An event to promote a bill being introduced to support disabled people entering adulthood is taking place in Lanarkshire tomorrow.
Scottish Labour’s Pam Duncan Glancy MSP will be in Hamilton to highlight her Disabled Children and Young People (Transitions to Adulthood) (Scotland) bill which is progressing its way through parliament.
The Glasgow Regional MSP is currently hosting engagement events in regions across the country to gather the views and experiences of young disabled people, their families and the organisations that support them on how the aims of the bill can help them.
The bill proposal received support from 56 members of parliament across all five main political parties well as disabled people’s organisations including Inclusion Scotland and Camphill Scotland, who have worked tirelessly on disability rights for years.
The proposals seek to improve outcomes for young disabled people by requiring the Scottish Government to introduce and implement a National Transitions Strategy and calls for the introduction of a minister with special responsibility for transitions.
At present, every child is entitled to a child’s plan, but there are no further statutory requirements in place to support disabled children and young people. As a result, this Transition period can be challenging, and tends to lead to poorer outcomes.
Ms Duncan Glancy said: “Young disabled people deserve a fighting chance at a future, at right now they’re not getting that.
"This bill is a key piece of legislation that will provide them with a statutory right to support from the age of 14 at the latest, into adulthood.
"For too long, young disabled people have been let down by Government, but this bill can put things right.
“These sessions will allow an open and honest discussion on transitional support and outline the real-life experiences of disabled peoples’ transitions, and what a bill to provide a right to statutory support to those people would look like.
“I hope they will empower young disabled people to get together, discuss what is wrong with the current system and to encourage their own MSPs to support the bill.
“Disabled young people have been disadvantaged for far too long. It is about time we made tangible, long lasting differences to their lives, and I am determined to ensure that disabled people themselves are involved in this process – so that they can drive the change they want to see, and they deserve.”
The event will take place in the NCL Hamilton Towers Campus tomorrow (Thursday) between 12.30pm and 2.30pm.
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