Today a pioneer a pioneer of the disability movement Jack Ashley has died. Others will be able to write more eloquently and knowledgeably about his achievements but i wanted to say without his tireless work on disability issues I would not be where I am today. His work 40 years ago in helping to pass the first disability legislation which then led to other legislation such as the Disability Discrimination Act is something for which I will always be grateful.
With out his work I doubt I would of been educated to the extent I have been or been able to live in America. His work led to disabled people being able to integrate into society and have a normal life. For the past 3 years I have been working on a campaign to improve disabled access information about pubs. It is work that i feel is unfinished because the law change I secured only applies in Scotland so my tribute to Jack Ashley is not this blog, but finishing the campaign that I started so that all disabled people have access to the same level of access information about pubs so they can enjoy a social life where ever they may live.
Saturday 21 April 2012
Monday 16 April 2012
green shoots of recovery but not everything is rosey in the garden
As I start another week of job hunting I have had some good news, no i haven't found a job but the job market in Edinburgh is picking up. The latest Bank of Scotland jobs report says that the rise in the number of permanent job vacancies is the biggest since last August. this is welcome news.
As a disabled person is that I face further barriers to employment, not just a lack of jobs to apply for. Until these barriers are overcome disabled people will not be able to fully integrate into society.
I have been unemployed since November 2010 and in April 2011 I found and was offered in a job in London which i was unable to take because i could not find an accessible place to live which I could afford. The government is trying to get as many disabled people who can work back into work, but i very much doubt that all the disabled people will be able to find jobs in their locality so some will have to move, but they will not be able to because they will face the problem I did.
I am a social tenant which means I live in a council flat (or housing association property). Mine has been adapted for the needs of a disabled person. e.g. it has a wet floor shower and lower worktops in the kitchen. This type of accommodation is very rare in the private sector at an affordable rate. so being a social tenant is like having a golden ticket to Willie Wonka's Chocolate Factory and not something that one gives up easily. When I tried to move to London I found I was not entitled to help to find accommodation in the social sector until I lived there which is fare enough. But that meant I had would have to leave my Edinburgh flat, if i did this I would be declaring myself homeless which meant i would not be entitled to any help at all, because in the eyes of the law i had chosen to move. There are house swapping websites but that can take months to find somewhere. so if someone is offered a job where they don't live the employer will not wait a long time to withdraw the offer. In the end I had to choose my house over my job
the example of housing which I have just given illustrates how disability is viewed in Britain and it needs to change. In my view disability is viewed through the model, which sees disability as something the individual can cope with. and they can be helped by providing things like DLA and physio.
In my view disability should be viewed through the social model of disability which argues that disability should be dealt by society and disabled can be helped by removing barriers to them integrating into society. In my case my barrier is the inability to move to find a job. there maybe green shoots of recovery in the economy but I cant take advantage of them unless i find a job on my doorstep. I am a plant who wants to grow but am stuck in the shade when i should be out in the garden taking in the sunlight.
As a disabled person is that I face further barriers to employment, not just a lack of jobs to apply for. Until these barriers are overcome disabled people will not be able to fully integrate into society.
I have been unemployed since November 2010 and in April 2011 I found and was offered in a job in London which i was unable to take because i could not find an accessible place to live which I could afford. The government is trying to get as many disabled people who can work back into work, but i very much doubt that all the disabled people will be able to find jobs in their locality so some will have to move, but they will not be able to because they will face the problem I did.
I am a social tenant which means I live in a council flat (or housing association property). Mine has been adapted for the needs of a disabled person. e.g. it has a wet floor shower and lower worktops in the kitchen. This type of accommodation is very rare in the private sector at an affordable rate. so being a social tenant is like having a golden ticket to Willie Wonka's Chocolate Factory and not something that one gives up easily. When I tried to move to London I found I was not entitled to help to find accommodation in the social sector until I lived there which is fare enough. But that meant I had would have to leave my Edinburgh flat, if i did this I would be declaring myself homeless which meant i would not be entitled to any help at all, because in the eyes of the law i had chosen to move. There are house swapping websites but that can take months to find somewhere. so if someone is offered a job where they don't live the employer will not wait a long time to withdraw the offer. In the end I had to choose my house over my job
the example of housing which I have just given illustrates how disability is viewed in Britain and it needs to change. In my view disability is viewed through the model, which sees disability as something the individual can cope with. and they can be helped by providing things like DLA and physio.
In my view disability should be viewed through the social model of disability which argues that disability should be dealt by society and disabled can be helped by removing barriers to them integrating into society. In my case my barrier is the inability to move to find a job. there maybe green shoots of recovery in the economy but I cant take advantage of them unless i find a job on my doorstep. I am a plant who wants to grow but am stuck in the shade when i should be out in the garden taking in the sunlight.
Sunday 15 April 2012
a degree of success
I have just had my easter break when my parents came to visit. during my break I saw my twitter feed was full of my student friends saying they were busy revising for their upcoming exams. I wish them all good luck and for those of them who graduate welcome to the world of graduate unemployment a place which i know very well. I graduated in 2007 and have been unemployed for 4 out of the last 5 years
Last week the Citizens Advice Bureau launched a survey to find out about to find out about graduates and their experiences of struggling to find work- you can fill it in here www.adviceguide.org.uk/scotland/news/graduate_employment_survey_s.htm
The problem is not just the job centre which is not fit for purpose and should be turned into a careers service which helps everybody regardless of their qualifications. The major problem is that there are too many graduates. In the early 2000s there was a big push to get 50% of the population through university. The policy was not thought through properly because they should of seen the current graduate crisis coming and made sure the system can cope because it isn't doing so.
That may sound a snobbish thing to say and it is not my intention to be so. I believe if people want to go to university they should be supported to do so. But i would advice people to think about why they are going to university and for their chosen degree subject look at employment prospects. I wish i had done this. Are you going because everyone else is? do you really want 3 or 4 more years of essays. By the end of my degree i had lost my mojo and couldnt wait to finish so ended up with a 2:2 which has proven to be useless because there are so many graduates employers are after a 2:1 so if like me you have a 2:2 you face an even harder battle to find a job and really wonder why you bothered.
I went to university because I believed i would get a better job with a degree and I chose to do Politics and International Relations because it was sold to me as a flexible degree so i could do anything i wished. But upon graduation all of the jobs i looked at the employers wanted specific degrees e.g. business management or I.T. so i was stuck.
I should not have gone to university i failed all my exams in S6 and would probably put the fact I was accepted down to my disability to fill in a statistic. So the desire for the country to be educated a good one but it will only be successfull if the system is designed in a way that makes having a degree worth while and people should take time to think is that really what they want to do.
Last week the Citizens Advice Bureau launched a survey to find out about to find out about graduates and their experiences of struggling to find work- you can fill it in here www.adviceguide.org.uk/scotland/news/graduate_employment_survey_s.htm
The problem is not just the job centre which is not fit for purpose and should be turned into a careers service which helps everybody regardless of their qualifications. The major problem is that there are too many graduates. In the early 2000s there was a big push to get 50% of the population through university. The policy was not thought through properly because they should of seen the current graduate crisis coming and made sure the system can cope because it isn't doing so.
That may sound a snobbish thing to say and it is not my intention to be so. I believe if people want to go to university they should be supported to do so. But i would advice people to think about why they are going to university and for their chosen degree subject look at employment prospects. I wish i had done this. Are you going because everyone else is? do you really want 3 or 4 more years of essays. By the end of my degree i had lost my mojo and couldnt wait to finish so ended up with a 2:2 which has proven to be useless because there are so many graduates employers are after a 2:1 so if like me you have a 2:2 you face an even harder battle to find a job and really wonder why you bothered.
I went to university because I believed i would get a better job with a degree and I chose to do Politics and International Relations because it was sold to me as a flexible degree so i could do anything i wished. But upon graduation all of the jobs i looked at the employers wanted specific degrees e.g. business management or I.T. so i was stuck.
I should not have gone to university i failed all my exams in S6 and would probably put the fact I was accepted down to my disability to fill in a statistic. So the desire for the country to be educated a good one but it will only be successfull if the system is designed in a way that makes having a degree worth while and people should take time to think is that really what they want to do.
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