News: UK Disability History Month: Empowering Disabled People in Public Life

This year’s UK Disability History Month takes place between 22 November and 22 December.
It is an annual event creating a platform to focus on the history of equality and human rights in the UK. The month-long event aims to encourage individuals and organisations to raise the profile of issues affecting disabled people, and to work together to form and implement positive solutions.

The theme for this year’s event is ‘Changing Lives, Changing Times: Challenging the ideas that lead to hate crime’. The aim is to encourage people to explore the history of attitudes and how disabled people's lives have been influenced by changes.

Disabled people are currently underrepresented in all areas of public life. Empowering disabled people in public life can be a key lever for changing culture and attitudes. It can raise the profile of the different capabilities and strengths of disabled people.

Standing for elected office can be a challenging experience for anyone, and particularly so for disabled people. As well as the negative attitudes and assumptions disabled candidates may face, many also incur significant extra costs in their election campaigns as a result of their condition or impairment.

Disabled people who have previously been prevented or put off from running for elected office, due to the additional costs they face, can now receive financial help to meet these costs from the Access to Elected Office Fund. The Fund was launched by the Government in July to help level the playing field for disabled people who want to become an elected representative.

The Fund is an important step forward in increasing disabled peoples’ visibility and participation in society. It is hoped that by removing some of the disability- related barriers of standing for elected office, the Fund will help disabled people to realise their potential to contribute to the political environment, putting them in a strong position to influence change on the issues that affect them and their communities.

The Fund provides grants that help meet the additional support needs a disabled person has that are associated with their disability. If this support were not provided, a disabled person may face an additional barrier in the selection and campaign processes compared to a non-disabled person.

To find out more about the Fund please visit the Access to Elected Office Fund website, http://www.access-to-elected-office-fund.org.uk

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More information about the Fund and UK Disability History Month

For more details about the fund and the application process, visit the Access to Elected Office Fund website,www.access-to-elected-office-fund.org.uk.

Or, you can contact the support team on 0845 8645340 or email: enquiries@access-to-elected-office-fund.org.uk