Workers' Liberty

"If we are to take meaningful political action, if we are to act morally... then we need to be able to determine what is right and what is wrong, what is true and what is false".

Here (in italics) you will see Respect's entry in a guide to political parties for people with learning disabilities produced by the Disability Rights Coalition. The text was submitted by Respect themselves.

Izzy Turnball asks (Solidarity 3/111) can the AWL, in this paper and at events, make its political language simpler, so that people such as herself with particular disabilities (dyslexia) or a lack of political background feel more at home. The answer is yes, in some particular ways, but not necessarily through the medium of the paper alone.

I have been reading your paper for the last six months and I have been finding it interesting especially the feminist section which is very good as I am able to relate to the articles as they are addressing real feminist issues. However, I feel that although the paper appeals to me, I find it is hard to read. As a dyslexic person, it is an extremely academic and a complex read.

A study commissioned by the BBC has revealed that more than a third of young people given ASBOs have what the report calls a 'brain disorder'. I might prefer to call it a neurological difference, but the point is the same - young people with conditions such as autism, ADHD and Asperger's syndrome are being punished by the criminal justice system instead of being helped with their social development.

What rights for vulnerable adults?

The issue of Ashley X and of disability rights is an emotive and complicated issue (see Solidarity 3/104 and 3/105). I agree with Chris Leary when he that the issues are too big to be dealt with in one article and indeed in relation to one issue.

By Chris Leary

The case of the severely disabled girl, known only as Ashley, who has undergone surgery to remove her womb and breasts, and will receive other treatments to keep her anatomically at a stage before puberty raised profound questions, not just for socialists, but for all people who care about human society. Those question — about consent, personal autonomy and medical interventions with profoundly disabled people — cannot be done justice within a single article. But some immediately stand out.

Train drivers on Midland Mainline are to strike for six successive Fridays over the issue of management's treatment of medically-restricted drivers and ill-health severance.

With a 95.7% ballot majority (135 votes for; just 6 against), ASLEF has named strike dates on Fridays 25th August and 1st, 8th, 15th, 22nd and 29th September 2006.

I seem to say this a lot, but its because I spend a lot of my time now in the gym, and sauna as a very cheap passtime, but I was talking to one of the blokes who works there yesterday.

We were talking about sickness and the bosses attitude to it. The blokes brother had worked for the Council, and had had a heart attack (his brother is nearly 60). He'd applied for retirmeent on grounds of ill-health and been refused. In fact Council's seem to be making it impossible for anyone to retire on grounds of ill-health. A while ago one of the Council's manual employees ffrom the Council depot was told by the Works Doctor that they should return to work. The bloke had been seriously ill, for a while. Despite protesting that he couldn't return to work he was left with virtually no choice. He returned to work and four days later he was dead!

By Ruben Lomas

Foundation Hospitals, handing over schools to businesses, giving employers control of curricula in Further Education — no corner of the public sector or welfare state is safe from the Blairite project of subordinating every aspect of public life to the needs and drives of the market.

By Joan Trevor

The government announced on Wednesday 2 February its five-year plan for benefits and pensions, including cuts in Incapacity Benefit (IB). This is a disgraceful attack on IB claimants, many of whom live in poverty. Instead of setting itself the humane goal of providing the sick and disabled with comfort and ease, the government is setting out to make the sick and disabled poorer still.

AWL is circulating the following text as a basis for motions in trade unions against the Government's plans to cut Incapacity Benefit.

In brief

* Unison plans a strike ballot over pay for thousands of nursery nurses in Scotland's local authority-controlled nurseries.

* In an outrageous attack on human rights Tony Blair has intervened to alter draft European anti-discrimination legislation to allow religious employers to discriminate against lesbians and gay men.

* Remploy, which employs 5,700 disabled workers, could face strike action after workers rejected a pay rise worth £5 per week. They want £20.