Gypsy speaks out on travellers' rights
Published Date:
27 November 2008
GYPSIES and travellers have been around for hundreds of years but are still being denied access to health and education and being discriminated against as 'dirty minor criminals', a young traveller living in Eastbourne has said.
Henry Chapman, 24, said gypsies and travellers need to be accepted into the community and found permanent sites, not bullied and feared.
The former Bishop Bell School pupil, who lives in Enys Road, claimed there are still many misconceptions surrounding travelling families, 15 of whom he believes live in Eastbourne.
They are the focus of prejudice which would never be shown to other racial groups and are stigmatised as criminals.
He said he was bullied at primary school, called a 'pikey' and dirty, making him afraid to go there.
Mr Chapman works for Brighton-based support group Friends, Families and Travellers and said, "There is so much written about us and no-one ever asks for our side or how we would like to go forward with the community.
"The main misconceptions are that we are dirty, we don't pay our taxes and I think people think we are living on handouts.
"But this is a small minority, like in any community."
He said his family and others are afraid of the perception of them and just wanted to be part of the community, rather than forced to live near tips or sewage works, close to railway lines and outside populated areas.
On visiting GPs, he said, they were are turned away by receptionists because they have no fixed address.
The traveller, who moved around Lewes, Brighton and Chichester with his family before they settled in Eastbourne, hopes a permanent site will be found in the town for families, to help correct the misunderstandings.
The South East England Regional Assembly last Friday concluded a consultation on four options for gypsy, traveller and travelling showpeople sites, in which Eastbourne residents were able to comment on how accommodation should be shared between local authority areas.
It will be up to local authorities where in their areas the sites are placed. However, a spokesman for NHS East Sussex Downs and Weald said patients without fixed addresses would be able to see a GP as temporary patients or would be able to walk into a new health centre planned for the Devonshire ward next year.
The full article contains 393 words and appears in n/a newspaper.
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Last Updated:
27 November 2008 4:25 PM
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Source:
n/a
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Location:
Eastbourne
