Local MP highlights sickle cell anomaly

Clapham and Brixton Hill MP Bell Ribeiro Addy today (13 March) introduced an early day motion in the House of Commons highlighting the failure to officially recognise sickle cell disease as a disability.

This means that sufferers – overwhelmingly people of Black African and Caribbean descent – find it harder than people with other disabilities to secure flexible working and medical leave

Very few early day motions get to be debated, but they can achieve publicity for the issues they address and enable other MPs to show support by signing them.

Bell Ribeiro-Addy’s motion asks MPs to regret that, “despite being a serious lifelong condition, sickle cell disease is not consistently recognised in workplaces” and note that “many employers still lack awareness of how the condition affects daily life, resulting in individuals living with sickle cell disease finding it difficult to secure flexible working, reasonable adjustments or medical leave without penalty”.

The motion calls on the government “to take steps to protect the workplace rights of people living with sickle cell disease by recognising it as a workplace disability requiring clearer guidance under the Equality Act 2010”.

It also encourages the Department for Work and Pensions to promote a programme of sickle cell disease awareness training for employers and occupational health providers “so employees are not subjected to misunderstanding or mistreatment”.

The motion also calls on the government to expand Access to Work support “so that employees with sickle cell disease can receive financial assistance for transport, workplace adjustments, and flexible working options”.

The NHS recently opened a major new blood donation facility in central Brixton to tackle a shortfall in donations of the blood type that is used to treat sickle cell disease.