The Paralympics – 6 months later

Track event at London 2012 Paralympics

  I wonder if the attitudes of British people about Disabled People have changed since the Paralympics?

 

  I think it’s good that younger Disabled people will get more involved in sports because of the Paralympics. It is great to have role models like Ellie Simmonds – she’s a celebrity now!

But I would like to see lots of Disabled People as role models – like newsreaders, actors, musicians and people doing amazing work in everyday jobs.

  If the Paralympics made people feel positive about Disabled people we need them to get behind us now – when Disabled people have lots of problems.

  We hope less Disabled People will be bullied or suffer hate crime because of the Paralympics.

Have attitudes towards disabled people changed since the Paralympics?

The Police and Crime Commissioner Elections

Who will you vote for?

 

 

Malak says:

Have you heard about the Police and Crime Commissioner  elections?

                                                             

        

 

KA Maracas:

What is it about?   

 

          

                          

 Ace says:

Police and Crime Commissioners are people who can be voted in to manage and check how the Police do their jobs.

 

 

Annabel:

The elections will happen on 15 November in 41 areas across England and Wales (but not London) Each area will have one Police and Crime Commissioner.

 

 Why is it important and why should we bother to vote?

 

 

 

It’s important because each person who might be elected has different ideas about things.

 

 

 

So it is important to choose the person who supports equal rights, disability rights, women’s issues and knows about disability hate crime.

 

 

So it’s important to vote because your vote will make a difference. To find out more about the people in your area you can vote for, go to this website:

www.choosemypcc.org.uk

or you can telephone  0800 1070708  for more information.

Police & Crime Commissioner Elections to be held on Thursday 15th November

Winterbourne View – Stop the Bullying!

GUILTY – 6 of the 11 Winterbourne View careworkers have been sent to jail

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I am very angry and upset about what I have heard on the news about Winterbourne View. Winterbourne View was a home for disabled people where the staff were bullies. They closed it down and now the bullies have been sent to jail – see BBC News 26th October.

The people who lived there have been moved to different places but a journalist has found out that many are still being bullied in the new places – BBC News 29th October.

 

This is disgusting, I hate this so much that this is happening again. It will cause problems for the disabled people in their later life. I think they should stop all the bullying, it’s not fair and it’s not funny!

 

 

It is wrong, professionals should step in and stop this as soon as it happens.

 

 

A lot of bullying is going on, it is getting worse and the bullies are getting away with it!

 

 

Many disabled people get worried and frightened when they hear these stories in the news. They might think that this will happen to them if they have to live in a home.

If you are being bullied ring the police straightaway, we say:  

Report it to Sort it!

 

 

 

One Olympics for everyone!

The London Paralympics 2012

I’ve been watching the Paralympics and it’s been great to see all those sporty disabled people showing the country how good they are!

 

 

I went to see the wheelchair racing, it’s been so exciting!

 

‘Hurricane’ Hannah Cockroft

Yes it’s been great but I think there should be just one Olympics – lets join them together and then we can all join in!

 

 

That’s a brilliant idea! Equal rights means we all work and play together. Everyone can have a sporting chance to enjoy life and sports – it’s our human rights!

Disabled people want better services in their care homes!

  The Care Quality Commission have just finished a report all about the care of disabled people.

This is because they have been looking into it since the bad stories about Winterbourne View. You can find out more about this in the CHANGE statement.

This new report says that things aren’t as bad as they were in Winterbourne View but that disabled people are not getting a good service.

  I read the report. It says people are not being treated as individuals. Another way of saying this is that disabled people are not being given a chance to choos and say what they want.

The next thing they found out is that disabled people are staying too long in Assessment Centres (the places where professionals will find out how to help the disabled person).

  The next thing they found out is that the restraint is not good and is hurting them. This is when someone might hurt themselves or someone else adn restraint is a way to stop them from doing this.

The other thing they found is that disabled people are bored.

  I think they should talk to disabled people, ask them their views and listen to them and take on what they say.

The assessments are taking too long so they need to do a faster and better job.

Professionals need to learn how to do restraint in a better and safer way.

I’m upset that people are bored – they should be put on more activities and find more ways to help people to get out into the community. Things like going on day trips, going to the cinema, to the gym, to the park or to a restaurant.

 

  It’s bad that disabled people are not being treated fairly. I think we should get them (the CQC) to do a better job and then go back and see if things are better.

Family suffers hate crime ordeal from neighbours

  Have you heard this story about a family targeted by their neighbours because their son is autistic?

 

 

  No I haven’t. Tell us what happened.

 

 

  Kylie and Aaron Sidney and their two children, Josh and Javanna, were victims of hate crime for over two years.

  Yes, I heard about this. They were calling Kylie and Josh really abusive names. The bullies also were smashing the family’s windows, doors and 3 of their cars. 

 

 

 

And they even put a firework through their letterbox! They wouldn’t leave the family alone and even held their cat hostage.

 

  The family were very afraid all the time and scared to leave their home. This was very stressful.  Javanna was so scared she ran away and had to live somewhere else.

 

 

 

  The stress made Kylie’s epilepsy worse so she was having 20 fits a day. This made it difficult for her to speak or move. Aaron had to look after Kylie as well as Josh all the time.

 

One day, one of the abusers was kicking the family’s door and shouting abuse. Kylie ran upstairs to call the police. Because she was so frightened she had an epileptic fit and fell downstairs and broke her back. Now she has pain all the time and has to use a wheelchair.

 

  The attacks on the family continued after Kylie’s accident and she refused to leave the house at all for four months. The family were telling the police everything that was happening and they were supposed to be keeping a record for evidence. But the family felt like they were being a nuisance because they were reporting abuse all the time.

 

  The Police said it would be easier to move the family than to evict the bullies. Kylie, Aaron and Josh moved to a different home where they felt safer.

 

  But the bullies were still harassing the family when they went out and about in the area. One day at the supermarket the abusers smashed the windscreen and doors of their car while Kylie was sitting in it. There was no CCTV evidence and the witnesses who saw what happened were too scared to speak to the police.

 

  Despite everything that has happened, Kylie has set up a charity called the Kylie Foundation to help other people who have experienced hate crime.

Justice for Josh

Acton Baths, where Police handcuffed and assaulted teenager

 

 I read a story in the paper about a young man called Josh who has learning disabilities. He was at the swimming baths with his friends and support workers. He was in his clothes at the side of the pool and he was enjoying looking at the water. He was in his own dream world, another word for this is a ‘trance’. The pool staff rang the police because they wanted him to stop doing it.

                                         This is when things started to go really wrong for Josh. The police and pool staff didn’t listen to the support staff, they tried to get Josh to stop but this scared him and he jumped into the pool. After he got out of the pool the police put handcuffs on him and tied up his feet, and then they put him in the police van.   

Police put Josh in handcuffs

The Police left Josh alone in their van - cold and dripping wet

He was all wet and very frightened and they left him all on his own.

  Josh and his family were very upset and angry about what happened so they took the police to court. The judge agreed that the police were guilty and had discriminated against Josh. Another way to say this is that they were not fair to him. The judge said that the police had to pay some money to them. Josh and his family are pleased the court said the police are guilty but they really want the police to say sorry.

Since this happened every time Josh hears a police siren he gets very upset and frightened. He doesn’t like going swimming anymore. His epilepsy is worse because he is so upset about it.  

Police sirens scare Josh since the incident at the baths

             

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I think the police need to learn more about working with people who have a learning disability, they need some training!

 

The police don’t want to say sorry because they want to take it back to court. We disagree, we think the police should say sorry and admit they made a mistake.

What if Josh is a victim of a hate crime? The police are saying they want disabled people to speak up about being bullied but this will be very hard for Josh after his terrible experience.

Come on Metropolitan Police – you can do a better job than this!

 

Court mistakes lead to ridiculous sentences for torture gang

Manchester Crown Court - mistakes were made

It’s terrible what happened to Sean Ruddeforth, a vulnerable man with learning disabilities. He was tied to a lamppost for four hours and had paint, food and nail varnish put on him by three drunk people.

The court made a mistake and didn’t tell the judge to treat it as a disability hate crime and the bullies only got suspended sentences.

 

If they had been prosecuted under the Criminal Justice Act 146 with a disability hate crime then they would have been given heavier sentences for what they did to Mr Ruddeforth.

From Left: Maggie Bowden, Anthony Connolly and Rebecca Willis. All three walked free from court after torturing Sean Rudderforth for hours

 

 

The Crown Prosecution Service is going to look into what went wrong. There are also claims that Greater Manchester Police did not deal correctly with two calls from witnesses.

  Steven Brookes who is co-ordinator of the Disability Hate Crime Network said,

“I am deeply dismayed that the whole criminal justice system failed this person”.

 

Disabled people stop the traffic in protest!

Disabled people stop the traffic in London’s Oxford Circus, 28th January 2012

 

Last Saturday I went to London with Annabel to join in an action about the cuts.

 

  It was a demonstration against the cuts to disability benefits.  The cuts discriminate against disabled people.  We chained ourselves in a line across the road to stop the traffic.

We wanted to make people in Britain realise that the cuts are wrong and disabled people are suffering.

 

 

I saw it on the news. What the government is doing makes me mad.  But it was really good to see disabled people being really strong, clever and having disability pride. 

I watched a film about it on the internet.  It was great to see disabled people speaking up for our rights.  You can watch it on the Guardian website: click here.

Bullies found guilty of murder in Stephen Lawrence case

(From left) Stephen Lawrence, Gary Dobson and David Norris

 

 

Over the holidays the court case about Stephen Lawrence has finished. We have written about this in our blog last June and November.
The bullies were in the gang who killed Stephen Lawrence and have been found guilty of murder and sent to prison.

 They are called Gary Dobson and David Norris and they will be in prison for a long time.  Some people think they should be in prison for a much longer time because it was such a terrible crime.

  

Even though this is a sad story, the one good thing is that it has got a lot of people in Britain talking about racism and what we can do about it.

  

I hope that this will help Duwayne, his family and the Lawrence family to move on.  It has been very hard for them to lose Stephen but now there has been some justice for his death.