Disability Laws and Legal Rights

Carers and their Rights - the law relating to Carers is written by Luke Clements and produced by CarersUK. It is the definitive guide to the rights of carers.

You can buy a copy of the lastest 4th edition from CarersUK for £15. Read it for free here.

The Guide is updated quarterly and includes guidelines to the Carers Assessment.

Carers UK also produce a short free guide "Looking After Someone - A Guide to Carers' Rights and Benefits 2011/12".

Coram Children's Legal Centre

The Coram Children’s Legal Centre is a National charity that specialises in law and policy affecting children and young people.

It offers advice on all areas of family, child and education law.

Coram also provides access to free factsheets, a virtual assistant for on-line support and free legal helpline.

The instant messaging facility is available from 9am to 6pm, Monday to Friday.

The Legal Helpline: 08088 020 008 is open 8am to 8pm, Monday to Friday. A voicemail facility is available outside these hours.

www.childrenslegalcentre.com

The Disability Law Service is a charitable organisation that provides free legal advice to the disabled and their families.

The service has a telephone advice line: 020 7791 9800 But due to the high volume of calls they operate a triange system to prioritise calls. They will however respond to written queries.

There are a large number of factsheets free to download covering community care, education, employment, welfare,descrimination and human rights. They are available in a variety of formats including large print and audio.

www.dls.org.uk

An authoritive guide to the rights of disabled children in England and Wales. Written by Steve Brooch, Luke Clements and Janet Read it is published by The Legal Action Group for £40.

Though PDF copies of each chapter can be downloaded from the Council for Disabled Children's website.

The book covers every aspect of a disabled child's life including housing and education. It provides a summary of the key provisions of the 2010 Equility Act.

The Equality Act 2010 protects the disabled from discrimination and offers legal help in certain areas including employment, education and access.

It also provides the same protection for carers or parents of people of the disabled.

The Act says a person is considered disabled if they have a physical or mental impairment that a 'substantial and long-term effect on their ability to perform day to day activities'.

'Substantial' is defined as 'more than minor or trivial' and 'long-term' as being likely to last for at least twelve months. Eating, washing, walking and shopping are among the many things considered as 'day to day activities'.

The Equality Act replaced the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) of 2005. However, the Disability Equality Duty in the DDA still applies alongside the Equality Act 2010. This requires Government and Public bodies to have 'due regard' to the needs of the disabled when making decisions on policies and services.

The Acts can be used to ensure that disabled people are given the same rights as everyone else. Employers, shops and other establishments are expected to comply with all the points defined in the Acts.

The children's charity Kids have published a PDF document "Legislation, policy and guidance relating to inclusion in Play and Childcare - August 2011"

Outlining the different legislation and UN conventions it summerises the rights of disabled children and provides links to the full documentation.

It is anticipated that this will be a useful resource for both professionals and families of disabled children.

The Family and Parenting Institute have produced a families guide to the law.

It answers commonly asked questions such "Is it Legal to take my child on holiday during term time?" and commonly held myths around the law and children. It also details what children can do and your right as a parent.

For a copy download the guide.

www.familyandparening.org

The Council for Disabled Children have produced a new information pack for parents of disabled children "My Rights Your Responsibilities".

It includes information on children's right of access to activities, community facilities and other services.

This is a comprehensive resource looking at eight different issues and the reasons that are often cited for not including disabled children. It then provides 3 things that can support your child - the law, guidelines and good practice. This is detailed for each of the eight areas.

Downloadable leaflets are also available including information on the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA)

www.ncb.org.uk

The Every Disabled Child Matters Campaign, in association with Irwin Mitchell Solicitors, has produced a Assessment Template Letter to help families with disabled children to obtain an assessment from social care services.

By law, councils must assess every child who is or may be a child 'in need'. This includes disabled children.

This letter is to help parents who have been told by their council that they will not assess their child for short breaks or other social care services.

Initially, a parent should ask their Social Worker (if they have one!) or the help desk at Social Services for an assessment. If the answer is "No" then you can send a version of this letter.

To download the letter and further guidance click here.

Luke Clements, a solicitor experienced in social exclusion and Professor of Law at Cardiff University has produced a template Precedent Complaints Letter to send to local authorities.

The letter is in Word format and is easily edited with suggestions on additonal information to include.

NEW

A new tool has been produced to help ensure families are involved in "Best Interest Decisions".

Ambitious about Autism, Mencap and the Challenging Behaviour Foundation have worked with Irwin Mitchell Solicitors to create a useful resource highlighting the rights of families under the Mental Capacity Act 2005.

This free tool includes a downloadable leaflet and two template letters.

It aims to support parents who are concerned that they are not being properly consulted about decisions that social care or health professionals are making about their son or daughter from the age of 18.

These may be decisions about where the person lives, what care they are getting, how they spend their time, or medical treatment.

The UNCRPD is an international human rights agreement that recognises that disabled people have the same rights as everyone else to freedom, respect, equality and dignity.

It is important as it allows disabled people the right to petition the committee if they have exhausted the UK and European court.

The Equality and Human Rights Commision have produced a Guide to the Convention. An Easy Read version is also available.

www.equalityhumanrights.com

The Every Disabled Child Matters Campaign, in association with Steve Brooch, a Barrister have produced a 16 page practical guide for parents, carers, disability groups and campaigners.

The guide outlines how the law can be used to help fight the cuts to Children's Services in their area. It details the councils legal duty, how it can be enforced and the help avaialable to parents.

BPP School Exclusion Project

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