South-east WITH an average 13,400 disabled voters in each Constituency, MPs cannot afford to ignore their needs.

The Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) 1995 was a major advance, but contains serious flaws. Consequently, the Labour Government established the Disability Rights Task Force in December, 1997, which led to the establishment of the Disability Rights Commission (DRC) on April 25, 2000, and the publication of 'From Exclusion to Inclusion', a report containing 150 recommendations.

Last week the Government responded to these recommendations in its report 'Towards Inclusion -- civil rights for disabled people', and 'The Disability Manifesto' was launched by national disability and carers organisations at an event that I attended.

Despite important progress since the 1997 General Election, such as the establishment of the DRC, the extension of direct payments to older people, 16/17 year-olds and the parents of disabled children, and measures to increase disabled people's access to the voting process, thousands of disabled people are still excluded from social, economic and political life.

While the DDA has protected disabled people seeking access to goods, facilities and services, a major exception has been education. The Special Educational Needs and Disability Bill, currently before Parliament, will plug this gap. The Government have made considerable amounts of money available to improve access to educational facilities at all levels. Some schools in Bolton have already bid for and won money to improve access to their buildings and provide facilities for disabled pupils.

The New Deal for the Disabled, which was piloted in Bolton, has shown that many disabled people want to work but need help to move from welfare into work. Many people are disabled in their former employment, through accident or illness, but are quite capable of working in a new environment given adequate support and training.

The definition of 'disability' in the 1995 Act is very wide, although this is not generally recognised; some 8.5 million people are covered by the present definition in the UK. However, the Government are to intensify efforts to get recognition for all the disabilities covered by the existing Act.

For further advice on this information, or about my Advice Surgeries, please telephone Karen on 01204 371202 (leave a message on the answerphone if she is busy when you ring) or see http://members.xoom.com/iddon (this website contains information on my Parliamentary activities).