On 11th February 2011, the Joint Committee on Human Rights, chaired by Dr Hywel Francis MP, launched an inquiry into the implementation of the right of disabled people to independent living.
Joint Committees consist of MPs and Lords and conduct an ongoing examination of a particular area (such as human rights). The Joint Committee on Human Rights is a permanent committee.
I had not heard of this particular enquiry until today and have not yet satisfactorily tracked down a written record of its proceedings. (If anyone can help, please do so in a Comment below). I am grateful to Carer Watch’s blog for the alert. If you follow the link, you will find you can download or play a video of proceedings this week, on 18th October (see earlier proceedings below).
Unfortunately, the call for written submissions has long-since closed, on Friday 29th April 2011.
However, the launch of the inquiry on the Joint Committee website contains a clearly written remit of the inquiry and a useful account of independent living.
There, you will find a description of “Independent living” by the Office for Disability Issues: "Independent living is about disabled people having the same level of choice, control and freedom in their daily lives as any other person."
[This brought to mind our experience of a recent meeting with social workers, planning for our daughter Sarah’s imminent move into her own accommodation with two friends. I asserted that she was entitled to “go home” from time to time like any other young person and that her care needed to be managed to enable her to do so. This seemed to cause one of the social workers present some considerable difficulty, because of the impact on her department’s budgets.]
There is also a useful ‘history lesson’ on recent governments’ policy:
Independent living was placed at the heart of the New Labour Government’s policy on disability. Each of the three main political parties expressed their approval of the Independent Living Strategy published in 2008, which sets out actions aimed at improving the choice and control disabled people have over the services they need to live their daily lives. The aims of the strategy are that:
- Disabled people (including older disabled people) who need support to go about their daily lives will have greater choice and control over how support is provided
- Disabled people (including older disabled people) will have greater access to housing, education, employment, leisure and transport opportunities and to participation in family and community life.
In June 2010, the Coalition Government explained that it was looking at further ways of taking the Independent Living Strategy forward.
As I read this, I am reminded, too, of the recent SEN Green Paper, and the commitment in Section 4 “Preparing for Adulthood” to addressing the experience of so many that leaving school for adult services is like ‘leaping off a cliff’ or ‘hurtling into a void’. “Too often”, the Green Paper rightly asserts, “the opportunities and support available to disabled young people and young people with SEN fall short of what they need to make a successful transition to adult life.”
For this reason, we at Paces called our adult transition programme “Leaping the Void”. Our Mission Statement, which you can see at the top of this blog is explicit: “Supporting families supporting disabled children into independent adulthood as active citizens, especially those with cerebral palsy and particularly through Conductive Education.” One of our earliest statements about our adult services asserted that inclusion, truly understood, was about “the politics of citizenship” and that “We need a view of inclusion which is lifelong.”
These early formulations seem, to me, to chime harmoniously with the definition from the Office for Disability issues quoted above: "Independent living is about disabled people having the same level of choice, control and freedom in their daily lives as any other person" – definitions that are inclusive, about what it means to be a member of society and one’s community and are lifelong.
What could this mean for conductive education and young adults? We know of ‘conductive pedagogy’: what do we know of ‘conductive andragogy?'. We know of ‘conductive upbringing': what do we know of 'conductive living'? As we at Paces look forward, hopefully, to our School becoming a Special Free School from September 2012, so too we are re-assessing our conductive education work with those young adults who may (or could have) attended Paces School as children with Statements of Special Educational Need. As two of our very first 4 pupils in 1997, finally take steps to living independently of their parents, what ought conductive education have to say about their “independent living”?
On 24th May 2011, the Joint Committee held its first public evidence session http://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/joint-select/human-rights-committee/news/evidence-session-on-independent-living/
Witnesses
i. National Centre for Independent Living, RADAR, Disability Alliance, and UK Disabled People’s Council
ii. Independent Living in Scotland, Disability Wales and Disability Action
On 28th June 2011, the Joint Committee held a further public evidence session
http://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/joint-select/human-rights-committee/news/independent-living-evidence-session-on-28-june/
The implementation of the right of disabled people to independent living
Witnesses
i. Disabled people with experience of independent living issues
ii. Carers UK, People First, Scope, and Age UK
On 18th October, as linked above, the Committee held its third session.
On 25th October there is a further session of evidence
http://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/joint-select/human-rights-committee/news/independent-living-evidence-session-on-25-october/
Each of these links has a further link to a video recording of the evidence sessions.