Mark Isherwood, has today called for the next Welsh Government to work with people with learning disabilities to tackle the barriers currently facing them.
Speaking at the All Wales People First Manifesto Launch, North Wales MS and Chair of the Cross Party Group on Disability in the Senedd, Mr Isherwood said that People with Learning Disabilities across Wales still face significant – yet unnecessary - barriers in their lives.
He said the next Welsh Government must continue to support advocacy services for people with learning disabilities, as well as promoting self-advocacy and supporting independent living and also do more to remove the barriers to employment that many people with learning disabilities currently face.
He said:
“We need to increase awareness of the Access to Work scheme in Wales. This scheme, funded by the UK Government, helps to pay for adjustments to workplaces to assist disabled employees with their job.
“Research from Leonard Cheshire highlights that just 14% of disabled adults in Wales have received support from the ATW scheme, compared to 25% of disabled adults in England.
“The next Welsh Government must work with employers and the UK Government to ensure that more people can request flexible working. Providing more flexibility to employees would help to open-up more opportunities for people with learning disabilities to gain employment.”
Mr Isherwood also emphasised the need for the next Welsh Government to assess transport infrastructure with the intention of removing barriers facing disabled people, for people with learning disabilities to be treated as equals, and for legislation and plans to be turned into action “to give people with learning disabilities real voice, choice, control and independence”.
He said:
“I hear almost daily from disabled people, communities and carers who are having to fight for the support and services they need to enable them to lead an independent life.
“Your manifesto calls on the next Welsh Government to include the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Disabled People (UNCRPD) into Welsh law.
“I have previously spoken in the Senedd of the merit in incorporating this into Welsh law in order to strengthen and promote the rights of disabled people.
He also spoke of the need for the health inequalities experienced by people with learning disabilities to be removed.
He said; “Many people with learning disabilities experience inequalities in health and research by Public Health England states that the death rate from COVID-19 is six times higher for people with a learning disability than the general population.
“I highlighted this with the Welsh Government and urged them to prioritise autistic people and/or adults with learning difficulties to receive the COVID-19 vaccine.
“I was therefore relieved when the UK Government’s Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation advised that all people with Learning Disabilities should now be prioritised for the vaccine, and the Welsh Government then announced that People with Learning Disabilities and Unpaid Carers would now be invited for a vaccine as part of priority Group 6.”
Last year Mark participated in a virtual ‘Zoom’ meeting with Denbigh Self-Advocacy Group for people with Learning Disabilities, which was also opened up to questions from people with Learning Disabilities across North Wales, organised with charity North Wales Advice and Advocacy Association (NWAAA).
He was questioned about both support for people with Learning Disabilities, and wider concerns that the COVID-19 Pandemic is not treating everyone the same and that people with Learning Disabilities were not receiving the support they need.
At today’s event, he therefore also stressed that the next Welsh Government must ensure that “the voice of people with Learning Disabilities is involved in the design and delivery of services before crisis happens”.