Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 2:29 pm on 7 May 2019.
Could I call for two statements? The first is on support for disabled people experiencing violence against women, domestic abuse and sexual violence in Wales. Last week, I chaired a joint meeting of the cross-party groups on disability and on violence against women and children, looking at the impact of violence against women, domestic abuse and sexual violence on disabled women. We produced a report—or, more importantly, we launched a report—jointly produced by Disability Wales and Welsh Women's Aid on supporting disabled people in these areas. Because evidence continues to show that disabled people are more likely to experience violence, abuse and sexual violence in these areas, yet support and resources for them are still limited. A series of recommendations were made—I haven't got time now to list them all, but I would urge the Welsh Government to look at those recommendations and respond accordingly.
Secondly, and finally, could I call for a report on support for deaf people and people who are hard of hearing in Wales? Because this is Deaf Awareness Week—6 to 12 May. We know that, for instance, the Department for Work and Pensions's Disability Confident campaign is encouraging Disability Confident employers to boost deaf awareness by checking out Action on Hearing Loss's employers' hub. We know that Remploy Cymru's work and health programme Wales includes people who are deaf or with hearing loss who need support. I was contacted this weekend by COS, the Centre of Sign Sight Sound, based in Colwyn Bay, of which I'm patron, talking about their project on deaf awareness for children, and the many activities they're taking across north Wales this week. And we also know—a few weeks ago, we debated the Deffo!, the voice of deaf youth in Wales, petition, when they stated that in 2003 the UK Government and in 2004, this place, the Assembly recognised British Sign Language as a language in its own right. But 16 years later, we've made little progress in some areas, and our education as a whole, a generation later, is still failing our deaf young people. It has to stop, and we have to do something about it. Given all these areas, the progress achieved, the good news, the third sector working, but also the problems that continue to be highlighted, I call for a statement recognising Deaf Awareness Week accordingly.