LEIGH MP Lawrence Cunliffe is backing deafblind campaigners in their fight for recognition.

He has signed an Early Day Motion championing Sense and Deafblind UK - "Red and white: no sound, no sight" launched this week which aims to gain recognition for the red and white cane as a symbol of deafblindness.

Deafblind people are frequently put at risk on the roads and denied access to public transport because nobody recognises their disability.

This week is International Deafblind Awareness Week and campaign leader, Brian Hicks, himself deafblind, said: "We'll keep running the campaign until every motorist, pedestrian, bus driver and high street retailer understands what red and white means; knows how they can communicate with a deafblind person and how they can offer us assistance.

"This campaign marks a new era for us in our fight for civil rights and full social inclusion. We made it happen and we got people to listen to us. This is unprecedented. In the past, sighted-hearing people have lobbied the Government on our behalf, campaigned on our behalf. Today deafblind people are truly doing it for themselves."

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