Treatment of disabled panellist shows just how much contempt Labour has for disabled people

Just in case you thought Labour would treat disabled people at its own conference any differently from how they do in real life, it has been highlighted that they don’t give a fuck about disabled speakers either.

Labour Party conference: literally de-platforming disabled speakers

Following a Mirror Labour conference fringe event on Tuesday 30 September, reporter Susie Bonniface, better known as fleetstreetfox, tweeted about how the inaccessibility of the event meant one of the disabled panellists was unable to get on the stage with the rest of them, because he’s a wheelchair user.

Boniface was chairing an event about the nuked blood scandal, which she has investigated and campaigned about for many years. On the panel with her were Andy Burnham, Alan Owen from LABRATS, and Steve Purse, who has spent years fighting to have his father’s medical records released in the hopes it would explain his family’s health issues.

However, not all of the panel had an equal footing, as Boniface tweeted. Steve Purse, who is a wheelchair user, had to do the panel from the floor, while the others were on the stage – presumably as no ramp was provided.

Boniface tweeted:

Labour should be ashamed it charges £2000 for a fringe event where disabled panellists are barred from the platform. We moved closer to @StePurse but I was appalled he was treated like this. I apologise on behalf of @DailyMirror and expect that in future organisers ensure this can never happen again.

Disabilities, visible or otherwise, must be treated with dignity.

Failing on basic accessibility at conference? Not a good look Labour

And Susie’s right, Labour are more than happy to take the money from an event covering disability, but they couldn’t give a toss about disabled people, as always. Having had experience as a disabled person who’s chaired an event at the Labour Party conference, I’m not surprised.

When I ran my panel in 2022 (also with the Daily Mirror), we weren’t able to have a stage as it wasn’t guaranteed that a ramp would be available. Considering this was a disability focused panel and that two out of four of our panel were wheelchair users, I was lost for words at how they could so casually just go “oh yeah, no promises”.

In response to Boniface, Purse tweeted:

I am used to this kinda thing and I know it doesn’t make it right. However, my voice was heard, I made my presence felt as much as anyone on the stage. I have learned that the power of your speech is more important than how you look…or where you’re sat.

And I get where Steve is coming from here; he was still able to participate in the discussion as much as everyone else, but only because the other panellists moved to accommodate him. In many other cases, the other participants wouldn’t have, and more than anything, it shouldn’t fall on individuals.

If Labour truly cared about disabled people having equal contributions in society, that barrier never would’ve been there in the first place.

Disabled people shouldn’t have to get used to barriers

It also shouldn’t be a thing that disabled people are used to, we shouldn’t expect to be treated with contempt wherever we go, but this isn’t an isolated incident. It happens when wheelchair users can’t access buildings, neurodivergent adults are excluded for being disruptive, and blind people aren’t given accessible tools to vote. I could go on and on.

These are the real barriers disabled people face, and they’re not ones that can be fixed by forcing us into work. They’re societal barriers that won’t change until our government and media stop painting us as fakers and start actually wanting us in society and leading by example.

More than anything, this incident showed once again just how much Labour are happy to pretend they graciously give disabled people a voice – but in reality, they just want to keep us in our place.

Featured image via screengrab