The Daily Echo 1 February 2007

Written by Sandra Gidley MP on Thu 1st Feb 2007

Last Friday I was asked to speak at an event which launched a joint venture between Leonard Cheshire Homes and Barclays Bank. The very laudable aim was to provide support to help people with disabilities start up in business. Research had shown that people with disabilities had more difficulty than other members of the public in securing a business loan. The scheme also involved help with IT and the provision of a "buddy" to help and support successful applicants.

The background material did not specifically state that disabled people had experienced discrimination but I suspect that there was discrimination and that this was covert rather than open. Many people could be forgiven for looking at a business venture through their own eyes and subconsciously seeing difficulties because they are unaware of the coping mechanisms that many people with disabilities use to tackle every day problems.

When we hear the word "disability" the automatic reaction is often to conjure up a mental image of a wheelchair user. It is easy to forget that people with sensory impairment or who are living with a long term health condition often fall into this category too.

But we live in a world where everyone expects perfection and we are not attuned to the ways in which different people react with the world. Not for nothing is the Radio 4 programme on disabilities called "Does he take sugar?". Someone with a visual impairment may, because of their disability, take longer to read something but this does not mean that their brain does not function perfectly well. People with long term health conditions may have to pace themselves but the macho pace of the workplace does not always accommodate capable people with such needs.

At the launch we heard a case study. The individual concerned had formed a business which catered for people with disabilities. This is not the aim of the scheme but it occurred to me that someone with a disability often sees the world through a wider lens and will design a service that is accessible to more people. Quite simply, we would all benefit.

So, I wish the new venture every success and hope that people will use the scheme and that other companies will follow this example. The long term aim surely has to be that the schemes will not be necessary in the long term. For that to happen we have to shift to a society which judges people not by what they can't do - but what they can.

Published with kind permission of the Daily Echo