Marsha de Cordova: As a disabled MP I have to do more work and more prep

The shadow disabilities minister, who is visually impaired, on how to make parliament more accessible and support disabled people into employment

A few weeks ago, Labour’s shadow disabilities minister needed to give a parliamentary response to the government’s proposals for its new work and health programme. But the MP in question, Marsha de Cordova, couldn’t read it. This MP for Battersea in south London is registered blind and needs all documents in large print. But the large-type version didn’t reach her office until late evening, long after the issue had been debated.

The irony of this, given that the government paper outlined plans to help disabled people find work, does not escape de Cordova when we meet in parliament later that day. “I have a lot of work to do, don’t I?” she says, of her role both in representing her constituency and highlighting the need for more support for disabled people. The government paper revived a manifesto pledge to get one million more disabled people into work over the next 10 years. But de Cordova points out that the Conservatives have dropped a 2015 pledge to halve the disability employment gap by 2020. She says: “To me it is all empty words, there’s no concrete plan in there. They talk about pilots – but we don’t need any more pilots, we need high-quality, impairment-specific employment support for disabled people.”

Related: Why is the government waging a war against disabled people? | Peter Beresford

Continue reading... December 12, 2017 at 06:30PM