I am terribly disappointed in the UK government’s decision to no longer have a minister for disabled people. With this one decision, they have stated that around 24% of the UK population, that’s over 16 MILLION people who have a disability, do not matter. They do not need to have a voice or be heard. Their rights are not important. 

A lot of hard work has gone into striving for gender, race, and ethnic equality in the UK, so why is disability not given the same level of recognition?

We have a major problem in this country around attitudes to disability and it undoubtedly stems from decisions like this. We need to change the narrative so that nearly a quarter of people in our country are not dismissed as irrelevant and unimportant but instead are valued, recognised, and heard.  Only by ensuring that we have representation at the top of our establishments will this change. Until then, we will continue to shout as loud as we can and fight every step of the way so that we do achieve genuine equality for everyone.  

I have written to several MPs, including the current Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, Minister for Women and Equalities, and Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Minister for Disabled People, Health and Work), and I urge you to add your voice. Contact information can be found on the Gov.uk site: https://www.gov.uk/government/ministers