We are participating in this year’s London Legal Walk again on 20 May!
Our team members so far are:- Jeff Brattan-Wilson, Rob Wilks, Lydia Boydell, Mariella Reina, Lianne Lusty, Cherry Day, Phil Sewell, Wendy Callaghan, Des Masterson, Melissa Davis, Genevieve Brooks-Johnson. Thank you so much to all of you for giving up your time to raise much needed funds for RAD DLC.
Background
Deaf people who use British Sign Language (BSL) as a first language often have poor literacy levels (the average reading age for Deaf school leavers is 8-9 years). This means that they cannot understand information leaflets and correspondence, or access telephone helplines using a textphone.
The Equality and Human Rights Commission’s report into the provision of advice services in the UK, “Responding to discrimination: the geography and geometry of advice provision in England, Scotland and Wales” was published in July 2009. On pages 105-107, it found that:
- “ … the advice system of CABs, law societies, union sources and private firms of solicitors are often still inaccessible to profoundly Deaf customers in spite of the DDA having been on the statute books since 1995”
- “ … when disabled people are treated as a homogenous group then the specific obstacles facing Deaf customers and those with learning difficulties often slip through the net.”
Legal aid cuts
As a result of the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012, from March 2013, the areas of welfare benefits and employment, incidentally the areas of law most in demand by our clientele, all legal aid funding will be cut, except in appeal cases to the Upper Tribunal and above where there is a point of law for welfare benefits, and in employment matters involving discrimination.
This means that Deaf clients will not get any free legal advice in relation to claiming Disability Living Allowance, Personal Independence Payments, Universal Credit, Employment & Support Allowance, nor bedroom tax and the benefit cap. Where can they now go to receive advice on claiming the benefits they are entitled to and appealing any decisions?
What can be done?
We have calculated that the approximate cost for RAD DLC to deal with one welfare benefits enquiry for 1 hour is £27. We need to raise this money as we do not currently receive any funding to provide this type of legal advice, and are unable to rely on central funds.
We would like to raise at least £1,000 in order to be able to give a total of 40 clients one-off advice on their welfare benefit issues. Obviously, the more we raise, the more clients we can advise.
Please donate as generously as you are able. Just go to: http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/team/RADDLC
Many thanks for your support!
