Lack of Support for Disabled People ‘Hurts Society’ – Maria Miller

A society that doesn’t properly support disabled people hurts itself, according to the new Minister for Disabled People, Basingstoke MP Maria Miller.

Speaking at the annual Independent Living Awards in Manchester, the Minister took the opportunity to introduce herself and her previous work improving access for disabled people in Basingstoke, her involvement with the Every Disabled Child Matters campaign and her ambassadorial role for Deaf Parenting UK.

“My contact with these organisations reaffirmed my belief that Britain can be a world leader when it comes to being family friendly,” she explained, “and that we have to support families no matter what barriers they face.”

She insisted: “If a society doesn’t properly support its disabled people, it doesn’t just hurt those individuals. It hurts their families. It hurts their communities. And it hurts the society itself.”

Although admitting that the few weeks since her appointment had been ‘very busy’, and ‘full of meetings and briefing to get me up to speed’, she said she was excited ‘to be getting out and getting to know the dedicated groups and individuals making a real difference in the lives of disabled people’.

Reaffirming the Coalition Government’s determination to give disabled people ‘greater choice and control over their own lives,’ Maria Miller confirmed her support for the Right to Control initiative and insisted she wanted the initial ‘Trailblazers’ across England “to be as creative and innovative as possible, to maximise the difference they make to people’s lives” and to benefit from the expert advice of disabled people and disability organisations.

In her speech the Minister also touched on welfare reform, insisting: “Disabled people should have the same choice, control and freedom as any other citizen. That, to me, seems self evident but, all too often, the opposite is true.”

She praised the organisations involved in the Awards and insisted that their work had “a critical role to play in helping us build stronger communities, a fairer society, and a better Britain.”

The next issue of Able magazine, published in July, will include an exclusive interview with Maria Miller.