Carly Jones seeks inclusion of disabled people in Britain's honours system

Disabled people should be more fairly recognized in the honours system as part of the government's push to make awards reach a wider range of people, says Carly Jones, an advocate for the rights of autistic women and girls, reports BBC.

But she tells BBC News she has seen firsthand how people's attitudes need to change, including after she was appointed MBE in 2018. Carly remembers being at a doctors' surgery where there was a call for a Miss Emby. "We're all looking round and I said: 'Is it Jones MBE'?" realizing the award had been mistaken for a surname. "You don't look like the sort of person who would have one," Carly was told. "I don't know what that meant," says Carly, who campaigns to help women with autism in education, employment and health services.

Not only was Carly appointed MBE, she's on one of the honours committees that decides who else should receive an award, such as knighthoods, CBEs, MBEs and OBEs, in the New Year and King's Birthday Honours.

As a disabled woman herself, she wants to make sure the charity and community work of people with disabilities isn't overlooked and taken for granted. An important part of that is to encourage more people to put forward nominations.

"Everyone knows someone who deserves an honour," says Carly, who wants to "challenge the myth that this is a system for the elite".
In terms of the honours committee, she says: "We can only look at what's put in front of us."

There is also a concern, she says, that people shouldn't think that someone has received an award just because of a disability - "because that would devalue the system". There is scrutiny to make sure that those receiving awards of all types have personally worked very hard for good causes. "It can't just be someone who donates a million pounds and
then gets a knighthood," she says.