SIR – Lord Freud’s comments about disabled people in the workplace have largely been shrugged off by his party.
It seems sad, however, when the one thing many physically and mentally disabled people are looking for is to be accepted and treated like everyone else. Only a few years ago there was the poster seen everywhere showing an obviously physically-disabled individual under the heading: “When you look at me, what do you see? Look beyond the disability at the person!”
The notion of paying disabled people less than the minimum wage is unfair, divisive and plain wrong. If a disabled person is able to do the job with “reasonable adjustments” (as currently allowed for by law) then they should get the same pay as anyone without a disability would get for doing the job. And neither is it “acceptable” for the government to top up a low £2 wage, because this also sends out exactly the same negative message.
David Hornsby, West View Avenue, Wrose
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