5,000-name petition on disabilities

Published on Monday 1 June 2009 09:57

A PETITION with more than 5,000 names has been passed to the council complaining about its policy covering people with low or moderate learning disabilities.

Spearheaded by the Garvald Centre, the petition calls on the local authority to reconsider its decision not to fund places for such people, and instead concentrate on people with higher support needs.

Ironically, the centre in Gorgie recently won a reprieve on this policy, and the 36 people who received funding to attend on a low to moderate needs basis were allowed to continue.

But a spokeswoman for the group said: "The council has agreed to continue to fund the Garvald members who'd been threatened with loss of funding.

"However, we will continue to challenge the council's general policy of withdrawing ongoing funding and direct services from vulnerable adults."