Dr Gabriela Pavarini, Research Fellow in Ethics and Values, sums up Dr Marie Tidball's talk on ensuring fairness and justice for those with disabilities.
The COVID-19 pandemic has disproportionally impacted the disability community, laying bare deeply rooted inequalities and barriers to inclusion. Disabled individuals faced greater risk of poor COVID outcomes, loss of access to routine care and disparate socioeconomic consequences. “Anticipatory grief” was one of the terms used by Dr Marie Tidball to refer to the distress and anxiety disabled individuals experienced during that time as they faced highly uncertain futures. With disabled individuals accounting for 6 in 10 COVID deaths, the persistent sense that loss is imminent is hardly surprising.
As we recover from the pandemic crisis, Dr Tidball’s DwD seminar was an urgent call to action for a more just and inclusive society, where disabled individuals are valued and their rights withheld. The talk highlighted multiple areas for improvement in the support and protection of disabled individuals, aligned with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD). Perhaps most critically, the seminar emphasised the importance of strengthening inclusion and representation of disabled people in political, social and cultural life.
Even though disabled individuals represent about a fifth of the UK working-age population, less than 1% of MPs are disabled. This lack of representation can lead to critical failures to meet disabled people’s needs and priorities. Disabled individuals are also underrepresented in UK media. In the television industry, disabled people represent 4.5% of off-screen staff and 6.8% of on-screen roles. Such lack of representation not only paints an inaccurate picture of the diversity of UK society, but also leads to lower recognition of the richness of disabled people’s lives.
To understand the lack of participation, Dr Tidball emphasises an important distinction based on the social model of disability. Impairment – a condition related to a person’s physical or mental function – differs from disablement – a form of disadvantage caused by the failure to consider a person’s impairment. Organisations’ failures to take account of impairment leads to challenges in attracting, promoting and retaining disabled individuals in the workforce and political roles. Change requires careful assessment. Individuals and institutions must think about how a disabled person might interact with each step of the pathway into the organisation, applying a social rights model to promote inclusivity each step of the way.
There are 9.8 million disabled people in the UK population. Their relative absence in key political, social and cultural roles represents a critical loss of talent and potential. A society that centres disabled people’s perspectives and provides equitable opportunities is not only a more inclusive society, but one that breeds creativity and innovation.
