New disabled rights bid launched » Housing » 24dash.com

A bid to give disabled people wide ranging new rights to independent living was launched in the Lords today.

Veteran disabled rights' campaigner Lord Ashley of Stoke said a "decent home" was at the heart of independent living.

He urged ministers to recognise the benefits to society and disabled people of investing in better care.

Lord Ashley was opening the second reading debate on the Disabled Persons (Independent Living) Bill which aims to enabled the disabled to enjoy the same "choice, freedom, dignity and control" in their lives as able-bodied people.

The Bill requires the drawing up of a national "independent living strategy" to deliver personalised support by local authorities and the NHS.

It also states that disabled people should be "empowered" to determine their own living arrangements.

Lord Ashley acknowledged that nothing in the Bill could be accomplished overnight but insisted that "positive advantages" could be established for the disabled in stages.

Backing the Bill, crossbencher Baroness Masham of Ilton, who has been wheelchair bound since breaking her back in 1958, congratulated Lord Ashley on his "unremitting" pursuit over the years for better facilities for disabled people.

She said palliative care was still "patchy" in a "fragmented" NHS and welcomed the Bill's emphasis on choice.

"This Bill gives much food for thought," she said. "I hope, whatever the life of the Bill will be, that it helps show there's a great deal to do if improvements are to be made."

Crossbencher Baroness Campbell of Surbiton, a commissioner in the Equalities and Human Rights Commission, said the Bill will set out a "route to disabled people's emancipation".

She said: "To fully participate in society as equal citizens, disabled people need their support to be safeguarded in the legislative infrastructure.

"This Bill provides such a mechanism."

At present, she said, support for disabled people depended on "luck as to where you live, luck in who assesses you, luck as to whether or not you get the information about your entitlements".

For the Liberal Democrats, Lord Addington said there were "great bureaucratic dragons to be slain" with the Bill.

Better coordination of "best practice" would ensure a "duty" was placed on authorities to provide proper services for disabled people.

Tory spokesman Lord McColl of Dulwich paid tribute to Lord Ashley's "amazing tenacity" in fighting for a better deal.

He said the Conservatives welcomed the principles underlying the Bill and were committed to introducing "individual budgets so people can take care of their own needs".

Individual budgets, Lord McColl added, would also allow them to commission social care services "because they know better what they need".

For the Government, Baroness Royall of Blaisdon hailed Lord Ashley as a "shining example of someone who has used the democratic system to bring about profound social change".

The Government supported the principles underpinning the Bill but did not believe it was "necessary or desirable to take the legislative solution to delivering equality and inclusion".

She said: "We wholeheartedly agree we no longer want to see public policy or services developed centrally and imposed on disabled people on a take it or leave it basis.

"We want disabled people to have choice and control over their lives. We want to see local strategies to commission services in response to locally assessed needs and we want to see disabled people involved in the design of policy and the commissioning of services."

Lady Royall said the Government's independent living review was due to report next month and set out a five-year strategy to improve opportunities for disabled people to live independently, including new investment in housing.

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