3 December 2024
The coalition will be submitting evidence to the Modernisation Committee
To mark the United Nations’ International Day of Persons with Disabilities (3 December), the RCSLT has worked with STAMMA, the stammering charity, to bring together a coalition of over 30 organisations calling for the United Kingdom Parliament to be inclusive of signers and people with communication disability, difficulty, or difference.
The call comes as the House of Commons Modernisation Committee seeks people views on how the Commons’ standards, culture and working practices, and parliamentary procedures can be improved. The coalition will be submitting evidence to the Committee arguing that the barriers faced by signers and people with communication disability, difficulty, or difference must be removed so that Parliament is more effective, and people can exercise their democratic rights.
We will be setting out what we think needs to happen so that the Commons’ standards, culture and working practices, and parliamentary procedures are accessible to and inclusive of signers and people with communication disability, difficulty, or difference. We will be asking the Committee to:
- work with us, and with signers and people with communication disability, difficulty, or difference, to make Parliament accessible and inclusive. We will be making immediate, practical recommendations that can be enacted right now, while longer-term action is undertaken.
- consider whether current standards, culture and working practices, and parliamentary procedures are compliant with the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, specifically Article 29 on participation in political and public life.
Call to action
We also encourage signers and people with communication disability, difficulty, or difference to make a submission to the Committee themselves highlighting why they think change is needed. The Committee is accepting submissions until 3pm on 16 December 2024.
