GMCDP News

The family of Lorraine Gradwell invite her friends to join them in an Appreciation of her life, as follows:

Monday 2 October 2017
2pm – 4pm
Gorton Monastery, Gorton Lane, Manchester M12 5WF
www.themonastery.co.uk

Lorraine Gradwell, one of the leading figures of GMCDP, has had an obituary printed in the in the Guardian

Reclaiming Our Futures Alliance have issued a press release regarding the UN Commitee on the Rights of Persons with Disability comdemnation of UK Government claims. A ‘human catastrophe’ – New UN condemnation for UK human rights record The UK Government’s claim to be a ‘world leader in disability issues’ has today been crushed by the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The Committee has released damning Concluding Observations on the UK, following its first Review of the government’s compliance with the Convention.

Martin Pagel has written a tribute to Lorraine Gradwell who sadly passed away on Sunday 3rd of September

“Oi, less of the old”

One of Lorraine's favourite sayings was:

'Make new friends but keep the old
One is silver the other is gold.'

It is with the deepest sadness and regret that we must announce that Lorraine Gradwell, one of our longest serving members, former team leader and chair of GMCDP’s executive council passed away on Sunday 3rd September 2017.

Lorraine was a major figure, not only within GMCDP, but the Disabled People’s Movement as a whole. Lorraine’s ability to articulate, challenge and persuade made her a formidable advocate of disability rights. She will be sorely missed; not only as a comrade and leader but also a friend, supporter and confidante to a lot of people.

From The Guardian

The UK government is failing to uphold disabled people’s rights across a range of areas from education, work and housing to health, transport and social security, a UN inquiry has found.

From

An international committee of disabled human rights experts have delivered a series of withering attacks on the UK government over its failure to implement the UN disability convention.

Following a two-day public examination of the UK’s progress in implementing the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, the committee said it was “deeply concerned” that the UK government still believed it was a “champion of human rights”.

From Disability News Service

The government has been accused of “sending out mixed messages” on independent living, after it emerged that it wants to charge VAT on the payroll services provided to disabled people who receive direct payments for their social care.

Any budding young comic writers out there?

GMCDP are writing a third edition of the award winning Accessibles. We are looking for young disabled people (aged 15-25) within Manchester to write the next issue.

We can provide support with transport

Please contact Linda on 0161 636 7535 or email at lmarsh@gmcdp

To read the older copies of the accessibles, they are downloadable as PDF documents from here

From Disability News Service

One of the largest airports in the country has been branded one of the worst for accessibility, after it failed to consult with disabled people about how it could improve its services.

Manchester Airport is one of just four in the UK that were said in the Civil Aviation Authority’s (CAA) annual review to be providing “poor” services to disabled passengers.