Andy
Retired committee member
"Earlier this year, Disabled People’s Organisations gave testimony to the United Nations about the UK government’s progress, or lack thereof, in implementing our human rights. Chronic Illness Inclusion’s testimony was part of this report, but now we can share our full, unedited submission. Lead author, Leonora Gunn, explains the process and the key evidence we gave on behalf of people with energy-limiting conditions and chronic illness."
"After being approached by Disabled People Against Cuts in 2012, the Committee of the UNCRPD investigated the impact of the UK government’s welfare reforms on its disabled citizens. In 2016, the Committee published their report, accusing the UK government of “grave” and “systemic” violations of disabled people’s human rights.
As part of the monitoring process, in 2021 the UK government published a follow-up report to the UNCRPD in response to its 2016 recommendations. A Shadow Report has been produced by individual disabled people and Deaf and disabled people’s organisations across the UK, led by Inclusion London, to give our perspective on the UK government’s response to the 2016 report. The Shadow Report finds that the situation for disabled people in the UK has got worse since 2017, with the UK going backwards on disability rights."
"Of course, not all of our evidence could make it into the final Shadow Report. Ellen Clifford and the team at Inclusion London had a monumental task in condensing the huge amount of evidence they received into a single report and have worked with incredible dedication to ensure that all disabled people’s voices were heard. We are thrilled to see that ELCI is included in the report’s glossary, and that violations to the rights of people with ELCIs are mentioned three times in the report:
"After being approached by Disabled People Against Cuts in 2012, the Committee of the UNCRPD investigated the impact of the UK government’s welfare reforms on its disabled citizens. In 2016, the Committee published their report, accusing the UK government of “grave” and “systemic” violations of disabled people’s human rights.
As part of the monitoring process, in 2021 the UK government published a follow-up report to the UNCRPD in response to its 2016 recommendations. A Shadow Report has been produced by individual disabled people and Deaf and disabled people’s organisations across the UK, led by Inclusion London, to give our perspective on the UK government’s response to the 2016 report. The Shadow Report finds that the situation for disabled people in the UK has got worse since 2017, with the UK going backwards on disability rights."
"Of course, not all of our evidence could make it into the final Shadow Report. Ellen Clifford and the team at Inclusion London had a monumental task in condensing the huge amount of evidence they received into a single report and have worked with incredible dedication to ensure that all disabled people’s voices were heard. We are thrilled to see that ELCI is included in the report’s glossary, and that violations to the rights of people with ELCIs are mentioned three times in the report:
- In relation to Article 25: Health, the report recognises that, in criticising or dismissing NICE’s ban on graded exercise therapy (GET) for ME/CFS, the Royal College of Psychiatrists and other physicians are ignoring the lived experiences of people with ELCIs (pp.46-47).
- In relation to Article 9: Accessibility, the right to remote access is recognised as a reasonable adjustment for people with ELCIs (pp.21-22).
- In relation to Article 28: Adequate standard of living and social protection, the inadequacy of descriptors for PIP assessments for people with ELCIs is recognised (p.54)."