BBC: Scotland doesn't offer access to justice for disabled people

From BBC News:

A summit is being held in Edinburgh to look at the problems the Scottish justice system poses for people with disabilities.

They range from access to courtrooms for people with mobility problems, to blind people being barred from jury service.

It is also looking at the controversial issue of whether the system helps or hinders people with learning disabilities.

It coincides with a BBC Radio Scotland investigation which has heard claims that some people are still being denied justice.

A learning disability affects less than 2% of the Scottish population.

Yet according to the Prison Reform Trust, people with such disabilities make up more than 8% of the UK prison population.

Added to that are the people who are witnesses - and victims.

Last year the Scottish Mental Welfare Commission excoriated the justice system over the case of Miss A.

She was sexually assaulted but her learning disability meant she was judged unable to give evidence against her attackers.

It prompted much agonising among lawyers and politicians that, despite a raft of legislation since devolution, the system is still failing some of Scotland's most vulnerable people.

Norman Dunning, who chairs the learning disability charity Enable Scotland, says it should not be a barrier to justice. But it is.

"Despite reforms, every so often situations come to light which shows people have not got a fair deal" he says.

"Quite often people who are victims of crime [are] maybe not believed, or they don't communicate in a way that people are going to take seriously."

The forensic and clinical psychologist Professor Bill Lindsay says some people try to hide the extent of their disability.

"People with learning disabilities are quite practised at pretending they understand what's going on.

"They've probably developed a range of techniques for being comfortable in a situation when they're really quite ignorant of what's going on around them."

Amanda and Ross have mild learning disabilities and look after their two year old daughter Aileesha with minimal support.

But they lost their first daughter when a children's panel decided they couldn't cope. She was placed in foster care and her parents say they simply did not understand what was going on.

"You don't get a say with social work or panel meetings or whatever," Amanda says.

"They say what goes and you sit there and take it all."

Ross agrees: "I don't think they do anything to support people with disabilities and the whole law system should be changed."

The system has already been trying to change.

There has been a growth in advocacy services for people with learning disabilities.

Courts have quiet rooms where vulnerable witnesses can give evidence in low-stress surroundings over a video link.

And a recent landmark case has established that people such as Amanda and Ross should be offered legal aid to help them cope with children's panel proceedings.

The chair of Scotland's Human Rights Commission, Professor Alan Miller, says it is a case of so far so good - but so much further to go.

"This is a journey we've been on in Scotland for quite a few years - and it's frustrating really that it is piecemeal advances depending on a case being successful in court and then changes being made.

"I think what really is required is for all parties who have a stake in this to get round the table, as is happening, and have an action plan - and when that only comes through a case going to court, we've failed, basically, as a system."

It raises the question of whether there are some people with learning disabilities so severe that, like Miss A, they will never see justice done.

That's what Professor Lindsay fears.

He says: "Unfortunately I think there are - and some of these cases are really tragic.

"Because ... if someone's limitations are so serious that they can't be consistent in their accusation then I can't see how any justice system can get round it."

It's not a view universally shared. Enable Scotland says no-one should be denied justice.

Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill says he wants to continue improving protection and support for victims and witnesses with learning and other disabilities.

Speaking to BBC Radio Scotland ahead of the conference, he said that the treatment of people with learning disabilities within the justice sector has been "shameful" in the past, but that things have improved greatly and will continue with work such as the summit.

He said: "Significant progress has been made, considerably more has to be done and this is about getting all the main players around the table and changing attitudes.

"And it's about making sure that people know they have to recognise those with learning disabilities. They have to recognise that they have to be dealt with differently and they have to deal with them differently."

He is addressing the Access to Justice conference.