Crippen Cartoons cartoons at the cutting edge of disability

How to spend some £2.6 million on a stage that doesn’t even give a passing nod to current access guidance … but then again, why would a disabled person need to use it?

The build and design of Boris Johnson’s new media stage says more about him and his eugenically blinkered cronies than anything else. Why indeed would they even bother to make the platform accessible when as everyone knows, only the physically pure are capable of running this country.

Apart from having steps, with no provision for wheelchair access, there’s no handrail, no clear delineation of where the front of the stage is for visually impaired people, no provision for a BSL interpreter … the list goes on.

In a bit of quick thinking, a senior aid has said that the provision of a portable ramp is in hand … not sure when or what type though, or anything else really … er!

Jane Campbell, a disabled crossbench peer and wheelchair-user, told Disability news Service:

“A removable ramp is yet another bolt-on adaptation because nobody assumes there will ever be a disabled wheelchair-using prime minister … (this) sends out a clear message that, yet again, disability access is an afterthought. When will this discrimination by indifference end? It’s just not good enough. Are we really still that invisible?”

Deborah King, co-founder of Disability Politics UK, said the failure showed that “disabled people are not thought of as equals in the political decision-making process” and that disabled civil servants and politicians were being “systematically excluded from politics”.

Typical bloody disablist mindset of this and other governments.

Description of cartoon for those using screen reading software

Boris and his cronies are all crowded on to the new Tory media stage. Above them is a sign that reads ‘Making the UK great again’. In front of the stage is a large group of disabled people. A piece of paper at their feet reads ‘new tory media stage not accessible’. Boris is saying: “We’ve limited your education, restricted your work and independent living opportunities and got rid of all the equality legislation – what makes you think that you’ll ever get on this stage?!”