Jeremy Moore Speech to the UK Council on Deafness conference (13 December 2011)

Read ODI Director Jeremy Moore’s speech to the UK Council on Deafness conference

Speaking to the UK Council on Deafness conference, ODI Director Jeremy Moore called for contributions from deaf and disabled people from all walks of life to shape the new cross-Government Disability Strategy.

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Introduction

Thank you for inviting me to speak to you today. It’s a pleasure to open the event, and I can see from the programme that you have a varied and interesting day ahead.

I understand that the UK Council on Deafness encourages deaf people to work together in co-production, supporting deaf and disabled people to get more involved in decisions about the support they receive. The concept of co-production with user-led organisations of this type is a model that we want to encourage and support, because it works to help its member organisations to maximise the impact they have for deaf people.

This chimes perfectly with the Government’s vision of working together to enable deaf and disabled people to fulfil their potential and participate fully in society.

This is what I want to talk to you about today – the Government’s vision for disability equality and how we want to achieve this. I want to explain the approach we’re taking towards addressing the issues which affect deaf and disabled people, and highlight where opportunities for partnership and collaborative working exist.

Two weeks ago the Government launched Fulfilling Potential, a discussion document which will shape the development of the new cross-Government disability strategy to be published next year. That strategy must be co-produced with deaf and disabled people if it’s going to be effective. I will be explaining how you can take part in the important discussions necessary to shape a shared approach to deaf and disability issues.

Independent Living and the Office for Disability Issues

The New Directorate

We also have a new directorate which I am responsible for leading. For the first time this brings together all issues that affect deaf and disabled people under one roof, placing employment and benefits alongside work on hate crime and changing attitudes. This will ensure that there is a coherent focus on removing barriers relating to issues affecting deaf and disabled people.

We work closely with Maria Miller, the Minister for Disabled People, in her cross-government role to lead this vision of removing barriers in order to create opportunities for deaf and disabled people to fulfil their potential and be fully participating members of society.

Current policy

To give this vision some context let me set out the progress that we have made. It’s clearly a very important time for deaf and disability issues.

There have been real improvements to accessibility of services. For example, there has been major investment in accessible transport, including £370 million provided for the “Access for All” programme for improved access at railway stations.

A large number of Customer Information Screens have been delivered as well as improved signage at stations and induction loops for ticket offices. Services like these help to level the playing field for deaf people and can change what people think an accessible environment is. It would, of course, be even better if they were always maintained properly!

Evidence shows that attitudes towards disabled people, including those with hearing impairments, are improving. 85 per cent of people in the UK now think of disabled people as the same as everybody else compared to 77 per cent in 2005.

But we know that more can be done. We want to put services in place that support deaf and disabled people to do everything they want to do. This might be at school, at work or in their personal lives. We must support aspiration.

We know that the life outcomes of young disabled people and those with special educational needs are disproportionately poor. Post-16, young people with special educational needs are more than twice as likely to be out of education, employment or training as those without.

The recent Green Paper on Special Educational Needs and Disability sets out the Government’s proposals to improve support for deaf and disabled young people from birth to adulthood. These proposals, which include personal budgets and individual care plans, will be tested by 31 local authorities and their Primary Care Trust partners over the coming months. The goal is to deliver better outcomes for people with special educational needs and disabilities.

Improving outcomes in education means that deaf and disabled people will have better employment prospects. But we should also support aspiration to get into employment. Here too, we are working to deliver improvements to the way Government supports deaf and disabled people who want the opportunity to work.

At the moment working age people with a sensory impairment are around twice as likely to be out of work as non-disabled people. One reason for this is that some deaf and disabled people may require targeted support.

To make sure support is available, the Government asked Liz Sayce, Chief Executive of Radar, to conduct a review of the current support given to deaf and disabled people to get into work. It found that Government could support an additional 35,000 deaf and disabled people into work if existing funding for specialist employment programmes was better targeted.

Access to work is one of the successful employment support schemes. It has provided specialist advice and financial support to 5,300 deaf and hearing-impaired people. However, the Government knows that the scheme can work better, and is committed to making sure that it does.

So in both education and work, measures are being put in place so that disabled people and people with sensory impairments have access to a comprehensive range of support.

Changing attitudes of deaf and disabled people towards themselves, so that they have more confidence and self belief to be in education and employment is not the only challenge. We also need to address attitudes to deaf and disabled people as well. Crown Prosecution Service data for 2009/10 shows that 5 per cent of the almost 14,000 hate crime prosecutions in that period were related to disability hate crime.

Making sure that deaf and disabled people play a part in public life can help to change attitudes towards them. To achieve this we are working to deliver a Coalition commitment to increase the number of deaf people and disabled people in elected office.

Working with deaf and disabled people

So these are our challenges. We want to make sure deaf and disabled people are able to succeed and have the best possible educational outcomes, so they can gain and retain employment. We also want to change attitudes to deaf and disabled people, and support them in their life choices.

Ensuring all deaf and disabled people have the chance to get involved in the decisions that affect them is central to how we achieve this. And co-production is the right way to ensure this happens.

As an example, I know the UK Council on Deafness is already working with the Department for Culture, Media and Sport in addressing the requirement for Relay Services for British Sign Language users. That’s a great example of Government and service users working together to find the best way of doing things.

And this is also the vision of the Government:

Working together to enable disabled people to fulfil their potential and have opportunities to play a full role in society”.

But how do we make this vision a reality?

We want deaf and disabled people to have access to organisations that are led by service users because they have experience and insight into the needs of deaf and disabled people. And evidence shows that where disabled people and people with sensory impairments co-produce and co-deliver services the outcomes are better for the people that use them.

It is because of the many benefits of user-led organisations that the Government has introduced a programme designed specifically to make them stronger and more sustainable – the Strengthening Disabled Peoples’ User-Led Organisations programme.

The aims of the programme are twofold: to ensure that user-led organisations are able to provide a strong voice for deaf and disabled people; and to create stronger organisations that will be able to sustain themselves in the future and provide better services to deaf and disabled people.

Good progress has been made so far.

We’ve appointed a National Lead, Rich Watts, who has been seconded from a user-led organisation to promote the programme and the work of user-led organisations. He is supported by a team of 12 local Ambassadors and even more volunteers.

We’ve committed £3m to promote the growth of user-led organisations. Already, only four months into the programme, nearly £117,000 has been distributed to 13 user-led organisations. I invite you to visit the Independent Living and Office for Disability Issues website to see how your organisations can also bid for funds.

But we know money is not the only issue. If disabled people and people with sensory impairments are to fulfil their potential and have opportunities to play a full role in society, we must look at how we can remove barriers. What more can be done in tackling discrimination, harassment and outdated attitudes? And how can disabled people have choice and control in daily life?

For that, we need a framework, a strategy. A strategy to help us prioritise the most effective ways to remove barriers for disabled people. A strategy to move from identifying barriers to identifying solutions and good practice. To tackle these issues head on, and develop a new strategy to ensure the continuing progress that is so critical to the lives of millions of people in the UK today.

We have already started this process.

Delivering the strategy

As I mentioned earlier, the Government has published Fulfilling Potential, a discussion document which signalled the start of a 12-week engagement period with deaf and disabled people and their organisations.

The discussion paper asks for practical suggestions in three important areas: realising aspirations; individual control; and changing attitudes and behaviour.

Following the discussion period, we will use your comments and ideas to help shape the new cross-Government Disability Strategy.

The Strategy will build on work that has been completed over the last few years such as the Life Chances report which created the ODI; the Independent Living Strategy that set out steps to improve the choice and control deaf and disabled people have over the services they need to live their daily lives; and more recently on the UK’s commitment to the UN Convention on the Rights of Disabled People.

But now we want to widen the net and hear from deaf and disabled people of all ages, from all walks of life. We want contributions from, not only your organisations, but from your stakeholders too. And we would welcome any suggestions you may have for how best to engage particular groups or communities.

Why are we taking this approach?

We have been told a lot about the barriers deaf and disabled people are facing, but now we want to identify solutions and good practice for these challenging times.

We are building on previous work, but the context has changed.

Firstly, the current economic environment is challenging and complex and we all need to think about how we develop and use public services.

Secondly, developments in technology mean that different ways of delivering services and collaborating in co-production are possible.

And finally the Equality Act gives a stronger legislative framework for the measures we may put in place.

We need to find the best solutions for current times and identify what will have maximum impact with limited resources. Please join the conversation to make the final strategy truly representative.

You can submit your comments online on the Independent Living and Office for Disability Issues website, or run an event yourselves to discuss the issues. Details of how we can support you to do this are also on our website. Submit your responses by the 9 March 2012. We will use these comments to inform the new cross-government Disability Strategy to be published in spring 2012.

Your ideas will help us identify where we should focus resources and efforts as well as any new areas where we might make a difference.

Conclusion

The approach I’ve outlined today shows that the Government wants to work with deaf and disabled people towards a society in which everyone can play their full part.

And this Government is committed to bringing about real change for deaf and disabled people – co-production, independence, choice and control: these are the things that matter to deaf and disabled people.

Whether in work or education, or any other role individuals may play in life achieving the vision of disability equality remains one to which the Government is committed.

Working through these key areas of: realising aspirations, increasing individual control and changing attitudes and behaviours, it can be done.

Individuals are at the centre of what we do. Individuals who want to be supported in their choices: to spend time with family; to decide on the way that they want to live their lives.

And as the Director of Independent Living and the Office for Disability Issues, I want to work closely with you on delivering the right services and programmes to support deaf and disabled people in their choices and to fulfil their aspirations.

Thank you

Page last reviewed: 13 December 2011