Revealed: The man who sacked a woman on maternity leave is now head campaigner for women’s equality in Scotland

Powerful and from this I feel worried for equality rights for persons in Scotland.

I am not sure how all this relates politically in Scotland, but I would like to know what the SNPs views are on this. So come forth Nicola Ferguson Sturgeon, MSP for Glasgow Govan and First Minister of Scotland.

David Hencke

John Wilkes, now chief executive of the Scottish Equality and Human Rights Commission Pic credit:Third Force News

CROSS POSTED ON BYLINE.COM

Meet John  Wilkes. He is now chief executive of the Equality and Human Rights Commission in Scotland. The ECHR’s top campaign at the moment is fighting against  the discrimination  of women who take maternity leave from their jobs.

As the ECHR’s own research says on its latest campaigns website says:

• Around one in nine mothers (11%) reported that they were either dismissed; made compulsorily redundant, where others in their workplace were not; or treated so poorly they felt they had to leave their job; if scaled up to the general population this could mean as many as 54,000 mothers a year.”

Great words. But they didn’t seem to reach John Wilkes before he took up his highly paid post at the ECHR in Glasgow.

Then he held the job…

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‘Too many’ patients locked in for mental health care | DisabledGo News and Blog

Too many patients are locked into mental health rehabilitation wards far from home, a review of England’s psychiatric services suggests. The Care Quality Commission said there were 3,500 beds in locked facilities across the country, but it believes more people could and should get care in residential settings close to home. The report said safety on mental health wards was another major concern. NHS England said progress was being made with higher funding for care. ‘Kept in for 341 days’ Claire Murdoch, head of mental health for NHS England, added that while there were reasons for optimism, improvements – in line with the priorities set out by the NHS five-year plan – were needed. The Care Quality Commission (CQC) looked at all specialist mental health services across England – inspecting NHS care and services provided by the independent sector. It said almost all services were rated as good or outstanding for having caring and compassionate staff and that there were many examples of

Source: ‘Too many’ patients locked in for mental health care | DisabledGo News and Blog

“We had never thought about disability seriously until Oliver was born”

It is great when we all hear stories such as these, especially in the current climate of many areas of negativity.

In general the Learning Disability community may not be a vast as some other forms of disability, although there are vast numbers of persons with LD with its many related conditions and each person may be different in many ways, but the numbers of related condition and their effects are may be more vast than other disability areas.

LD is an unknown for many within the UK and its press and Government perception is not generally good, thus progressing the negativity relating to LD to the public at large. But this negativity is certainly very misplaced and this negativity needs to be urgently reversed.

While the LD community is very progressive more collective activity needs to be generated and not only between the large national charities, as there are many local independent small and relatively large charities and a vast arrange of support groups, which in the very austere financial climate are not receiving sufficient funding and in many vases no funding at all.

Now is the time for all to come together and in doing so all other related medically based charities to provide wherever possible a joint solid front to the authorities especially on a local level and with these local authorities to central government, which will eventually achieve more for us all and enhance the lives of our loved ones.

Scope's Blog

Chris is taking part in RideLondon for Scope next weekend. When his son, Oliver, was born with an undiagnosed condition, Chris didn’t know who to turn to for support.

We had never thought about disability seriously until Oliver was born. Oliver has an undiagnosed genetic condition which has certain physical manifestations. He was born with fused fingers and he has a cleft palate. He has some other conditions and a severe learning disability but it’s quite hard to describe. If your child has Cerebral Palsy or something that has a name, then you know where to go because there are people who will support you for that.

We’ve also found out that Oliver is very strongly on the autistic spectrum as well. This came as quite a surprise to us because he has a very good sense of humour. He is very naughty but not in a bad way. He…

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Pay row threatens overnight care for vulnerable | DisabledGo News and Blog

for a long time they must pay sleep-in staff at least the minimum wage.

Source: Pay row threatens overnight care for vulnerable | DisabledGo News and Blog

ROYAL MENCAP SOCIETY CHIEF URGES GOVERNMENT TO AVERT CRISIS IN THE LEARNING DISABILTY SECTOR | DisabledGo News and Blog

THE SURVIVAL OF SCORES OF CARE PROVIDERS IS AT RISK Royal Mencap Society, one of the country’s leading learning disability charities, has today (19 July) made known that essential care for some of the country’s most vulnerable people – those with serious learning disabilities – is threatened because of a Government failure to grasp the nettle on a critical funding issue. Many of the organisations providing this support are charities, whose very survival is now at risk. Derek Lewis, Chairman of Royal Mencap Society, indicated that a volte-face in Government guidance on National Minimum Wage (NMW)1 payments payable to care staff who sleep at the workplace, together with the precipitate action of HMRC, demanding 6 years back pay, has brought the sector to the brink of disaster. One capable of creating Southern Cross type failures on a multiple scale right across the country. With high politics and Brexit taking centre-stage all attempts to get top levels of Government to take the issue

Source: ROYAL MENCAP SOCIETY CHIEF URGES GOVERNMENT TO AVERT CRISIS IN THE LEARNING DISABILTY SECTOR | DisabledGo News and Blog

What really matters: Let’s focus what we in the autism community can agree on | The Art of Autism

Finding things we can agree on is the only way we are going to make significant change.

Source: What really matters: Let’s focus what we in the autism community can agree on | The Art of Autism

Funding alone won’t fix the social care system | Colin Capper | Social Care Network | The Guardian

Alzheimer’s Society is investing in three new research centres of excellence that aim to find ways to improve quality of life and care

Source: Funding alone won’t fix the social care system | Colin Capper | Social Care Network | The Guardian

New Government Must Make Society Fairer for Disabled People | DisabledGo News and Blog

National disability charity, Sense, has responded to the General Election result, highlighting that whatever the makeup of the new government, policy makers must grasp the chance to reduce barriers to opportunity for disabled people, if it wishes to allow all people to realise their aspirations. Richard Kramer, Deputy CEO of National Disability Charity, Sense, said: “Although we have a hung parliament, there is a real opportunity for the new Government to make our society fairer, which is why it is vital that policy makers listen to the voices of disabled people and work towards levelling the playing field once and for all. “Disabled campaigners raised a number of key issues throughout the general election campaign, including the current social care crisis and recent disability welfare changes, which the Government must urgently address if it truly wishes to support the aspirations of disabled people throughout our country. “Disabled people deserve to live full and independent lives,

Source: New Government Must Make Society Fairer for Disabled People | DisabledGo News and Blog

Will you help us campaign for a better deal?

As the political picture takes shape, it’s something we can address right now, making the most of Carers Week to raise awareness and seek action from a wide variety of people, services, employers and communities.

And it’s something we need to work together to address over the coming months: the new Government must build a better future for carers.

 

Source: Will you help us campaign for a better deal?

Access to Work cap hits prominent Deaf campaigner as he starts new job | DisabledGo News and Blog

The newly-appointed Deaf chief executive of a leading disabled people’s organisation has been told the government will only provide him with enough support to pay for interpreters three days every week. David Buxton, a British Sign Language-user, began his full-time job as chief executive of Action on Disability in London last week, but has immediately been hit by the controversial cap on the Access to Work (AtW) scheme. The scheme provides disabled people with funding to pay for some of the extra disability-related expenses they face at work, reducing the costs organisations face when taking on disabled employees. The cap was introduced for new AtW claimants in 2015 and is due to affect existing claimants from April 2018. Campaigners have been warning for the last two years that the cap, which will limit annual AtW awards to one-and-a-half times the average salary, would hit Deaf users of British Sign Language (BSL) hardest, with BSL services accounting for about four-fifths of the highest

Source: Access to Work cap hits prominent Deaf campaigner as he starts new job | DisabledGo News and Blog