Professor Anna Lawson.

Disabled people have been urged to recognise the importance of the European Union (EU) in maintaining and building on their rights, across areas such as access to information, transport and accessible goods and services.

The call for disabled people to vote to remain in the EU in this month’s referendum came at a Westminster seminar chaired by the crossbench disabled peer Baroness [Jane] Campbell.

The seminar was addressed by influential disabled campaigners and “remain” supporters including John Evans, one of the founders of the UK’s independent living movement and a former chair of the European Network on Independent Living; the crossbench peer Lord [Colin] Low, a former president of the European Blind Union; and Professor Anna Lawson, who heads the new Disability Law Hub at the University of Leeds.

It took place a day after a letter in The Times, signed by more than 50 peers, MPs, activists and academics – including Baroness Campbell, Lord Low, and fellow disabled peers Baroness [Tanni] Grey-Thompson, Baroness [Sal] Brinton and Baroness [Celia] Thomas – explained that leaving the EU would create a “bonfire” of disabled people’s “hard-won rights”, while a post-Brexit Britain would see disabled people “banished to the margins of British life once more”.

Lord Low told the seminar that disabled people who were too busy fighting other campaign battles to pay attention to the referendum should realise that it was “one of the most momentous decisions they will face in their lifetime”.

Source: EU laws ‘have played crucial role’ in fight for disability rights
Disabled people have been urged to recognise the importance of the European Union (EU) in maintaining and building on their rights, across areas such as access to information, transport and accessible goods and services.

The call for disabled people to vote to remain in the EU in this month’s referendum came at a Westminster seminar chaired by the crossbench disabled peer Baroness [Jane] Campbell.

The seminar was addressed by influential disabled campaigners and “remain” supporters including John Evans, one of the founders of the UK’s independent living movement and a former chair of the European Network on Independent Living; the crossbench peer Lord [Colin] Low, a former president of the European Blind Union; and Professor Anna Lawson, who heads the new Disability Law Hub at the University of Leeds.

It took place a day after a letter in The Times, signed by more than 50 peers, MPs, activists and academics – including Baroness Campbell, Lord Low, and fellow disabled peers Baroness [Tanni] Grey-Thompson, Baroness [Sal] Brinton and Baroness [Celia] Thomas – explained that leaving the EU would create a “bonfire” of disabled people’s “hard-won rights”, while a post-Brexit Britain would see disabled people “banished to the margins of British life once more”.

Lord Low told the seminar that disabled people who were too busy fighting other campaign battles to pay attention to the referendum should realise that it was “one of the most momentous decisions they will face in their lifetime”.