The Disability Bill is among those being pushed through before the general election, but the future of the Equality Bill is now up in the air. Are the bill’s proposals to replace the Disability Rights Commission with a super-commission covering disability, race, gender, age, sexuality and religion vital for tackling discrimination?
The government claims its Commission for Equalities and Human Rights will “transform” the way discrimination and disadvantage is tackled in Britain. Apparently, it will have a greater impact than the existing commissions because its wider remit will make it “a stronger champion for all”.
Stirring words, but behind the promises, how much do disabled people actually share with gay people, old people, black people and the rest – and could we really work together?
On the one hand, it seems to make complete sense to have one body which can take an all-inclusive role in tackling discrimination. What’s the point of reinventing the wheel and having six separate bodies all thinking about exclusion, oppression, marginalisation and the rest of it, when many of the experiences will be the same? And anyway, disabled people are also men and women, black and white, gay and straight – and most of us, like it or not, are going to get old. None of us are ever likely to just face one kind of discrimination, and having a body which can think about what’s been called “multiple oppressions” is surely useful.
But on the other hand, there are differences in the way oppression crops up for different groups, which must not be lost in bringing together the battle against discrimination. For instance, it seems to me that one of the ways in which disabled people are discriminated against which differs to other groups is that there remains the hope, within certain sections of society, that someday we won’t exist anymore (perhaps when the ‘miracle’ of modern science effectively removes all impairments from society). While this may be a myth, it does affect the way disabled people are considered and treated, which doesn’t happen for other marginalized groups (save on the wilder shores of the lunatic campaigning fringe).
Disabled people also have a more recent history of exclusion from mainstream society, and it is only in the last two generations that non-disabled and disabled people have actually grown up alongside each other. As a result, there are still many non-disabled people who have no experience of disabled people whatsoever, save perhaps as a carer. And, of course, we face a particular kind of discrimination in the form of inaccessible environments, which other people do not.
All of the above suggests that disabled people need separate consideration when it comes to tackling oppression. But then, can’t the same argument be taken for other marginalized groups? Can racism, for instance, really be understood and tackled without facing up to the history of slavery and colonialism, something other marginalized groups have not been affected by? And can the ‘moral’ and ‘ethical’ opposition to the new rights given to lesbians and gay men really be compared to other forms of discrimination?
Regardless of its differences and similarities though, all prejudice comes from the idea that there is such a thing as an ideal or correct person in the first place. It seems that this correct person is a white, male, heterosexual, middle-class man from the south of England – and anyone who fails to fit that model is at a disadvantage. If we hang onto that mindset in any way – by tolerating racism or homophobia, for example – how will we be able to think properly about disability discrimination? Besides, all of us have multiple identities, and what’s the point of being an equal, disabled person if you experience racism? Where is the sense in having good access to work if you are harassed because of your sexuality once you get there?
Ultimately, any kind of discrimination distorts our lives. It prevents us flourishing, no matter what our identities and, to my mind, it stops us truly ending any oppression. A new commission which could begin to tackle discrimination in an inclusive way – thinking, acting and informing with the goal of ending all kinds of inequality – may finally herald the beginning of a truly equal society.
David Ruebain is a leading education and disability rights lawyer. Last year he was shortlisted for the Law Society Gazette’s lifetime achievement award in human rights.
The Disability Bill is among those being pushed through before the general election, but the future of the Equality Bill is now up in the air. Are the bill’s proposals to replace the Disability Rights Commission with a super-commission covering disability, race, gender, age, sexuality and religion vital for tackling discrimination?
The government claims its Commission for Equalities and Human Rights will “transform” the way discrimination and disadvantage is tackled in Britain. Apparently, it will have a greater impact than the existing commissions because its wider remit will make it “a stronger champion for all”.
Stirring words, but behind the promises, how much do disabled people actually share with gay people, old people, black people and the rest – and could we really work together?
On the one hand, it seems to make complete sense to have one body which can take an all-inclusive role in tackling discrimination. What’s the point of reinventing the wheel and having six separate bodies all thinking about exclusion, oppression, marginalisation and the rest of it, when many of the experiences will be the same? And anyway, disabled people are also men and women, black and white, gay and straight – and most of us, like it or not, are going to get old. None of us are ever likely to just face one kind of discrimination, and having a body which can think about what’s been called “multiple oppressions” is surely useful.
But on the other hand, there are differences in the way oppression crops up for different groups, which must not be lost in bringing together the battle against discrimination. For instance, it seems to me that one of the ways in which disabled people are discriminated against which differs to other groups is that there remains the hope, within certain sections of society, that someday we won’t exist anymore (perhaps when the ‘miracle’ of modern science effectively removes all impairments from society). While this may be a myth, it does affect the way disabled people are considered and treated, which doesn’t happen for other marginalized groups (save on the wilder shores of the lunatic campaigning fringe).
Disabled people also have a more recent history of exclusion from mainstream society, and it is only in the last two generations that non-disabled and disabled people have actually grown up alongside each other. As a result, there are still many non-disabled people who have no experience of disabled people whatsoever, save perhaps as a carer. And, of course, we face a particular kind of discrimination in the form of inaccessible environments, which other people do not.
All of the above suggests that disabled people need separate consideration when it comes to tackling oppression. But then, can’t the same argument be taken for other marginalized groups? Can racism, for instance, really be understood and tackled without facing up to the history of slavery and colonialism, something other marginalized groups have not been affected by? And can the ‘moral’ and ‘ethical’ opposition to the new rights given to lesbians and gay men really be compared to other forms of discrimination?
Regardless of its differences and similarities though, all prejudice comes from the idea that there is such a thing as an ideal or correct person in the first place. It seems that this correct person is a white, male, heterosexual, middle-class man from the south of England – and anyone who fails to fit that model is at a disadvantage. If we hang onto that mindset in any way – by tolerating racism or homophobia, for example – how will we be able to think properly about disability discrimination? Besides, all of us have multiple identities, and what’s the point of being an equal, disabled person if you experience racism? Where is the sense in having good access to work if you are harassed because of your sexuality once you get there?
Ultimately, any kind of discrimination distorts our lives. It prevents us flourishing, no matter what our identities and, to my mind, it stops us truly ending any oppression. A new commission which could begin to tackle discrimination in an inclusive way – thinking, acting and informing with the goal of ending all kinds of inequality – may finally herald the beginning of a truly equal society.
David Ruebain is a leading education and disability rights lawyer. Last year he was shortlisted for the Law Society Gazette’s lifetime achievement award in human rights.