Briefings

We responded to the Department of Work and Pension (DWP)’s Health and Disability Green Paper consultation on the future of welfare benefits. The Green Paper explores how the welfare system can better meet the needs of disabled people and people with health conditions now and in the future, enabling people to live independently and move into work where possible.

To inform our consultation submission, we gathered evidence via a detailed online survey of those who draw on benefits (over 700 responded), via focus groups and with in-depth interviews. We used this evidence to inform the 36 recommendations we put in our consultation submission.

Covid-19 has had a significant detrimental impact on most countries worldwide. It has further exacerbated the inequalities that many people face, particularly people with disabilities.

People with disabilities have been at an increased risk of contracting Covid-19 and developing serious symptoms from it or even dying from the virus. Along with this, government responses have more often than not neglected, discriminated against and further excluded people with disabilities, putting them even more at risk.

Now that vaccinations have been developed and are being rolled out globally, it is essential that health care workers, health planners, governments, and other mainstream health delivery agencies provide vaccination programmes that are accessible and inclusive.

We have developed a guidance note to support this, providing key recommendations on how to deliver a disability-inclusive vaccine programme. This will help ensure that from the start of the rollout of vaccinations, people with disabilities are not left behind.

As government’s prepare their COVID-19 responses around the world, our research team have produced an evidence briefing in order to highlight recommendations that can help ensure people with disabilities are not left behind as part of these responses.

The briefing includes essential research that was carried out in Liberia following the Ebola crisis to compare living standards between disabled and non-disabled people, providing a snapshot of the barriers, stigma and challenges people with disabilities will likely face following coronavirus.

Disabled people are bearing the consequences of year on year cuts to vital public services. This has led to unequal access to education, volunteering and employment, transport and health services. As a result, many disabled people are worried about their future.

The current funding system is not sustainable nor is it effective: short term measures are only helping to prop-up an already failing system. The government need to deliver a long-term funding solution for the future of social care in England without delay.

For disabled people good quality, accessible public transport can make the difference between getting out to work and seeing family and friends instead of feeling isolated and excluded from community life.

Estimates suggest that there are between 180 and 220 million youth with disabilities worldwide. Nearly 80% of them live in developing countries.