From December 2015 to March 2026 I have been interviewing disabled Scottish Labour members from across the country, who all bought a wide range of knowledge. The aim was to ask them about their experiences as disabled people, and to bring together any ideas they had in how to make the party more accessible. Additionally I was interested in coming up with solutions which will help disabled people stand for candidacy, ensuring that we as a party are representative of those who vote for us.

1. Not Just Chairs and Stairs
The Accessibility of Our Party - A Report for
the Scottish Labour Party
Ryan McMullan
March 2016

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2 The Accessibility of Our Party - a Report for the Scottish Labour Party, Ryan McMullan
Introduction
Over the past three months I have been interviewing disabled Scottish Labour members from
across the country, who bring with them a wide range of knowledge. The aim was to ask about
their experiences as disabled people, and to bring together any ideas that they had in how to
make the Party more accessible. Additionally, I was interested in coming up with solutions which
will help disabled people stand for candidacy, ensuring that we as a party are representative of
those who vote for us.
There were a number of key areas that seemed to arise repeatedly, and I wish to explain them
further in this document.
1. Accessibility: Not Just Chairs and Stairs
Scottish Labour want to get as many votes as possible, therefore it’s up to us to ensure that our
hustings, events, CLP’s, Branch Meetings, fundraisers and conferences are held in accessible
venues by having step-free access options.
Many people tend to talk about accessibility being something that concerns wheelchair users,
but we are missing out on contributions from other party members. Awareness of issues of
physical accessibility is where the most progress has been made, and other areas are far less
understood and affect a much larger number of people. We can substantially improve access for
a much wider range of disasbled people by addressing the following areas by tearing down the
barriers:
Livestream:
Some people are not attending as transport can be inaccessible or too costly, the party is losing
out on contributions from all of its members. Perhaps members don’t have a personal assistant
available or they don’t feel comfortable in a crowded or busy space. Our Scottish Labour party
should consider livestreaming hustings and other events to make our events more accessible
and allowing everyone to participate.

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Can We Hear Each Other?
Scottish Labour is losing out simply because some members can not communicate fully by
simply not hearing what is happening. According to Action on Hearing Loss Scotland, there are
over 945,000 people in Scotland who are deaf or have hearing loss. That is nearly 18% of our
population, and therefore this could mean up to 5,400 of our members. Over 13,000 people in
Scotland communicate by British Sign Language (BSL). Loops, subtitles and interpreters will
make our party accessible to accesible to more people.
Hidden Impairments:
Members are not getting fully involved because they feel that the party does not understand
them or has the time to adjust to their needs - in turn we are losing out on insighful knowledge
and experience that can strengthen the party. During the interviews people talked about the
prejudices shown towards people with hidden impairments, for examples like people with
dyslexia, those with Crohn’s disease. This is due to a misunderstanding and a lack of education
within society. We as a party should be actively talking about every form of disability and make
sure everyone’s contribution is respected and taken into account.
2. Membership
Our ethos as a party is to include all, therefore as a party we should be leading the way in
accessibility for our membership, to increase our voting numbers. We should be providing new
members with different ways of joining. Our members suggested: looking into a text phone/
relay service, a telephone line and allowing for advocates to sign up on behalf of people with
learning disabilities.
For many disabled people who want to join, the membership fee is a financial barrier as,
according to disability organisation Scope, disabled people pay on average £250 per month
extra for costs related to their disability. Our members suggested perhaps free membership,
reduced membership or reshaping the direct debit system for disabled people, making the
membership more accessible as well as increasing our party numbers.
The Accessibility of Our Party - a Report for the Scottish Labour Party, Ryan McMullan
Dyslexia Hearing
Loss
Autism Multiple
Sclerosis
Crohn’s
Disease
Depression

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3. Easy Read / Language
Are you a Sesquipedalian (person who uses long words)?
We have a tradition in politics of allowing ourselves to use big fancy words which few people
understand to enable us to sound articulate and knowledgeable. Although this idea is fast
becoming outdated, the practice is inaccessible to many people.
The Easy Read format was created to help people
with learning disabilities understand information
easily. It uses pictures to support the meaning of
text. It can be used by a carer to talk through a
document with someone with learning difficulties
so that they can understand it, for example our
manifesto.
Additionally, Easy Read is also often preferred by
readers without learning disabilities, as it gives the
essential information on a topic without a lot of background information. It can be especially
helpful for people who are not fluent in English.
We as a party should start thinking about ways of providing our manifestos and all other
materials in accessible formats, as well as not being discriminatory with the language which we
use.
4. Employability / Mentoring
One member being interviewed came up with this analogy: if you have a football team you
wouldn’t want an entire team of George Bests as his brilliance relied on his other teammates’
skills. To a certain degree, politics is a game. MSPs and staff need to be on the ball; this
requires dedication which is sustained.
‘Are You Sure They Can Manage It?’
I was told that disabled people are ‘bolshie’ and are able to use life experiences and transfer
that into their work. On working in politics, one Member said they knew what it was like to
be in Accident and Emergency most Friday nights as a child, trying to explain unexplained
bruises, with the integrity of their parents in doubt. We understand bullying at school, the pain in
operations, even the expensive process of getting a car adapted.
‘Within the Diverse Disability Community, it is Varied and They are
Best Placed to Understand the Variety of Complexities’
The Accessibility of Our Party - a Report for the Scottish Labour Party, Ryan McMullan

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Over and over again I heard that disabled people bring valuable and unique lived experience
and that as a party and employers we shouldn’t always judge people on their professions and
perceived education, experience written down on paper. We as a party should be actively
employing disabled people; this would only not enhance our policy resources but show other
parties that we are committed to our values of social justice, strong communities, rewards for
hard work and, simple decency.
I also listened to members telling me that there is raw talent within the disabled movement and
we should be actively seeking out and nourishing it. Internship and mentoring schemes were
mentioned as being good ways to tap into this. The party could use existing models and adapt
one especially for disabled people. Another idea was to continue the Candidate Training which
the party gave before the last election. We could start looking into Candidate Training tailored
especially for disabled candidates. If this sounds like positive discrimination, an interviewee
said that non-disabled people have been benefiting from this discrimination and therefore
positive action was just.
5. Promoting Disability Equality and Disability Awareness
As a member you are bound to know a friend, family member or a constituent who is disabled,
at least – we as a party should be confident talking about it publicly.
It was suggested that we should introduce Disability Awareness sessions. One solution would
be for disabled members to be invited to give talks to CLPs, branch meetings and other events,
to talk about their individual disabilities and the impact they have.
Disability Equality Training would be useful to end the awkwardness around disability, the
difference between the two is:
DISABILITY EQUALITY TRAINING - explores the concept of people being disabled in terms of
society’s barriers and attitudes, highlighting the role of society in the removal of those barriers
and in the changing of attitudes. This is likely to involve, for instance, customer care, etiquette
and appropriate language. The training will always be provided by someone with personal
experience of disability.
DISABILITY AWARENESS TRAINING - tends to focus on an individual impairment or condition
and often involves simulation exercises (such as lip-reading exercises or blindfolding them) to
give non-disabled people an idea of what it may be like to have that specific disability.
‘Labour is the true socialists’ party – more progressive and still
to this day, more so than all other parties.’
The Accessibility of Our Party - a Report for the Scottish Labour Party, Ryan McMullan

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The interviewed members were split on their views on whether there should be a Disabled
Conference focusing on disability issues and if it should be separate. Some felt that the Labour
Party was the party for all and that we as a party should be treating the topic with the same
urgency as other pressing matters, as well all are equal.
Others felt that a Disabled Conference would be beneficial to allow those who know best their
needs and rights - disabled people. This would be a platform where disabled people are able to
get down to the nuts and bolts, get a decent handle on issues and then feed them back to the
party articulately and with clarity.
Some knew that Scottish Labour already has a Disabled Members Group, Some knew about
the group but others did not, and not everyone who was aware of it had engaged with it. To
allow it to receive greater impact and maximise its usefulness, it was felt that party time and
resources should be injected into it.
The Accessibility of Our Party - a Report for the Scottish Labour Party, Ryan McMullan

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Recommendations
Based on the five main key areas raised from the interviewees, the following recommendations
and goals to be achieved for 2016/17.
1. Accessibility
• Livestream to be made available to members at all conferences and speeches. Look into
broadcasting technologies for branch meetings, CLP’S and some events.
• A strategy to be planned and actioned on how we introduce loops, subtitles, scribes and
interpreters.
2. Membership
• Allow for different ways for signing up to be a member, allow for text phone/ text rely service,
a telephone line and postal.
• Look into free or reduced membership for disabled members.
3. Easy Read / Language
• Give MSP’s and Candidates training on the accessibility of their language.
• Produce future manifestos in easy ready and braille.
4. Employability / Mentoring
• Set up Internship and Mentoring schemes for disabled people who require a foot into the
door.
• Lead the way in actively recognising the talents of disabled people and nourishing it by
employing them.
5. Promoting Equality and Disability Awareness
• Offer Candidates, Staff and member access to both Disability Awareness Training and
Disability Equality Training.
• Make Disability Awareness Training and Disability Equality Training compulsory for all
MSP’s.
• Utilized the Disabled Members Group by injecting party time and resources into it.
The Accessibility of Our Party - a Report for the Scottish Labour Party, Ryan McMullan

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Conclusion
Every member interviewed said disabled people are more likely to have the empathy required to
improve politics and society, gained from their personal experiences.
They expressed with integrity and passion that Labour was the right party to create equality and
achieve social justice.
Although society has a long way to go with their (often unintentional) inherited societal disablist
attitudes, we are the party with the members who have the passion and empathy required to
change the disablist face of politics.
The Accessibility of Our Party - a Report for the Scottish Labour Party, Ryan McMullan