Columns

DISABILITY & COMMUNITY CORNER - WHO TO VOTE FOR?

Comments (0)

26 April 2012

 








Patrick Horan is UK National Register of Access Consultants (NRAC) trained, and holds an MSc in disability management.

This week, I will be discussing the London Mayoral race one week today, unfortunately it’s a two horse race between Ken Livingstone and Boris Johnson, which is a shame as Brian Paddick has some good policies but still no visible disability ones, like the other candidates.

There are seven candidates up for election as Mayor, Londoners are tiring of this mayoral campaign, a political soap opera where the main cast never changes.

Wearing my disability hat I would have previously urged you to vote for Ken Livingstone like I did in 2008, but he has stabbed us in the back and is full of hypocrisy by approving the plans for the two refurbished London Overground stations in our area (Surrey Quays and Rotherhithe) and which are not step free, this despite telling the disability community for ten years that nothing would ever be built or refurbished in London again without disabled access. I do think he is past his sell by date now, so who does that leave us with?

Some of the remaining candidates are so obscure that they are not in any position to win. I have read the manifesto of the main parties and the word Disability is not mentioned one time. During his four year term of office the current Mayor Boris Johnson has done absolutely nothing for disability or Southwark as a Borough. 

In the live Mayoral debates on LBC, Newsnight and Sky News,  the word disability was not even mentioned once by any candidate, this despite the fact that there are 1.6 million of us eligible voters  living in London. You do not have to be sitting in a wheelchair or have mobility problems to fall into that category.

You are considered disabled if you have HIV, Cancer, Arthritis and a host of other ailments that make you fall under that category. I am afraid I cannot vote for any of them due to their invisible disability policies but I have voted for Val Shawcross for my London Assembly Member and the Liberal Democrats (Caroline Pidgeon) as my London Wide party as they are best at holding the Mayor to account. 

Follow me on Twitter@RotherhitheBoy views are personal  and do not reflect the views of SDA or  SN. Until the next time may your God go with you.

---

Social Bookmarks:
del.icio.us Digg Newsvine Reddit Facebook StumbleUpon
Wikipedia: social bookmarking

---

Comments (0)

No comments have been posted.

Post a Comment

Please note Name and E-mail Address are required.

Name
E-mail Address (not displayed)
Comment (you may use HTML tags for style)
Enter Text Shown in Picture*
Comments are moderated, and will not appear on this article until the comment has been approved.