Terry Rooney MP, Bradford North

Terry Rooney supported young disabled campaigners on Tuesday, December 15 when they took their fight for better disabled access for transport, education and leisure venues to No. 10 Downing Street.

The Trailblazers, the Muscular Dystrophy campaign’s pressure group of disabled 16 to 30 year olds, have been investigating the state of transport, education and leisure facilities for disabled people in the UK over the past year. They presented a summary of these three reports called Inclusion Now to Parliament on Tuesday, as well as handing in the petition at No. 10. Terry Rooney MP joined 50 Trailblazers and the Minister for Sport Gerry Sutcliffe MP at the event.

The Trailblazers’ three reports, End of the Line (transport), University Challenge (education) and Calling Time (leisure), showed some shocking discoveries about disabled access for these services across the UK. For example: 

• wheelchair users regularly pay more to use public transport than their non-disabled peers and are made to feel like second-class citizens on public transport because of a lack of awareness from staff and inaccessible stations
• one in 10 disabled students doesn’t have accessible accommodation, cooking and dining facilities integrated into mainstream university life
• four out of five young disabled people have had problems using leisure facilities that aren’t disabled friendly. 

Armed with this information and the rest of their reports on transport, education and leisure, the Trailblazers are now putting pressure on facilities and services they don’t think are performing well to improve what they offer disabled people.

Terry Rooney MP is proudly supporting the Trailblazers’ cause and was joined at the Houses of Parliament by young campaigners, Minister for Sport Gerry Sutcliffe MP and other MPs in the region.

He said: “I applaud the work these young campaigners are doing in making transport, education and leisure facilities more accessible to disabled people. I hope that with my support, together we will be able to make a real difference to everyday life for disabled people.”

Having met Terry Rooney Trailblazers regional ambassador Tanvi Vyas said: “We’re grateful for the support of Terry Rooney. With his backing we’re hopeful that we’ll be able to bring about real change for young disabled people.”