Last week I had the honour of speaking about my campaign in Parliament. Disability charity Scope, with their six month Scope for Change scheme, was instrumental in me creating this campaign to raise awareness of mental illnesses as disabilities. As the scheme came to an end we were invited to speak at a ceremony in Parliament about our experiences of the scheme and our campaigns.
I had the chance to meet some politicians, including the health secretary Matt Hancock. I believe the NHS currently needs to change a lot to appropriately care for and support people with long term mental illnesses and I told Matt Hancock this. I then requested to meet with him to discuss this further; whether he will meet with me or not is a different matter, but the voices of the disabled community need be heard and listened to and acted on.
Below is my speech, in it I talk about what I have gained and learnt from this scheme as well as what I think needs to change.
Growing up I thought depression was an illness that confined you to a dark room for the rest of your life, but here I am, speaking in front of you today, in Parliament. I never thought I would be accepted on to this scheme. Beyond university services it seemed no one acknowledged depression as a disability, even some of my peers with mental illnesses were surprised when I said my mental illness was a disability. Before Scope for Change, I felt like an intruder in the disabled community, receiving support for my disability that society deemed non-existent. Having a disability is hard enough without feeling guilty for it.
Meeting the incredible disabled people I stand beside today has taught me my illness is a disability, regardless of our different illnesses we face the same struggles in society. Not only are mental illnesses disabilities, studies show that people with mental impairments have the worst employment rates and average pay. I graduate this summer and one statistic that plagues me, 75% of people with a long term mental illness are unemployed. Through Scope for Change I have started to raise awareness of the struggles people with long term mental illnesses as well as signposting support on my website Disability Depression. I would like to thank Scope for accepting me in to the disabled community with open arms and empowering me. This has truly been an incredible experience, the work of Scope is invaluable and hence I am running the Leeds Half Marathon in May.
My campaign work does not end here. I implore you to read and share my website www.disabilitydepression.co.uk. Mental illnesses are disabilities. It is so important to acknowledge this in order to address the inequality me and many others face. Most support for people with long term mental illnesses are not mental illness specific, in order to access this support you must identify as disabled, currently this is a massive barrier. A lot of work has been done to raise awareness of mental illnesses but this is not enough. We as a society need to acknowledge mental illnesses can be long term and severe. We need to have support in place on the NHS for people with long term mental illnesses. We need to work towards making society more accessible for these people. All of us are responsible for ensuring people with long term mental illnesses are valued and accepted in society today.
I will keep campaigning and using this website as a platform to campaign. A lot needs to change and it is so important the disabled community come together and keep campaigning.
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