Lewisham Council announces significant commitments to deaf and disabled residents

This report, If not now, then when?  gave the Council detailed insight into the experiences of deaf and disabled residents and made a number of recommendations for practical and strategic changes to protect and advance the rights and inclusion of deaf and disabled people in Lewisham. The full report with EasyRead and BSL versions of the executive summary is on the Lewisham Council website.

Lewisham Council has reviewed the report thoroughly and wants to address the barriers for our deaf and disabled residents. The Council agrees with the Commission that co-production will be a vital part of this process.

The Council is committed to specific improvements including:

• Recruiting a Disability and Co-Production Officer to lead a disability co-production process right across the Council and the Lewisham Strategic Partnership. This recruitment campaign will be targeted to groups representing deaf and disabled people.
• £20,000 funding to promote, support and resource a Deaf and Disabled People’s User-Led Organisation (DDPULO). The newly recruited officer will be responsible for co-ordinating and supporting the formation of this group.
• The Love Clean Streets app has been updated to allow residents to report issues relating to accessibility. In addition, the Council has created a specific accessibility section within the app and is hoping to expand the app to include public buildings and businesses.
• Utilising AccessAble, an online accessibility guide containing information about venues.
• Investment in Changing Place toilets which are vital facilities to enable disabled people more freedom to travel within the borough. Facilities at Lewisham Shopping Centre and Downham Leisure Centre will be delivered before the end of 2023.
• Increase in disabled user-friendly benches and play equipment in Lewisham’s parks.
• Focus on achieving status as a Disability Confident Leader. This would help the Council champion Disability Confidence within Lewisham’s local and business communities.

Tackling inequalities is one of Lewisham Council’s key priorities and is at the heart of our Corporate Strategy and the Mayor’s manifesto. This response to the Disabled People’s Commission report sits alongside a significant and ambitious programme of work being undertaken to put Lewisham at the forefront of the radical change needed to create a fairer society.

Cllr Juliet Campbell, Cabinet Member for Communities, Refugees and Community Safety said:

“We have always tried to make sure that we support our deaf and disabled communities in Lewisham and I’m proud of the broader work that we have already done towards this aim across the Council. I’m pleased to see even more tangible improvements planned as a result of this comprehensive report by the Commission.

“Thank you to Jamie Hale and all the Commissioners for their commitment and energy putting together their recommendations. We are working towards our ambition to make Lewisham set the standard as one of London’s most accessible boroughs.”

Jamie Hale, Chair of the Lewisham Disabled People’s Commission said:

“In their response to the Commission report, Lewisham Council has made several very significant commitments, including the recruitment of a role focused on disability policy and co-production, and the seed funding to start a Deaf and Disabled People's User-Led Organisation. This logical and necessary step provides an opportunity to continue the work of the Commission, ensuring that there is a representative voice working with the Council and the community, tackling the barriers we found, from social isolation to people falling down the cracks between services, and ensuring co-production is truly embedded in Council work, corporately and across all areas receiving funding from the Council and the wider Lewisham Strategic Partnership. These commitments are vital for driving forward our recommendations, and I am very pleased that they have been agreed.

“I am also pleased by the commitment to making the case on a national level for policy changes to make the provision of free adult social care feasible, and the creation of a direct route by which disabled people can report inaccessible buildings to the Council to be handled. This has the potential to become a nationally leading project supporting disabled people to challenge access barriers and local businesses to make the necessary changes without costly and risky legal action and cases of unlawful discrimination.

“Amidst a challenging national picture for disabled people, these and many of the other changes the Council is making have the possibility of radically improving life within the borough. I look forward to experiencing their impact.”