Tag Archives: disability rights

Hina Bokhari

The last thing Sadiq Khan wants in City Hall is a Disability Champion

By Hina Bokhari | Wed 6th August 2025 - 11:55 am

Sadiq Khan has said no – again.

For the third time, the Mayor of London has refused Liberal Democrat calls to appoint a dedicated Disability Champion: someone with lived experience and the authority to represent Disabled Londoners at the highest levels of City Hall decision-making.

Mayor Sadiq claims he’s already got it covered – we don’t need a dedicated role. He points to his Deputy Mayor for Communities and Social Justice, whose sprawling brief also includes race, gender, LGBTQ+ communities and faith. He also references a Deaf and Disabled People’s Forum that meets briefly just four times a year. 

Let’s be honest: this isn’t serious engagement. It’s not even remotely close to the kind of structured and systematic co-production that Disabled Londoners deserve. 

And it certainly isn’t delivering results because by any measure you care to mention, the status quo is failing. Whether it’s repeatedly missing even the most minimal targets for accessible housing, the persistent inaccessibility of most tube stations, or the continued rollout of floating bus stops despite their dangers, Disabled Londoners are being let down at every turn.

And the idea that Disabled People are being adequately consulted is laughable. Take the Mayor’s ironically named “Inclusive” Talent Strategy about breaking down the barriers to employment.

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Martin Horwood

Martin Horwood writes … an important day for disability and international development

By Martin Horwood | Fri 11th April 2014 - 8:40 am

A Remarkable Young ManSelect committee reports are often considered to be rather dry, even to the most politically active among us, which is why I feel particularly compelled to highlight the 11th report of the International Development Committee – Disability and development.

The select committee decided to hold this inquiry because they had been told repeatedly by organisations like Sightsavers that our country’s aid system was not delivering for disabled people overseas. Lynne Featherstone also paid attention to these organisations and started championing the rights of disabled people in her first year as a minister, describing disability as the great neglected subject in international development.

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The Voice

Lynne Featherstone visits Uganda to highlight disability and development

By The Voice | Wed 23rd October 2013 - 12:29 pm

Lynne featherstone by paul walterLast month, Liberal Democrat International Development Minister Lynne Featherstone wrote about her visit to the UN General Assembly where the focus was on putting the needs of people with disabilities at the heart of the overseas aid agenda:

More than one billion people worldwide live with disability and suffer huge discrimination as a result. They face unequal access to education, employment, healthcare, social support and the justice system. Consequently, they are disproportionately some of the poorest and most marginalised people in the world – part of an unseen great neglect.

To follow that up, Lynne is now in Uganda with British paralympian Ade Adepitan to highlight the challenges disabled people face on a daily basis and what the international aid community needs to do to help them. There are two ways in which you can follow her progress while she’s out there.

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NewsHound

LibLink… Lynne Featherstone: UK will help tackle the Great Neglect of disability

By NewsHound | Wed 25th September 2013 - 11:58 am

Lynne Featherstone, in New York for the UN General Assembly, has written for the Huffington Post about what the UK is doing to help those with disabilities in developing countries.

First she outlined why this is necessary:

More than one billion people worldwide live with disability and suffer huge discrimination as a result. They face unequal access to education, employment, healthcare, social support and the justice system. Consequently, they are disproportionately some of the poorest and most marginalised people in the world – part of an unseen great neglect.

The internationally agreed Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) have done a great deal to address

…

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