Our Ask to Politicians

As a voice for learning disability as we approach the 2019 General Election we are asking politicians, irrelevant of their political beliefs, to prioritise and address the following ten issues during the lifetime of the next Parliament:

• To urgently publish a comprehensive, progressive and sustainable set of proposals to deliver a world class social care offer to all citizens, irrelevant of age, who require its support

• To commit to funding this offer and enter into a conversation with all of us as to how this will be paid for, even if this requires additional, fairly applied taxation

• To broaden the public conversation about what social care is so that it’s not simply polarised around supporting an ageing population

• That the next parliament will commit to ending, once and for all, the national shame of the incarceration and detention of vulnerable citizens simply because they have a learning disability or autism

• That the next parliament will commit to addressing the discriminatory health inequalities faced by people with a learning disability, that leads to shortened lives and unnecessary deaths

• That the next parliament will work to ensure that disability hate crime is given the same credence and scrutiny as other forms of discrimination and hate as defined by the Equality Act 2010

• That the next parliament will work with people with a learning disability and devise a fully funded national pathway to employment that also ensures all employers are reporting on the recruitment and retention of disabled employees

• That the next parliament recognises family carers as the nations key strategic workforce and delivers a framework of fully funded support that recognises and rewards the commitment of caring

• That the next parliament commits to funding and reforming a regulatory body that retains public confidence and ensures that all housing, care and support provision available is safe, delivered to promote a lifestyle of choice, and that the citizen’s voice is central to its delivery

• That the next Government commits that the post holders to the portfolios of Secretary of State for Health and Social Care and Minister of State for Disabled People, Work and Health is the same person for the lifetime of parliament