Blackpool - Caring with Confidence

posted: 29/07/2009

Caring with Confidence is a knowledge and skills based programme which aims to help carers make a positive difference to their life and that of the person they care for. Carers can mix and match how they further develop their knowledge and skills - by taking part in one or more free, local group sessions.

HIV, stigma and general training courses

A course is offered in Blackpool and could be helpful to people caring for people living with HIV. This is a general course for all carers, not  a course just for people caring for others living with HIV. We suggest you think about whether you will say anything about HIV, and about the person you are caring for, in this course. It may be awkward to take part because of HIV stigma and confidentiality. We suggest you check with the course arranger how this will be dealt with, and what you can expect.

Caring with Confidence is part of the Government's 'New Deal for Carers' - an initiative aimed at improving support for carers. These are courses are being delivered by SHIVER staff, part of Drugline Lancashire, based on Dixon Road in Blackpool.

Similar courses are run eg in Manchester by LGF. You can search the Caring with Confidence website for courses in other districts.

The website also offers online sessions and self-study workbooks, if you don't want to, or cannot do a course.

These are the August and September dates in Blackpool

Lorraine Moffat
SHIVER Project Manager
102 Dickson Road
Blackpool
FY1 2BU

Tel: 01253 311431
Mobile: 07944340130
Fax: 01253 296662
email
www.druglinelancs.co.uk

Caring with Confidence 

Carers Rights Win

posted: 01/12/2008

The millions of people trying to combine work with caring for ill, disabled or elderly partners and relatives can now claim against any employer who discriminates.

Employers who refuse to offer flexible working to carers (who might be a partner or relative), can now expect to pay compensation following a ruling by the Employment Tribunal.

This tribunal decision partly deals with what is known as the problem of "associative disability discrimination". People who do not have a disability themselves can face disability discrimination because of their link with someone who does have a disability. In this case a carer of a disabled son was discriminated against.

What's the HIV connection?

Partners and carers of people living with HIV can be especially vulnerable to discrimination by association because of the levels of stigma and discrimination against people with HIV. People have been sacked simply because their partner has HIV.

Government still blocking disability rights 

A campaign which you can help is underway to make sure the Equalities Bill deals with this problem fully. The Equalities Bill will be introduced in this week's Queen's Speech to Parliament. However the government has consistently opposed the extension of these rights to partners and carers, which is why the campaign is needed. And the campaign is not just about carers' / partners' rights, it is about the rights of the people living with HIV to whom they are linked. If the carer can't have time off, the person with HIV suffers unattended, or their household income drops because the carer has to ask for unpaid time off, or quit work. Quitting may lead to a benefit penalty of no income for weeks.

Despite its previous support for protecting the disabled from discrimination, the government so far opposed this case, including at the Euopean Court, a position described as "completely ridiculous" by the complainant's lawyer, Lucy McLynn. "It has taken someone with Sharon's determination to take the case to Luxembourg to establish something the government should have done five years ago." The government has failed to properly implement the European directive that Britain signed up to.

Forced to quit to care for son

Sharon Coleman, a legal secretary who was forced to resign because she wanted more time to care for her disabled son, was told by the Tribunal that she would be able to claim before the English courts that she suffered "discrimination by association".
 

She worked for Attridge Law in London when she gave birth to Oliver, who is deaf and suffers from serious respiratory problems, including apnoeic attacks in which his breathing involuntarily stops. Earlier this year, she told the European court of justice that treatment she says she received from the firm, such as comments that her child was "always fucking sick" and she was "lazy" when she sought time off to care for him, was covered by disability discrimination law.
 

Coleman says she received less favourable treatment because of her son's condition, whereas others were allowed time off to care for their non-disabled children.

European Court - disability protection extended to associated people

The European court found that Coleman's case amounted to discrimination by association, paving the way for claims by carers who say they are discriminated against not because of their own disability, but because of their role in caring for another person.
 

The tribunal's ruling yesterday, which follows on from the European decision, has clarified the law in England and Wales. Anti-discrimination law is not "restricted to disabled people only", the tribunal said, rejecting arguments made by Attridge Law that to allow carers to be protected would distort the law's meaning.

As a result of the ruling, an estimated 2.5 million people in Britain who maintain jobs as well as caring for sick or disabled family members will be entitled to the same treatment as other staff. Several hundred or possibly even thousands of these will be carers of people living with HIV.

"Employers will have to think more carefully about the way they respond to requests for flexible working from carers," said Lucy McLynn, the lawyer who represented Coleman.

The principle established by the European Court should now apply to disability discrimination by association, not just in employment but in all disability rights. This would cover an untested or HIV negative child refused a school place because her/his parent has HIV, for example. However this principle is unlikely to be accepted by the government, which is another reason why we need to campaign for the Bill to fully include associative discrimination.

source
 

Discrimination Protection for Partners

posted: 28/11/2008

Help push for the 2009 Equality Bill to protect partners, family and friends of people living with HIV from discrimination.

Over the last few years the laws protecting people living with HIV from prejudice and discrimination have greatly improved. However, a small loophole in current legislation means that the friends, family and carers of those same people can be discriminated against because others believe they might have HIV. In July the European Court of Justice made a landmark ruling that it is unlawful to discriminate against someone because they care for or associate with someone with a disability.

This effectively means that friends, family, partners and carers of people living with HIV are now protected from harassment and discrimination on the grounds of their loved-one's HIV status.

The Equality Bill which come before parliament in 2009 will need to properly recognise the ruling and its principles by including provisions to prevent "associative discrimination" in the Equality Bill when it comes before Parliament next year.

More details here

You can help push for this change by contacting your MP through Terrence Higgins Trust - very quick and easy to do here