John Pring, who runs the Disability News Service, publishes his weekly news round-up of the happenings in the disability world the past week.
• Prison authorities have been accused of risking a disabled man’s life by failing to provide the 24-hour specialist care he needs while serving a prison sentence for drug smuggling.
• The organisers of London 2012 could soon be facing an embarrassing legal action, over their failure to help disabled parents sit with their children to watch Paralympic events.
• A gold medal-winning Paralympian is to take part in a protest over the decision to allow the much-criticised company responsible for assessing disabled people’s “fitness for work” to sponsor the London 2012 Paralympics.
• She is a strong, talented disabled woman competing at the highest level in an overwhelmingly male-dominated sport. When it comes to role models at the London 2012 Paralympics, Kylie Grimes will take some beating.
• Months of planning and investment in access improvements appear to have paid off for Heathrow Airport as it welcomed more than 2,000 athletes and officials on its busiest arrivals day for the London 2012 Paralympics.
• The impact of the government’s unpopular welfare reforms on disabled people is set to play a major part in next month’s Liberal Democrat party conference, thanks to the efforts of disabled party activists.
• The government looks set to face legal action from disabled people over its decision to scrap the Independent Living Fund.
• A leading disabled activist has joined a former Labour minister in backing calls for a national audit to discover how many people with learning difficulties have been abandoned in institutions far from their original homes.
• It is 12 years since Natasha Baker first announced to her parents – while watching television coverage of the Sydney Paralympics – that she wanted to be a Paralympian. Now, only a year after winning two gold medals in dressage at the European championships – in her senior competition debut – she is about to fulfil that dream.
For links to the full stories, please visit Disability News Service.
Disability News Service (DNS) is run by John Pring, an experienced journalist who has been reporting on disability issues for more than 15 years.
