• ONCE in a while we see the possible emergence of improvements to the chaotic services of our council.

Examples of the chaos include housing repairs, road closures, the failing Community Investment Programme, school closures and Ofsted inspection downgrades.

I have just attended a meeting of the council’s disability oversight panel chaired by Cllr Larraine Revah. I have a range of serious disabilities, all “invisible”, and am one of the estimated one in four people in the borough with a disability.

We had large-print material; print with colours that made reading for people with low vision like me easy to read, and speech to text plus British Sign Language for the hearing impaired. This should be a basic requirement for all council meetings.

A champion councillor has been appointed for each disability.

People present with disabilities gave examples of the poor services and discrimination they encountered, not only from the council.

The topic for discussion was the cost of living crisis, but it was soon clear that the basic issues were more fundamental.

First, the failure of officers to accept persons had disabilities and refusing them access to services. Coupled to this is the failure to make reasonable adjustments as required by legislation.

A prime example is the effect of road closures on those with mobility issues and their carers. Suggestions that such individuals could be exempt from fines by use of technology in Gospel Oak are ignored.

Perhaps of greater importance is the failure of communication, not, of course, just to people with disabilities.

Communication is almost all restricted to the internet, yet it is estimated that 25 per cent of residents in my area do not have suitable access. Council literature is almost always is in print size and colours unreadable by people with low vision.

Then we have the application of getting services, is again online and tortuous. So one of the first jobs of the new champions is to set up a system of “navigators” to help us through the mire. A further role is to intervene where people have been denied access to services.

Cllr Revah has had to do this twice for me, in cases where the failure to provide the service had potentially serious impact on my health related to my disabilities.

All officers need to undergo training on disability awareness and requirements under the Disability Discrimination Act.

Each council department should have a senior manager to have oversight of treatment of people with disabilities.

Judging by the cases raised at the meeting my experiences are by no means unique.

Hopefully the champions, together with Cllr Revah, will herald a new dawn for those of us who have enough to do merely coping with our disabilities on a daily basis without negative treatment by some officers.

And, hopefully, all councillors will support Cllr Revah in her important quest.

MICK FARRANT, NW5