Council adopts UN Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities

Cheshire West and Chester Council has voted to adopt the UN Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities, supporting the council’s aim to ensure everyone can actively participate in their community.

Created in recognition of the fact that disabled peoples’ rights are not always respected, the convention identifies that physical and communicative barriers often prevent people from being able to be fully involved in society. It outlines the steps that are needed to ensure disabled people have their rights protected.

A recommendation to adopt the convention came from the Council’s recent Future of Social Care Commission. Here the Cheshire Disabled People’s Panel told compelling personal stories that reinforced the notion that the Council should work with, and provide services for, disabled people using a human rights approach.

The motion at Council, brought by Cllr Val Armstrong and seconded by Councillor Charles Fifield, received unanimous cross-party support.

Cabinet member for adult social care and health, Cllr Val Armstrong, said: “More than 60,000 disabled people live in west Cheshire and across the UK one in five have a long-term health condition.

“Any barriers they face are due to attitudes towards disability – physical barriers like steps and also communication barriers.

“This is an issue that is important to so many of our residents. We should protect and promote the rights of disabled people and remove barriers to help them fully participate in their family, community and society.

“Adopting this convention will strengthen our efforts to work with disabled people and their organisations to remove the barriers they face and make sure they are involved in decisions made affecting them.”

The Future of Social Care Commission’s purpose was to bring together councillors, health and voluntary sector colleagues and those who draw on or provide care to ask how the Council can best enable people to live the lives they want.