At an age when most men would be expected to sit in a comfortable chair with the traditional pipe ‘n’ slippers, being cared for themselves, Alf Winter does all the household chores. He still drives, and cooks full meals every day. He says that he has to do it, as there’s no one else to do it!

He is one of around 77,000 carers aged over 65, just in the East Midlands.

The Winters’ case made me think, and I went looking for statistics on elderly carers in the whole of the UK. I found a worrying one- 24% of carers aged over 75 provide 50 or more hours of unpaid care a week.

But the most worrying thing is that carers who are receiving a state pension are not eligible to receive Carer’s Allowance.

Alf Winter is very lucky to have a level of physical health that allows him to keep caring for his son. But his case is a reminder that there are too many others out there in a similar situation who are not so lucky.

As the disabled child of wonderful parent carers, I realised at a young age how hard carers work every day in their caring roles. They rarely complain- but this doesn’t mean they don’t deserve support and recognition.

Medical advances mean that more disabled people are living longer. While this should be celebrated, it also means that many parents are having to provide high levels of care well into their own old age.

Elderly carers, who could so easily send their adult disabled children into residential care and relax in their own old age, surely deserve more, not less, support and recognition than most.

I have no doubt that Deaf people are very happy about this idea. (the Deaf see themselves as able-bodied speakers of a language and members of a minority community, while the deaf see themselves as disabled.)

The thing is that I can hear, and I still think this is a great idea. I hope that all of you can also hear, so I wanted to know how you feel about it.

I don’t think your opinion on this has to be based on whether or not you see deafness as a disability. It’s about whether or not you see Sign Language as a language. Although the two are very closely connected, because those who see Sign Language as a language don’t see deafness as a disability. However, I think that if more hearing people saw Sign Language as a language, then less hearing people would see deafness as a disability.

Minority and indigenous language status would mean that Sign Language would be officially recognised as a language by the hearing world. If it is granted, I think it would forever eliminate one disability from the West, if not the whole world. In this way, it would reduce prejudice and increase rates of inclusive education and inclusion.

As a DisAbled person who has spent many years hoping for such things to happen, I can’t think of anything better.

The Convention is a landmark agreement that aims to give the world’s 650 million disabled people full equality, and ratification means that a country accepts its legal obligations under the treaty and ensures that any necessary laws are passed.

But what rights are guaranteed for disabled people by this Convention? Well, in summary, it’s about protecting our rights when it comes to making our own decisions; saying no to being placed in an institution; saying no to medical or psychological treatment; and living in the community. It also seeks to remove barriers to participation in daily life and enable equal opportunities for all.

This story has, unfortunately, been ignored by the mainstream media. So ignored that I’ve only just found out the news from the blog at the BBC disability website, Ouch. But, no matter what, this means real progress for the UK’s DisAbled population. As a DisAbled person, I am thrilled to hear it, and know that many of my friends are as well. To borrow the words of a very famous astronaut, this one small step for the mainstream is a giant leap for DisAbility.

A NEW WORLD ORDER?

… and the dark side of it.

Nationwide
Goodwin considering voluntary pension cut.
Village blocks Google Streetview.
Wisden Cricketer of the year is a GIRL shock!
… and a British woman regains the freediving record.

International
Aid Agencies issue Afghan warning.
French Protests ahead of Nato summit.
Kenyan Lions poisoned by pesticide.
Pakistan region gripped by Taleban fear.

DAILY BLOG REVIEW / by Sarah Ismail

Welcome to our G20 Special Blog Review. There was loads of good stuff written about the G20, so if I’ve missed your contribution, I’m sorry. It wasn’t an easy job but I chose ten of the best.

BBC Blog Rory Cellan Jones on social networking at the march.

Blogotariat Words in pictures.

Coffee House Brown’s G20 Sermon.

Council of Foreign Relations This G20 March was not the first of its kind.

FIT Watch Wishes all protests were policed with as much respect as the march.

FT.com The economic crisis is not to blame for the riots at the march.

Oxfam News Blog Bloggers made history by reporting live from the summit.

Sky News Blogs Video: Asking what the G20 will achieve.

Telegraph.co.uk Liveblogging the summit.

And finally, Brett’s Gourmet Food Blog reports that Jamie Oliver cooked for the G20 Summit….or you can browse through previous Netcasts

MPs CLAIMS ON SALE

Nationwide
Brown: stop cash for MPs’ second homes
UK troops begin Iraqi withdrawal
Poll: Brown should focus on domestic problems
iPhone brings Skype to UK’s mobile masses

International
Why the Democrats Can’t Govern
Afghan women’s rights hit by new law
Sarkozy and Merkel shape European unity
Rampage in Pakistan shows reach of militants

DAILY BLOG REVIEW / by Sarah Ismail

Andy Worthington Publishes Moazzam Begg’s recent interview with Binyam Mohammed.

Bartholomew’s Notes Obama Seeks Muslims For White House Posts.

Bleeding Heart Show On Prison Reform

Chicken Yoghurt Thinks Iain Dale’s taken over the media!

Gary Younge/CIF The Mythical Muslim.

Indigo Jo Car crime is a priority over rape. What are the police thinking?

Natalie Bennett A book that explains an important part of Herstory.

And finally…Victoria Brignell on her penfriend… the only person she knows who doesn’t know she’s DisAbled. Or you can flick through previous Netcasts

Why? Simply because Miss Burnell was born with one arm! What difference does that make? Any sensible person living in 21st century England would instantly ask.

But the BBC has received complaints from parents that Miss Burnell is scaring toddlers and that she is not suitable to appear on the digital children’s channel. Some posts on the CBeebies website were so vicious that they had to be removed.

Incredibly, one father said he wanted to ban his daughter from watching the channel because he feared it would give her nightmares.

Some even accused the BBC of hiring Miss Burnell, 29, because of ‘political correctness’ and solely to meet employment quotas. One parent wrote: “This new presenter is c*** – face facts – but because she has a disability then she was given a job. [It is] positive discrimination in my books.”

“What is scary is the BBC’s determination to show “minorities” on CBeebies at every available opportunity!” said another.

Responding to some parents, who said that they were forced to discuss difficult issues with their young children before they were ready, Miss Burnell said: It can only be a good thing that parents are using me as a chance to talk about disability with their children. It just goes to show how important it is to have positive disabled role models on CBeebies and television in general.

I think it’s great the BBC have appointed Cerrie Burnell. The earlier children come into contact with disabilities the better. A friend of mine recently had a baby and was told that the baby’s right arm hadn’t developed. This child will join nursery and school like any other child but hopefully will suffer fewer taunts and stares thanks to the children having come across Cerrie.

Understanding disability all comes down to familiarity. The bottom line is that seeing disabled people on television should be the norm, not the exception.

According to BBC News, the government hopes to ratify the Convention by December 2008, but plans to modify its obligations in some areas, particularly the right of people with disabilities to access a mainstream education. With developing countries such as India, Bangladesh and South Africa on the growing list that have already ratified the CRPD, with no modifications, this is not good enough for Disability Rights campaigners in the UK- a country which claims to be developed.

Access to mainstream education has always been a struggle for disabled children and their parents. Richard Rieser is the director of Disability Equality in Education (DEE), a small non-governmental organisation that provides training, consultancy and resources to improve the position of disabled people in the education system. He has recently made the news for his efforts to convince the government to commit to improving facilities in mainstream schools by the year 2025, so that they can meet the needs of any disabled children who wish for a mainstream education, and, therefore, make more of an effort to practise what Disability Rights Campaigners call Inclusion.

On Sunday, 9^th November 2008, DEE held a screening of one of their resources on Inclusive Education at the Tricycle Cinema in London. The short documentary,  
Developing Inclusive Education in South Africa, made by Richard Rieser and Ann Pugh, raises awareness of some of the steps that have been taken by the South African government to include their disabled children in mainstream education.

It was screened as part of a fundraising event, held in association with The Nihal Armstrong Trust, (NAT), a registered charity set up in 2004, in memory of my childhood friend, Nihal Armstrong. The Trust provides grants to the families of children aged 18 and under with Cerebral Palsy, for equipment and services to improve their lives, which local authorities are not able to provide.

NAT also screened a short documentary at the event on Sunday afternoon. Sarcastically titled The Authorities Are Always Right, the film by talented documentary maker Sapna Ramnani, who herself has Cerebral Palsy and is a great success story of an inclusive education, tells the story of Nihal Armstrong’s fight for a mainstream education from 1990 to 2001- a long, difficult and painful struggle which was eventually successful.  

At the time when Nihal Armstrong, Sapna Ramnani and many others were fighting to be included into mainstream schools, there was no Convention to protect the rights of disabled people. Yet both of these extremely intelligent people deserved the success that they found in the mainstream education system.

To Disability Rights Campaigners, the government’s plans to allow more disabled MPs into Parliament seem pointless unless they can also protect the rights of ordinary disabled people by ratifying the CRPD.

If ratifying the Convention will save even one intelligent disabled child the pain that Nihal Armstrong experienced, I think it would be well worthwhile. Just as Nihal Armstrong’s local authority were very wrong ever to question his ability to benefit from a mainstream education, the UK government are wrong today, in taking so long to ratify such an important Convention.

BT cuts 10,000 jobs

Nationwide
‘Extra UK troops’ for Afghanistan
Facing a sperm donor shortage
Pound sinks to record low against the euro
Nintendo Wii Fit selling out

International
Increase in forced labour, rape in Congo
Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae need more money
Rove: History favors Republicans in 2010
China startled by force of crisis
North Korea to cut S Korea links

DAILY BLOG REVIEW / by Sarah Ismail

Ala Abbas – Doesn’t like the name Bitch magazine. Neither do I, Ala.

Angela Saini – Another post on the rise of the Internet.

Bartholomew’s Notes – Reviews Tuesday night’s Dispatches programme on Africa’s ‘Witch Children.’

Bleeding Heart Show – Reports on Parliament’s idea of increasing diversity among its members. DisAbility has made the list, for a change!

Clive Davis – Seven minutes of satire at its sharpest. Friday Fun.

Derek Wall – The rise (and rise) of the Greens.

EUTopia – Rules on straight bananas are being scrapped.

Harry’s Place – On a racist who claims he made a mistake…

Georgian Claims over War Called Into Question

Elsewhere
Shock victory puts the bounce back into Brown
Britain labelled ‘cocaine capital of Europe’
Obama prepares to spike euphoria with reality
DR Congo accuses UN over killings

DAILY BLOG REVIEW / by Sarah Ismail

Ala Abbas – They said this day would never come…. then it did.

Bartholomew’s Notes – There’s trouble at New Statesman…

Clive Davis – America’s First Couple go global… already! Friday Fun.

Derek Wall – Tells us why a concert was cancelled in Switzerland.

Dr Strangelove – The World Is Changed.

Feministing – Why we should hang on to the word Feminism.

Liberal England – Jonathan is a tad irritated.

New Humanist – It’s time for the historic poll we’ve all been waiting for…

‘Human catastrophe’ grips Congo

And more…
Somalia’s Pirates Flourish in a Lawless Nation
Rocked again: BBC all at sea in another storm
Bush’s Last Push To Deregulate
Barclays gets Middle Eastern money

DAILY BLOG REVIEW / by Sarah Ismail

In this week of religious festivals, today’s roundup has a slightly religious theme. I’ve never liked tricks much, so I hope you will consider it a treat. Happy Halloween! And, of course, belated Divali wishes to anyone who celebrated!

1820 – A two minute video clip for one of this week’s Friday Fun links.

Chicken Yoghurt – The public resigns over Brandgate. I couldn’t choose between them, so this week you get two Friday Fun links.

Harry’s Place – David T doesn’t trust the government on Islamism.

Indigo Jo – The Message, a film about the arrival of Islam, is being remade.

Manjula Sood/New Statesman – On the meanings of Divali.

Rahila Gupta/CiF – Wonders whether a film can lead to positive changes in India’s religious divides.

The Langar Hall – A voting guide for Sikh Americans.

Tory Troll – Adam has a question for our old friend Andrew Gilligan: are you being a very naughty sockpuppet?

Lost in Iceland

Financial Crisis
Councils ‘not reckless with cash’
Asian stocks hit after Dow plunge
World must follow my example, says Brown
Gordon Brown to sue Iceland

DAILY BLOG REVIEW / by Sarah Ismail

Hello Readers! I’m your new Friday NetCaster. I’d like to present a new feature, Friday Fun. Something to smile at, just because it’s Friday. Enjoy!

Blairwatch – This week’s NetCast starts with the Friday Fun link, just because we’re in alphabetical order. Being a poet myself, I enjoyed this effort.

Derek Wall – The Green Bible has arrived!

Feministing – I’m sorry, Jessica. I have never understood why people can’t read books before unneccessarily insulting their authors either. All the best for when your book actually gets published.

Ministry of Truth – Is God a delusion? WARNING: LONG.

Victoria Brignell/New Statesman – New Statesman’s resident DisAbled writer on the highs and lows of all her different wheelchairs.

Pickled Politics/Kulvinder – A short history of the banking crisis. Excellent.

Robert Sharp – Tells us why he thinks Obama will win the race to the White House. I hope he’s right.

Stumbling and Mumbling – What really matters in modern politics?

Tinuvielberen – On Sexism.

Send your favourite links to tips[at]liberalconspiracy[dot]org and if we like them, they’ll make the round-up. See you next week!

Palin meets expectations but still falls short

Reactions
You betcha Sarah Palin can debate
Palin defies critics and delivers punchy performance
Palin and Biden spar in debate
Watch the election unfold on twitter

Elsewhere
Revealed: the Tory plot that forced out Met chief Blair
Anger erupts over Met chief’s resignation
Cruddas tipped for minister job in shuffle

DAILY BLOG REVIEW / by Sarah Ismail

Angela Saini – Has been brainstorming the state of the world in 11 years’ time, with a little help from her friends.

Derek Wall – Is campaigning to Free Hugo Blanco, a human rights activist who’s been arrested in Peru.

Indigo Jo – On the million-dollar question: When was Eid-ul-Fitr 2008? (I celebrated on Tuesday. Eid Mubarak to all Muslim readers!).

Kanishk Tharoor/openUSA – Obama disappoints on foreign policy. So, what’s different about him then?

Natalie Bennett – Links to the 65th Carnival of Feminists.

New Humanist Blog – Lists the Ten Commandments of Blogging. Yes, really.

The Curvature – Cara on her visit to South Dakota Live Action Camp. WARNING: This post is long.

Though Cowards Flinch – Who cares what toilets are called, as long as they do their job?

Congress fails to reach agreement

Elsewhere
Tempers flare as $700bn bailout stalls
Brown to meet Bush at White House
Tonight’s debate will make or break candidates
Israel asked US for green light to bomb Iran
Cabinet split on Kingsnorth power station

DAILY BLOG REVIEW / by Sarah Ismail

Rahila Gupta/CIF – My favourite human rights campaigner raising awareness of an organisation that promotes diversity in the theatre.

Sonia Afroz – Examining Pickled Politics, the second-best blog on the net (after this one.)

1820 – What does John McCain have in common with Homer Simpson?

Angela Saini – If Palm Oil takes off as source of energy, it could be catastropic for the environment.

Bartholomew’s Notes – On the ‘Jihad Prevention Act.’

Bloggerheads – On the second-boldest liar in the blogosphere, our friend Naddine.

Blood and Treasure – A 300 year old ban has been lifted…

Obsolete – …Catholic heathens can now be king (or queen!).

tygerland – ID Cards are destined for disaster. Why doesn’t the government see it?

On Thursday’s episode of one of my favourite Australian soaps, Out of The Blue, screened on BBC2, a happily pregnant couple at what they thought was a routine scan were told that their baby had such a serious genetic abnormality that there was no choice but to terminate the pregnancy. My instant reaction was a cry of “Surely that isn’t legal!”

Personally, I am strongly against any abortion. However, being disabled, I am particularly against the abortion of any pregnancy that, if continued, would lead to the birth of a disabled child.

The programme left me wondering whether it was actually legal for any doctor to tell a couple that they have no choice but to abort a pregnancy because it would lead to the birth of a disabled child. So I spent my weekend researching both Australian and British abortion laws. Thank God, this doesn’t seem to be legal in either country.

I know that, in Britain, most couples who find themselves pregnant with a genetically disabled baby are offered an abortion. Unfortunately, some accept this offer. My research shows that in Britain, it is legal to abort a pregnancy at any stage if two registered doctors agree that the child would be born with serious physical or mental disabilities. However, as I think it should be, this is always the parents’ decision to make.

Abortion in Australia remains a subject of state law rather than national law. Out of The Blue is set in Sydney, the state capital of New South Wales, where even a “lethal” fetal abnormality is not sufficient grounds for abortion. To be lawful, the abortion must be necessary to preserve the woman from serious danger to her life or physical or mental health. So, in New South Wales, unless the mother is in serious danger, the decision to terminate a genetically disabled baby must be made by the parents for the termination to even be legal!

I blame the BBC for mis-representing Australian abortion laws in this way by covering this storyline. For a short while, they made me very glad that I don’t live in Australia. I don’t think that was fair on viewers at all. I think that someone needs to point their mistake out to them. Meanwhile, I can only hope that they never make such a serious mistake again.

When I first read about Joanne Hill, I was shocked. Hill, 32, from Wales, drowned her four-year-old daughter, Naomi, in a bathtub because she couldn’t cope with Naomi’s mild Cerebral Palsy. She came up with the plan to kill Naomi after Naomi’s father, who cared for her deeply, refused to put her up for adoption.

Hill was ‘embarrassed’ by Naomi’s leg splints and hearing difficulties, and irritated by some of the side effects of her medication.

The defendant went upstairs to run a bath, adding bubble bath, and came down for a glass of wine. When the bath was full she told Naomi she was having a bath. But Naomi didn’t want one so she carried her upstairs and undressed her. The defendant put her in the bath and drowned her by holding her head under the water for a long time. Mr Chambers said Ms Hill then dressed Naomi and left the house, placing her daughter and a bottle of wine in the car, before her husband returned home from work.
…
Police have been able to establish that she visited a petrol station at about 11.30pm that night and the jury were shown CCTV footage of her smiling and joking with the sales assistant.

Hill denies murder, but admits unlawful killing. Her defence will claim diminished responsibility for a charge of manslaughter, since, not surprisingly, Hill has a history of mental health problems.

The trial continues, but Mr Chambers says he believes that, “in the months and days leading up to the death of Naomi, the mother’s behaviour was considered normal and rational.”

My childhood friend’s family – who fought battles so he could have the life he deserved – are still grieving several years after his natural death from side effects of severe Cerebral Palsy. They will grieve for the rest of their lives.

Under the Disability Discrimination Act 2005, Naomi could have had full access to a mainstream education and, later, mainstream employment. Speaking from personal experience, I don’t doubt Naomi’s intellectual abilities for a second. Under the Act, she could also have accessed any goods, facilities and services that she wished to.

With this Act in place, and with my personal experiences of positive changes in mainstream attitudes to disability, I see no good reason for Hill to be ‘embarrassed’ by Naomi’s disability- at least not in the 21st century.

I have been told about a few children who have been put up for adoption because their ‘parents’ were unable to cope with their disabilities. I believe that a real parent should love their child unconditionally, with or without disability.

I’m not saying for a second that all parents in the situation can cope with having disabled children. I know of parents who have left their families, including disabled children, and never looked back- but I believe that they, like Hill, never deserved to have children in the first place.

Pickled Politics: Clairwil asks us to save an innocent woman from deportation to Nigeria, where she faces death for the unforgivable crime of… falling in love.

Rahila Gupta/CiF: My favourite feminist, Rahila, suggests a long-term solution to sex trafficking.

Remembering The Ability in Disability: While waiting to go on holiday in a crowded airport lounge, a sensitive engineer realised that some could use a stylish wheelchair. I’ve published a picture, and a great review, at my blog.

Between East And West: This post is a little old – and a bit short – for this round-up, but as it’s the weekend before 7/7, I think it’s appropriate.

Aqoul: Publicises a Turkish soap opera which is, apparently, provoking divorce.

Clive Davis: Agrees with the Taliban’s taste in Western popular culture.

The Daily (Maybe) – “Labour has a choice. The death of Brown’s premiership, or the death of the Labour Party.”

They, along with other people who can’t hear, like Cathy Hefferman, claim that not being able to hear is not a disability. They see themselves as part of a linguistic minority, and they are proud to speak Sign Language.

It’s natural to be proud of your language; I’m very proud of mine. And it does make perfect sense to me that if those who could hear learnt Sign Language, then not being able to hear wouldn’t be a problem at all.

An interviewer asked Lichy that those who can’t hear miss out on Beethoven surely. Cathy Hefferman hilariously, but rightly, says in her excellent article that lots of people choose not to listen to him, but they’re not disabled. Or if, like me, they are, then they can hear!

To some, a silent world is a lonely place. So those who can hear wonder why anyone would want to make their child miss out on music, TV, and spoken conversation. Well, Hefferman covers this in her article.

She says those who can’t hear read subtitles, type into their phones and speak something called…you guessed it… Sign Language. That doesn’t ‘sound’ like a disability to me. Or at least, Lichy and Hefferman have done a brilliant job of turning it into a Dis-Ability. Which, with a little help from a few sensitive inventors who wanted Lichy, Hefferman and others who can’t hear to access the hearing world, is exactly what it has now become.

The thing is, deciding you don’t want your child to be able to hear will soon be made illegal. So people, mostly those who can hear, think that Lichy and his partner Paula Garfield need a bit of help. With their heads that is. And I can see their point too.

I am very grateful for my own disability. Most of the time. But at the same time, I would never in a million years want to knowingly give my child my disability. Why anyone would knowingly want to make their child miss out on music, tv and spoken conversation? Because, as much as I love it, there are things it stops me from doing that I would love to be able to do. Even though I try not to let it stop me living a good life, I do realise this, and see myself as having a disability.

But if Lichy, Garfield, Hefferman and others who speak Sign Language don’t see themselves as having a disability, then I can understand them not seeing a problem with wanting a child who can’t hear.

I’m sure that Lichy and Garfield know that since their first child can’t hear, there is a chance that their second child won’t be able to hear either, without them having to check or choose this, or break any laws. I hope, if this is what they want, that this is what happens. For now, all I know is that for a man called Tomato and a lady named after a cartoon cat, they sure speak a lot of sense. And I, for one, couldn’t care less that they do it in Sign Language.

In fact, I wish I could speak Sign Language myself. Because the Sign Language speaking community is obviously full of truly DisAbled people. And those are exactly the kinds of people I love.