DWP are allowing companies that are assessing disabled people for PIP to classing the ability to push ones self in a wheelchair or the ability to control a powered wheelchair the same as being able to walk more than 20 meters. They are doing this to stop disabled people from getting the High Rate Mobility PIP This means disabled people are losing their Motability cars and scooters-powerchairs, taking away their interdependence and leaving them housebound. Over 60% of assessments are overturned on Appeal, but the Appeals can take up to 1 year to be heard. DWP are saying they are doing this to save money, When in fact they are spending more money on dealing with Appeals. Disabled people have the rights to be treated with respect and dignity and not like 3rd class citizens. Disabled people rely on their cars and powerchairs to have the ability to lead a normal life as much as they possibly can. Many have had to give up work and go back on benefits because of it. I am asking David Gauke MP, Secretary of State for Work and Pensions to do the right thing and put a stop to this barbaric act of injustice against disabled people..

We would like to see a people parking bay or parklet in every street in Hackney. The provision of official parklets by Hackney Council in three locations in Hackney in three years is welcome and we recognise Hackney is ahead of the curve in London. However, it will take a millennium to have a significant impact on the parking environment in Hackney. Therefore, we would like to work with the Council to develop a community and business led 'parklet' programme that will allow people and businesses to invest in the public realm. This experimental community parklet allows the gauging of public support for such an idea. Please do let the experiment run its course. The bay is very popular with residents and passers by. The visitor book has hundreds of positive comments: https://goo.gl/photos/gUA8bbtaMamuCcUC8 Walking is the most common way for people to get around in Hackney but while car parking dominates kerbside space there is little provision for pedestrians to rest. Many people, including older and disabled people, and people with kids need regular rest stops while walking, and pavements are too narrow for walking let alone placing benches on them. The popularity of this people parking bay is demonstrating that resting spots for pedestrians are likely to very popular. The people parking bay was a lead article in Local Transport Today. https://www.transportxtra.com/publications/parking-review/news/53699/hackney-resident-wants-to-convert-parking-bays-into-people-places www.peopleparkingbay.com

Adults with learning disabilities should be treated with equality not single out. I myself is an adult with learning disabilities and other disabilities.

In February 2017 after months of negotiations trying to avoid compulsory redundancies triggered by deep budget cuts, EHRC management sent e-mails to 8 workers work addresses informing them they were being made redundant whilst they were taking part in a lawful one day protest strike. The EHRC still has over 47 equivalent vacancies these displaced workers could easily fill, but has so far refused to do so. What is so shocking is this employer also happens to be the UK's UN recognised guardian of our Human Rights! With Brexit uncertainty and challenges to Human Rights law being suggested, we need a strengthened fully resourced EHRC to defend the most vulnerable from discrimination and attack.

The children that attend the Tree Club have complex needs that include communication difficulties, requirement of personal care, sensory and processing difficulties, and challenging behaviour. To support them and to meet the requirements of regulatory bodies such as the Care Inspectorate we provide a high staffing ratio and in depth training. This is a significant cost to the organisation that simply can’t be met by parent fees. Our children have very few opportunities to access mainstream clubs and activities, if any. The Tree Club aims to bridge this gap. We endeavour to meet all our children/young people’s individual care plans. These plans detail the requirements for each young person to meet their full potential in relation to social and well-being targets. The Tree Club monitors and develops these plans, and supports each child’s individual outcomes, through carefully thought-out accessible activities, which focus on peer interaction, enhancing abilities and most important of all – providing fun play. The Tree Club allows parents and carers to access quality and affordable after school care, matching the similar mainstream provision, that is unfortunately inaccessible for our children. We also provide holiday schemes, allowing carers greater choices to be able to either access or support their ability to work, or support respite and/or quality time for our young people’s siblings. We offer this respite which for most of our service users’ families is impossible to source elsewhere. This service provides a break from caring, an opportunity to recharge their batteries and a support network to discuss issues and behaviour techniques and coping strategies and reduces the social isolation they face.

Currently in England,Scotland and Northern Ireland to apply for a Blue Badge you have to have a walking difficulty or be registered blind unlike Wales.The lack of such an entitlement in England, Scotland and Northern Ireland is blatantly discriminatory and contravenes Article 20 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities UNCRPD, the right to personal mobility. The current situation exposes people with a cognitive impairment and their carers to real risks, excludes them from many activities, and threatens progress on the Government’s commitment to dementia friendly communities. A carer would have to let a person living with dementia get out of the car while they park and risk them becoming distracted and wandering away before they get out of the car and getting lost, this happened in a local supermarket car park and the person living with dementia was missing for 2 hours and needed a police search to find them

This surgery is used by over 5000 people, other surgeries are also full to capacity. Forcing them to take on the extra patients caused by the closure of folkestone east family practice will have a detrimental affect on the healthcare the residents of folkestone recieve. Closing this surgery may even lead to people not seeking a gp due to being unable to travel far

Glasgow City Council has announced that it is cutting all funding to the Housing Support Budget. This means that our vulnerable elderly residents of Glasgow will be without the vital warden support which they currently receive. The warden is a life line for people who have very little or no family and support, enabling them to live not only as independent a life as they possibly can, but simply to live! Without this support, many people would sit lonely for days, weeks or months with absolutely no contact. Our elderly residents will end up completely neglected as GP's do not routinely check on their older patients and are stretched to the limits themselves. Imagine sitting all alone, no one bothering with you or even knowing you exist. Just think how frightened you would feel if this was you, just waiting to die because no one cares. How dare the Council treat our Elderly people like this! Please sign this petition and help save our wardens and show our older people you care about them. Thanks for your support.

Despite significant ‘improvements’ to Needham Market Railway Station in recent years (costing over £700,000) access to the Ipswich-bound platform remains by steep underground stairway only – a physical challenge for passengers with limited mobility, with buggies, bikes, or heavy suitcases, and an impossibility for wheelchair users. Additionally, the new ramp from the car park to the Cambridge-bound platform is well above the maximum 1 in 12 gradient required to comply with Building Regulations, creating further significant problems for wheel chair users. Needham Market is a growing town with large new estates planned for hundreds of homes over the next few years. Abellio East Anglia Limited (trading as Greater Anglia) claims to be committed to complying with its obligations under the Equality Act 2010, and pledges to make its services accessible to all. Abellio has a ten year contract to run our trains and stations and so has no excuse not to make full access an urgent priority. Please sign our petition and support this local campaign. Thank you!

Children with autism are 7 times more likely to be excluded from school. They can be very vulnerable in incidents and often are unaware of potential dangers. As it is a spectrum some people with autism may find it more challenging to express themselves or be able to communicate their needs. It is important to get a standardised approach to raising awareness of autism to support people with autism and their families.

More than 50,000 people have had specially adapted vehicles taken away from them since changes to disability benefits in 2013. Vehicles are being taken away from people with disabilities without any warning whatsoever The Motability scheme entitles disabled people to lease specially adapted new vehicles and powered wheelchairs. As a Motability vehicle user my self I am terrified that this will be taken away from me , then i would not be driven to my many medical appointments. In fact I would be devastated as I have a life limiting condition, am a wheelchair user and blind. if this was to happen, my life would change dramatically I would have no quality of life and I would be isolated from everything including my own family. Peter Bone MP for Wellingborough Northamptonshire has spoken about this and is a campaigner. DWP need to review this urgently as it affects so many people's lives. The assessment needs to be looked at from a person to person illness to illness point of view rather than trying to just do a one size fits all.We do not all fit into the same box. Every disabled person with a vehicle deserves to keep their vehicle to enable them to live there lives as normal as possible and have as much independence as possible. Motability need to stop taking these adapted vehicles away as they are required by each and every disabled individual who needs a wheelchair accessible vehicle. https://youtu.be/wjEb3R7ey3E You may also be interested in the petition below which is also related to disabled people: https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/allow-wheelchair-accessible-vehicles-into-rubbish-and-recycling-centres

***5000 signatures forces the Council to discuss the issue at a Council Meeting. Please only sign this petition if you live, work or use LD services in Somerset*** The transfer of Somerset’s Learning Disability Service from Somerset County Council to Discovery was promised as a means of ensuring sustainable care for people with a learning disability, with ‘no savings targets’. It is now clear, however, that to make the £4m saving predicted Discovery plan to make staff redundant, reduce the terms and conditions of those left, and possibly close day centres. By starving funding for adult social care Somerset County Council have handed Discovery the task of implementing cuts that will hit the care provided to vulnerable people. Cuts will lower morale, risk high staff turnover, and leave staff vacancies unfilled. Service users and their families were promised a sustainable service focused on the continuity of care delivered by experienced, knowledgeable and familiar staff. The cuts proposed will be highly detrimental to the delivery of personalised quality care. We are therefore calling on Somerset County Council to give LD Services the funding that it needs to ensure continued high quality care for vulnerable adults in Somerset. If the current cuts are progressed this will not be achieved.