Employment Discrimination And Blind People

EDM number 1339 in 2003-04, proposed by Robert Key on 10/06/2004.

That this House welcomes the Action for Blind People and the Royal National Institute for the Blind campaign report, Beyond the stereotypes: Blind and partially sighted people and work; expresses concern at the report's findings that only one in four blind and partially sighted people of working age are actually in work (unchanged from ten years ago), and that interventions designed to assist disabled people into work are generally not supporting blind and partially sighted people; is disappointed that nine out of ten employers believe that blind and partially sighted people are either 'difficult' or 'impossible' to employ and that only three per cent. of small businesses are aware of the October extension of the Disability Discrimination Act 1995; and calls on the Government to ensure that all employment services and programmes take account of the specific needs of blind and partially sighted people, to promote the Access to Work scheme amongst employers, to increase the resources available to cope with the increased demand resulting from the extension of the Act in October and to promote greater awareness amongst employers of their new duties and responsibilities under the Act.

This motion has been signed by a total of 121 MPs.