https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K87Fj3nTGfg#t=88
Video footage from a recent ‘Care in Crisis,’ discussion in which carers discuss cuts to service provision for people with disabilities in Glasgow in the context of an ever-inflating budget for the Commonwealth Games and the closure of the Accord Centre in Dalmarnock. For more information visit: http://glasgowcarecrisis.com/ you can also sign the petition to defend home care service here: http://www.thepetitionsite.com/625/009/502/defend-home-care-service-in-glasgow/
Also pasted below is a recent STV article on the situation with the Accord Centre.
Dispute over Games fund for adults with learning disabilities
By –
Glasgow City Council is in dispute with the Scottish Government over a Commonwealth Games legacy fund for adults with learning disabilities.
But STV News has learned the Scottish Government is not satisfied local councillors have delivered on their agreement and is withholding the funds.
The disagreement follows the demolition of the Accord day care centre for adults with learning disabilities almost three years ago which made way for a bus park for the Commonwealth Games.
Carers in the east end of Glasgow say they were promised a replacement facility would be delivered after the Commonwealth Games. At a meeting in May 2011, First Minister Alex Salmond told carers he would take their case to Glasgow City Council, saying, “There’s a cause and a reason for redeeming the commitment to a like-for-like centre.”
Carer Helen McCourt said, “We were told they would get a brand new build. A legacy from the Commonwealth Games. To this day there’s been nothing for them.”
During discussions with the Scottish Government and the council, carers were also invited to view facilities for adults with learning disabilities in South Lanarkshire. These facilities are highlighted as an example of good practice in the Scottish Government’s Keys to Life policy for adults with learning disabilities, and carers say they want to this mirrored in Glasgow.
Carer Mary McArthur said, “Any one, I would take any of them. Especially the Harry Smith [Complex]. It was out of this world, and I think our kids deserve it.”
A series of letters from First Minister Alex Salmond promised carers “a similar facility” to those they saw in South Lanarkshire leisure centres could be created inside their local Tollcross Aquatics Centre as part of the Commonwealth Games legacy.
The Scottish Government says £150,000 was ring-fenced for the council to deliver this in line with the Keys to Life learning disability policy.
However, Glasgow City Council says they only agreed to provide enhanced disabled access to Tollcross, which they claim they have already done by installing changing facilities, electric hoists, and height-adjustable benches.
The local authority says they have been asking to be paid since last February.
Councillor Malcolm Cunning, executive member for social care at Glasgow City Council, said, “All sorts of specialist equipment is in there in terms of access to the pool, access to the facilities, access to the changing rooms.”
When asked whether access for people with physical and learning disabilities to public facilities was a legal requirement, the councillor said, “To the extent that it’s been done it is beyond – well beyond – the basic requirements of the [Disability Discrimination Act]”.
The Scottish Government have requested a meeting with the council and carers and said in a statement: “The Scottish Government will only release the legacy funding of £150,000 once we are satisfied that the needs of people with learning disabilities and their carers, including the views of the East Carers Group, are taken into account.”
