the disabled in all fields of social security; and the Commission to draw up a draft directive, which will lay down the most important elements in the integration of the disabled. Europe, on this occasion, could do a lot worse than to emulate the American Senate who, on July 13th, 1990, enacted the Americans with Disabilities Act. President Bush signed the document at a White House ceremony on July 26th, putting some flesh on the bones of his inaugural promise to help create 'a gentler America'. The Act prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability in employment, public services and public accommodation. It requires new buses and trains to be accessible to disabled people, and telecommunications companies to operate relay systems that will allow hearing and speech-impaired Americans to use telephone services. This is quite a contrast with the feeble state of British law. A classic example is our attitude to training and employment of disabled people. During the week of writing this chapter I visited Twig Lane Workshops for disabled people in the Borough of Knowsley. On Merseyside alone there are over 7000 registered disabled people. Given that many disabled do not register, the workshop put the true number nearer 15,000 'with most being out of work'. The workshop is run on a shoestring with no clear source of funding. Education, social services and health departments simply play pass-the-parcel. Even worse, by tying the training scheme to Employment Training (ET), which is not designed for disabled people's needs or requirements, it means that after six months a trainee is a) unlikely to have acquired skills; b) unable to obtain a job; and c) unable to secure extra funding. Employment training is a wholly unsuitable instrument for people with special needs and denied proper political commitment and funding places such as Twig Lane Workshops face an uncertain future. The Twig Lane syndrome extends to our legislative failure to provide proper safeguards for disabled people (despite attempts by MPs Tom Clarke and Bob Wareing, who both introduced Private Members Bills). Regrettably, it is difficult to imagine the present Government promoting legislation which sets out as its purpose the provision of
a clear and comprehensive national mandate for the elimination of discrimination against individuals with disabilities; to provide clear, strong, consistent enforceable standards addressing discrimination ... ; to ensure that the federal government plays a central role in enforcing the standards established under the act; and to invoke the sweep of congressional authority, including the power to invoke the 14th Amendment, and to regulate commerce, in order to address the major areas of discrimination faced day-to-day by people with disabilities.13