Government ‘must stop excluding’ disabled people from Covid messaging, says Conservative MP

Government must ‘start including, right at the top‘

(PA)

A Conservative MP has stated that the Government is still “excluding people from the communications that are going out” due to lack of British Sign Language (BSL) interpretations. 

In October, after deaf campaigners fought since March for signing at the televised Covid-19 briefings, the Government stated that one was not available due to the size constraints of Number 10. 

Caroline Nokes, MP spoke to The Independent and asked “How long does it take to find a bigger room? How many more campaigners are going to have to walk to Downing Street to get their message across?  How long will it take before the message about clear face masks sinks in and they become commonplace in our schools?"

"I think we have seen a real tick-box attitude to equality impact assessments and the public sector equality duty, which gives an impression of a Government not interested in equality.

Speaking about her participation in the Disability Rights Advice webinar on 21 January, Ms Nokes said “doing the webinar last night really rammed it home to me that disabled people are still being excluded from the communications that are going out, that Government has to stop excluding and start including, right at the top.”

The Government is currently facing legal battles for their lack of BSL interpretations. 

The Women and Equality Committee, of which MP for Romsey and Southampton North, Ms Nokes, is chair, published a report in December 2020 on the unequal impact of covid-19 on the disabled community, and on access to services. It calls for a full inquiry into the treatment of disabled people during the pandemic. 

The report states “The government has been far too slow to address concerns about inaccessible communications during the pandemic, notably about the lack of British Sign Language (BSL) interpretation of government television briefings", as well as citing issues of blanket “do not resucistate” orders, lack of support for those marked Clincally Extremely Vulnerable, and extra funding needed for special educational needs schools. 

ONS data found that disabled people are less likely to feel that they have enough information about the government plans to manage the coronavirus pandemic (40%) than non-disabled people (48%).