Disability rights

Disabled transport workers discussed issues from workplace representation to the role of charities at their two-day RMT conference in Southend on 26-27 April.

This was only the second annual RMT Disabled Members’ Conference, after the union’s rank-and-file delegates overturned the Executive’s persistent refusal to establish the event. The conference proved its worth, bringing together twenty delegates (twice as many as last year) from different transport sectors and areas of the country.

On July 20 2017 Disabled People Against Cuts (DPAC) organised a demonstration outside the Department for Transport, London.

The demo was also attended by the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT). Activists handed in a 4,000 signature petition for the return of train guards who are being got rid of by management – for disabled’s and passenger’s rights and lives.

On 18 June Seattle police shot and killed Charleena Lyles after she reported a burglary. Charleena was pregnant, and was shot in the presence of her three children aged one, four and 11. The police claim when they arrived at her apartment she drew a knife, so they shot her. Audio recordings of the shooting show police started shooting very soon after entering the apartment — 15 seconds after shouting for Charleena to “get back”.

National Union of Teachers (NUT) members at Forest Hill School in Lewisham will strike again on 20, 25 and 26 April in their campaign against vicious cuts being imposed by management to fulfil conditions of repayment of loan to Lewisham council. There is a demonstration on Saturday 22 April.

The proposed restructure at the school is in response to a £1.3m deficit. Lewisham council has given the school a “loan” however they are demanding that the school cuts £800,000 from their wage bill.

The guard is there for everyone’s protection; recent incidents can only remind us of this. Access to rail services for disabled passengers relies on an adequate number of well-trained staff and accessible facilities.

Can Marxism can help us to understand autistic experience in modern capitalism? How might Marxism inform our struggles for equality and liberation?

There are different approaches to understanding autism. Perhaps the dominant approach is a medical one: seeing autism as a disease or tragedy, and autistic people as being broken and needing fixing. Over recent years, a more progressive approach has developed. It stresses acceptance of autistic people rather than simply “awareness”, and demands rights, equality and support rather than abusive “treatments”.

The government wants to reverse the effects of a court ruling which expands the number of people who can claim Personal Independence Payments (PiP). PiP is a non-means tested benefit, meant to provide extra money to people living with serious illnesses, disability or a mental health condition.

Socialist activists are drafting a manifesto for the Labour Party of radical policies to advance equality for autistic and other neurodivergent people (those with an atypical “brain-wiring”, usually a condition such as dyspraxia or attention deficit disorder). Supported by John McDonnell, a steering group has drafted a proposed manifesto and, having launched it at Labour Party conference in September, is now inviting input from Labour Party and trade union bodies and interested individuals.

The manifesto is based on five political pillars:

Val Graham reviews Autism Equality in the Workplace by Janine Booth.

Janine Booth, poet and author of Autism Equality in the Workplace, is both a worker and trade union activist. A member of the TUC Disabled Workers Committee, her handbook Autism in the Workplace was published online by the TUC in 2014.