Disability News Round Up - Week Ending 19/10/2012

10/23/2012 10:51:00 am BenefitScroungingScum 0 Comments

• Activists in Nepal are calling for a full investigation into the death of a disabled member of the Nepal National Paralympic Committee (NPC), whose body was found hanging inside the Paralympic Village.
• The UK’s most influential disabled people’s organisation (DPO) has become embroiled in a row over its involvement in helping the outsourcing giant Capita win a multi-million pound benefits assessment contract.
• The government have finally admitted that spending on its Access to Work (AtW) employment support programme for disabled people has plummeted since 2010.
• Both the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) and the police have been unable to explain a sharp drop in the number of prosecutions for disability hate crime.
• Six disabled people have launched a legal action over the government’s decision to scrap the Independent Living Fund (ILF).
• Campaigners are involved in a stand-off with the government over a major new report that warns hundreds of thousands of disabled people could find themselves driven “over the edge” by welfare reforms.
• Autistic rights campaigners have welcomed the government’s decision to end the 10-year extradition ordeal of Gary McKinnon, but say his case raises key questions for other disabled people within the criminal justice system.
• The new minister for disabled people has been told by a disabled activist, a disabled peer and a Paralympic torch-bearer that her government is jeopardising the legacy from this summer’s Paralympic Games.
• The coalition has received some backing from disabled people’s and disability organisations for its proposed special educational needs (SEN) reforms, but has been warned that key concerns remain over its funding for segregated schools.