Following publication of the Centenary Action’s report, Overcoming the barriers to disabled women’s involvement in politics, Dr. Sarabajaya Kumar, Centenary Action Steering Group member, disability campaigner, and founder of Disabled Women in Politics, led a cross-party group of activists to meet Tom Pursglove MP, Minister of State for Disabled People, Health and Work. Here, Sarabajaya sets out some of the issues they discussed.
Despite there being approximately 14.6 million disabled people in the UK, there are currently only 12 MPs with a disclosed disability. If disabled people were represented in Parliament in proportion to the population, there would be 125 disabled MPs. However, as this is not the case, many decisions that have consequences for disabled peoples’ lives are being made without them. With women being more likely to be disabled than men, this lack of adequate representation is also a gendered issue.
As a society, we need diverse political representation. To ensure more disabled women can participate in governance, a number of changes are required. Financial support is one such critically important change that is necessary to level the playing field for disabled women seeking elected office. Being disabled costs more and therefore contesting an election as a disabled candidate necessarily incurs extra costs. Examples include paying for: travel to hustings, and to participate in campaign events; or employing British Sign Language interpreters, for instance. As a sight impaired motorised wheelchair user, I mentioned to the Minister that attending the meeting with him cost me £120 for my taxi fares; a cost that I incurred directly as a result of my impairments. Disabled workers, whether employed or self-employed, can apply to the Access to Work fund to cover such costs. However, there is no such funding available for unpaid advocacy and campaigning activity and volunteering and community work, which are unwritten requirements of prospective candidates seeking selection.
Disabled candidates used to be able to access funding to cover their extra costs through the EnAble Fund (previously the Access to Elected Office Fund). However, whilst Scotland has its own Access to Elected Office Fund, and Wales is trialling a new fund, the equivalent fund is no longer available in England. Even when the EnAble Fund was available, it was bureaucratic, did not have high visibility, and was inaccessible. When I contested the London Assembly elections as a list candidate for the Women’s Equality Party, I was initially unaware of the EnAble Fund’s existence, even though I was a candidate with multiple disabilities. When I finally found out about it, the application process was opaque and onerous, and before I could complete my application, the Fund closed. Any new improved scheme must be less bureaucratic, have much higher visibility, and be more accessible.
Once disabled people are selected or elected, it is imperative that they are well supported in their roles, and that they can both access, and be included in, their places of work. Parliament currently is highly inaccessible, as are many government buildings. There is an opportunity with the ongoing restoration and renewal of Parliament to improve access, but this needs to be done in consultation with disabled people. For example, the refurbishment of the Elizabeth Tower seems a missed opportunity as it remains inaccessible to wheelchair users, despite a multimillion pound renovation. Parliament also needs to make better use of hybrid meetings and technology. We learned much about inclusion and exclusion as a result of the COVID-19 Pandemic, and in fact, our meeting with Tom Pursglove MP was a superb example of this learning. It was conducted as a hybrid meeting, with members of our delegation, who would otherwise have been unable to participate, joining remotely. Centenary Action’s The Remotely Representative House? report makes the argument for the deployment of technology and hybrid options.
The Minister warmly welcomed us and seemed genuinely interested in hearing our perspectives. We discussed the creativity and problem-solving abilities disabled people utilise just to go about their daily lives, and underscored how these valuable skill sets are very well suited to the political sphere. Having disabled people as elected representatives who can advocate for accessibility and inclusion benefits everyone. The Minister was keen to stress that political office should be open to everyone. He said on more than one occasion during the meeting that ‘anyone who wishes to represent their community has my respect’.
Ensuring that disabled people can contest elections and access elected office is crucial not only for representation and diversity, but also for an inclusive, effective, and well-functioning democracy. Barriers that particularly exclude disabled women from contributing to governance at all levels means that as a country, we are missing out on a huge talent pool. To draw on all the available talent, we must dismantle the barriers that all disabled people face, and especially those barriers faced by disabled women.
We felt that the meeting with the Minister was productive and look forward to working closely with him and his Cabinet Office colleagues in relation to the reinstatement of the Access to Elected Office Fund. Centenary Action will keep you informed of their progress.
Centenary Action, Elect Her, and the Disability Policy Centre are running regular cross-party meetings for disabled women activists. See here for more details.