Mo’s tireless campaigning for people with disabilities to be heard

Written by Mohammed Azeem on

Everyone calls Mohammed ‘Mo’. Sense has supported Mo for a few years, and now he’s doing an incredible amount to support us.

Mo has been out campaigning, backing our plan for change. He’s opened up about his experience of political representation, voting and campaigning with Sense.

Mo, together with other Sense campaigners, handing in a petition calling for action for disabled people at 10 Downing Street.

I’m someone who’ll always advocate for people with disabilities, it’s a passion of mine. I’ll campaign where I can. Whenever I get invited to join in or show support, I always ask, “What about disabled people? How are we involved in your policies and your events?” For a long time, we’ve not been heard, and change hasn’t come.

Sense, I would say, put together one of the few plans that not only champion, but also prioritise, people with disabilities and complex needs. I’m very optimistic and hopeful that people are going to start listening and the change will happen.

I didn’t feel valued enough

During the local elections, I was following a lot of the party campaigns and I also read a lot of the manifestos.

“I write to party representatives in my area saying, ‘What are you going to provide for disabled people?’ and they never answer. Politicians don’t understand what it’s like to live with a disability, and they need to listen to us to learn.”

Mo, Sense campaigner

In all of them, every party, they hadn’t bothered prioritising or even speaking to disabled people. That really made me really angry and disappointed.

I didn’t vote because I didn’t feel that we were valued enough throughout the local election process. It felt like that people with disabilities are being put on the backburners when we should be the forefront of their campaigns and also within their manifestos.

Disabled people face double the issues of non-disabled people. Our cost of living is the biggest – we can’t pay bills, we can’t go out and buy food, prices are too much. Also, there’s issues with accessible transport and lack of accessible venues.

I write to party representatives in my area saying, “What are you going to provide for disabled people?” and they never answer. Politicians don’t understand what it’s like to live with a disability, and they need to listen to us to learn.

Mo, a smiling Asian man wearing a white checked shirt.

Reaching people in need

I’ll tell you a little story how I got involved with campaigning for Sense. For a while, I had been part of the Sense employment service at TouchBase Pears. One day, I got chatting to one of the Sense campaigns team who said that my passion and experience would make me a good campaigner.

After that, we kept talking. I’ve done quite a few things with Sense now, around the general election as well. I’ve given articles to the local newspapers such as Big Issue and Birmingham Live and Birmingham Mail just before the general elections.

It’s been a great experience, telling them how I feel and sharing a bit of my side of things. I hope that more opportunities like this will come my way, and I look forward to doing more work with Sense.

I really hope that the work that I’m doing – that Sense is doing – does reach the people that it needs to reach to, like the government, and the new PM. They only get five years so if the promised change doesn’t come, then the people who helped get them where they are will turn away.