine the rest of their lives. The remarks speak to a Scotland in which our built environment and even new developments that come on stream present unnecessary and ill-thought-out physical barriers to our constituents who have mobility difficulties, and they speak to a Scotland in which children who have an episode of behavioural flare-up as a result of a neurodivergent condition are still being restrained and subdued in ways that leave lasting trauma.
The Government, therefore, has real work to do in protecting disabled people’s rights and in our efforts to include them in employment and wider society. In part, it is still failing the test set for all of us—a test that we understand full well, because of debates, such as this one, that we have with regularity.
I welcome the reopening of the independent living fund, and I welcome the fact that we are having this debate, but we are still miles from where we need to be. For example, when it comes to social security—the minister referenced a lot of this in her remarks—we know that those who apply for adult disability payments face longer waits than they should. In fact, they are facing longer waits than people under the DWP system for personal independence payments. When somebody in receipt of PIP who lives in Scotland reports a change in circumstances, they are currently forced to wait for three months to be moved over; only then does Social Security Scotland start to work on that change in circumstances. If, during that time, their condition worsens and they are entitled to a higher rate, they miss out.
I welcome the minister’s clarification in that respect, but there is still a massive cash-flow issue for those families right now. Something that should happen at the touch of a button is taking months and denying disabled people the support that they need when they need it. That lays bare the Scottish Government’s lack of foresight in removing the dedicated social security minister who could have properly overseen the transition at its most critical juncture.
The Government promised fairness, respect and dignity under the new arrangement, and we all signed up to it. Instead, people are still being left to wait in uncertainty for months while a decision is being made. That is just not good enough for families across Scotland.
The writer and neurologist Oliver Sacks once wrote:
“I wish for a world that views disability, mental or physical, not as a hindrance but as a unique attribute, that can be seen as powerful assets if given the right opportunity.”
That is something that we should all wish for. It is something that we as a society should strive for, and the realisation of the rights of people with disabilities is the only way to go about it.