Crippen Cartoons cartoons at the cutting edge of disability

Following on from my last Blog when I expressed concerns about Johnson’s decision to scrap all Covid restrictions, I heard that our good friends disabled activists Doug Paulley and Fleur Perry are once again set to take legal action against the government about this very issue.

Since the start of the pandemic Doug and Fleur, who are both considered to be clinically extremely vulnerable (CEV) to the virus, have spent most of their time shielding and restricting their outdoor visits to necessary GP and hospital appointments only. Also, like many of us they’ve not had close contact with family and friends but relied upon video conferencing to stay in touch.

Talking to Disability News Service Fleur believes the government’s decision to end the self-isolation requirement for those with Covid will further restrict her life, as there are likely to be many Covid-positive people sharing public spaces with her. Doug added that the increased circulation of COVID-19 in the community, with no requirement to self-isolate, will place him – and fellow residents of the care home in which he currently resides – at greatly increased risk, and significantly restrict their movements.

Their legal argument focusses on the government’s failure in its duty under the Equality Act to consult with disabled people and to undertake an equality impact assessment before making the decision on self-isolation. They believe there has been “a complete failure to have due regard to the needs of disabled and CEV people”.

You can contribute towards the legal costs for this action by visiting Doug and Fleur’s crowd funding page. They are already over halfway towards reaching the £8,000.00 total needed.

Description of cartoon for those using screen reading software

Caricatures of Doug Paulley and Fleur Perry who are sat in their wheelchairs facing forward. Doug is wearing a red top with the lettering: ‘We’re not paranoid – they really are out to get us!’. Fleur is saying: “We’ve already successfully challenged the government over the debacle of the National Disability Strategy …”. Doug adds: “and we’re now taking them back to court to challenge their badly thought out Covid restrictions withdrawal – but we need your help.” At the bottom of the drawing is a message box with ‘Please support this vital action by donating towards the legal costs we’ll be faced with. We’re almost there, in fact we’re over halfway towards the £8,000.00 needed. There then follows a url: http://www.crowdjustice.com/case/ending-isolation-risk-to-dp/

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