Disabled people in Birmingham feel 'forgotten' by politicians
Disabled people in Birmingham have told us they don't know who to vote for in the general election because parties haven't mentioned any pledges for those living with disabilities.
Disabled people in Birmingham say they feel 'forgotten' after hearing no mention of support in this year's election campaigns.
We've been told they don't know who to vote for, because no party has mentioned what they'll do for disabled people if they're voted in to power on Thursday.
Shani Dhanda's is a disability inclusion specialist and activist from Birmingham who also has brittle bone disease.
She is also this year's most influential disabled person in the UK for her work.
Shani's been working to improve the way disabled people are treated and has been telling us that disabled people are not priorotised.
After giving TED Talks, writing children's books and broadcasting her message, Shani's actively trying to improve the support that disabled people like herself have.
She's told us, it's societal bias that disables them, "Disabled people have been forgotten in manifestos, when leader have been speaking about their policies. It really doesn't surprise me because we've never been prioritised.
"We get called benefit cheats and we're deemed as the lowest of the low in society but people don't understand that it's not our conditions on the whole that disable us, it's the fact that we face so many barriers and bias in society.
"It's so important that we have more support because accessibility and inclusion benefits every single citizen, not just disabled people. In fact, there are so many things in society that have come about because of disabled people.
Shani says what the next government needs to do is to address how much money disabled people spend on healthcare to live the same lives as everyone else, to better support those who want to work and to transform attitudes towards disabled people especially those of political parties. SHe feels it's currently a very hostile place to live.
Birmingham's first ever disability festival is taking place this Saturday at Birmingham City University too where Shani's hoping people come and celebrate to raise awareness of disability inclusion.