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The human rights of persons with disabilities (CRPD)

UN Human rights convention breach

As a local resident i am sending this letter to you as my representative and implore you to
read it in full and understand the impacts on the disabled people of the UK. We as citizen’s
should not have to create petitions to ask the government to treat us with equality, Dignity
and respect. Nor should we have to ask for cruel, degrading and inhumane treatment to be
stopped by a government department.

These petitions should not have had to be created.

https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/620962

https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/619481

https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/593296

https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/644520

https://findothers.com/campaign/disabledlivesmatter

Address | City, St Postcode

As an MP you are bound by the Equality Duty and you cannot stand for this deplorable
behaviour to continue.

We would like an inquiry into the breaching of disabled persons’ human rights and violations
of the Equality Act 2010 by the government as a whole and the current party incharge.

The disabled people of the UK are frustrated with the rhetoric that they are all lazy
scroungers, taking tax payers’ money and the expectation that they must work to be worth
anything. This in itself is a violation of the public sector equality duty!

Breaches of duty

Many UK residents, and disability charities have expressed evidence concerns that the
government policy and disability benefits system is violating laws (Equality Act 2020) and
conventions (the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), and the United Nations
Conventions Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD).

Cases have been heard in court in favour of the disabled individuals on these matters, but
the government has failed to amend their conduct. We, as disabled UK citizens, request that
an immediate inquiry into the policies and systems that have repeatedly violated the rights of
disabled individuals is conducted. We also request that all future policies and systems for
disabled individuals are assessed against the Equality Act 2010, the public sector equality
duty, and the ECHR for any potential breaches before they are implemented.

Public opinion

Research published in 2018 identified that prejudiced views against disabled people have
continued to grow in England and Wales since 2000
(https://www.learningdisabilitytoday.co.uk/is-the-government-doing-enough-to-protect-
disabled-peoples-rights)

We feel that appropriate measures need to be taken to combat negative views,

discriminatory stereotypes, and prejudice against persons with disabilities in public and the
media, including the assertion that dependency on benefits is in itself a disincentive to seek
employment.

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A suggestion to implement this is broad mass media campaign, in consultation with
organisations representing persons with disabilities, particularly those affected by the welfare
reform. The aim would be to promote disabled individuals as full rights holders, in
accordance with the ECHR. In addition, measures need to be adopted to address complaints
of harassment and hate crime by persons with disabilities, prompt investigation of those
allegations, where the perpetrators are held accountable and where they must provide fair
and appropriate compensation to victims.

Little progress has been made in implementing recommendation 114(h) of the Equality and
Human Rights Commission report (Progress on disability rights in the United Kingdom: 2023)
which sought to reduce negative or discriminatory stereotypes, and it is still relevant.
Although some positive steps have been taken to combat bullying, more needs to be done to
tackle negative stereotypes or prejudice against disabled people in the public and media, as
well as to tackle disability-related hate crime.

Lack of social care provisions, leading to acute violations of disabled

people’s human right’s

In 2018, the EHRC published the changes to taxes and transfer payments (including
benefits, tax credits and the introduction of Universal Credit) announced between 2010 and
2015 had disproportionately negative impacts on several protected characteristic groups,
including disabled people, certain ethnic minority groups and women, with the largest
impacts felt by those on lower incomes.

Across the UK, impacts on the mental and physical health of disabled people, and on
standard of living and poverty, suggest that the welfare system does not align with the
human rights model of disability outlined in the Committee on the Rights of Persons with
Disabilities (CRPD).

In 2021, the UN Special Rapporteur on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights raised concerns
about human rights retrogression in a letter to the UK Government, stating that removal of
the uplift was unlikely to conform to international human rights law and standards.

The public sector equality duty

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Compliance with the general equality duty is a legal obligation, but it also makes good
business sense.

It was implemented to:

* Remove or minimise disadvantages suffered by people due to their protected

characteristics.

* Take steps to meet the needs of people from protected groups where these are different
from the needs of other people.

* Encourage people from protected groups to participate in public life or in other activities
where their participation is disproportionately low.

Instead of these goals being met, we feel we are treated cruelly, degradingly and inhumanely
by the government and DWP during disability assessments. We are watched by the DWP
and the public in case we commit fraud which prevents us from participating in public life,
especially because 80% of disabilities are invisible/hidden, which allows the stigma of being
“fakers” to be applied. Disabled people are terrified of going out and doing anything for fear
of being accused of faking their disabilities and losing their benefits. It is worth noting here
that it is a fight to receive those benefits in the first place.

We feel disability benefits should be for ALL disabled people, as we ALL face additional
costs due to our disabilities. We feel that the only questions you should be asking us at an
assessment whether the disabilities we have are covered by the Equality Act 2010, and if so,
whether they are temporary or permanent.

We do support means testing the benefits for disabled individuals, as the problem we have
with the current system is disabled people struggling to meet the additional costs their
disability generates. We agree it is reasonable to set a threshold for a point a disabled
individual may be earning enough to settle the costs themselves, but that threshold should
be reasonable and the extreme variation of costs should be taken into account

In addition, we feel it would be fair and beneficial to have an ‘additional costs’ system, where
we can submit exceptional expenses incurred because of our disabilities, which could be

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settled by the government in addition to our benefits. Some equipment is very expensive and
many people simply cannot afford what they need.

We are not worthless, our lives matter, we deserve respect, and equally, because disability is
not a choice. We do not ask for more than healthy individuals, we simply want to exist on the
same level as them.

Reasonable adjustment passport

The reasonable adjustment passport will not work if the implementation of the reasonable
adjustments is down to business discretion. We feel the system needs changing
immediately. Onus should be on the business to provide evidence of why a reasonable
adjustment cannot be implemented, which should be verified by an independent service. If
they have not given a legitimate or valid reason, we suggest they should be fined for
breaching the Equality Act 2010. This would not only generate enforcement, and reduce
discrimination, but also provide justice for disabled individuals, while lowering the amount of
employment tribunals that are required.

We believe there is a distinct lack of awareness about disabilities generally, as covered

above, but also especially in the workplace. We suggest that Human Resources (HR)
professionals, Managers and supervisors should be expected to have training to understand
disabilities and the Equality Act 2010, which could be presented in a physical course. One
sheet of paper or an online video is not sufficient, as the amount of current employment
tribunals shows. It would be incredibly beneficial for All MPS should also sit this course to
better understand the 17.8% of their constituents that have a disability (Office for National
Statistics, England and Wales Census, 2021).

Our rights are bound by the Law and ignorance of them is not a valid excuse to any court.

Sincerely,

*ENTER NAME*