Glasgow to Inverness walk raises profile of disabled people

A Christian charity is leading a sponsored walk from Glasgow to Inverness to raise the profile of the 1.5 million people with disabilities living in the UK.

People supported by the charity will be among the walkers heading out from Drumpeller Country Park in Coatbridge, near Glasgow, on Sunday.

The walk will end with a celebration at Smithton Culloden Free Church in Inverness on Friday.

The Glasgow-Inverness walk has already raised £40,000 for Prospects. It is part of a series of sponsored walks led by charity worker Tony Phelps-Jones, launched in March and covering 1,000 miles across the UK.

Mr Phelps-Jones has since been joined along various stretches of the 20-mile-a-day marathon by people supported by the charity and their friends and family, in order to raise the profile of those whom the charity says are often overlooked by society.

“This walk aims to make visible people who are often invisible in our society today,” he said.

“We hope MPs, education leaders, journalists, church leaders, businessmen and women and many others will join us for a day and as we walk along together, they will catch something of the aspirations of these people, as well as learning something of their needs and what needs to change for this huge group of people to be able to play a full role in our community life.”

Mr Phelps-Jones said disabled people were pioneers in helping other churches consider how they might fully integrate people with learning disabilities into their churches and communities.

He said: “It’s really about changing the world one step at a time.”