the country's only news agency specialising in disability issues
Disabled sports stars and campaigners have praised Glasgow’s Commonwealth Games, pointing to impressive levels of access and the successful integration of mainstream and para-sports events. Disabled competitors from the five para-sports that were included in the games – athletics, powerlifting, track […]
Three disabled people have won permission for a new legal attempt to derail the government’s planned closure of the Independent Living Fund (ILF). Stuart Bracking, Gabriel Pepper and John Aspinall want the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) to withdraw its […]
Only a small proportion of local authorities in England have put plans in place to ring-fence the money they will receive when the government shuts down the Independent Living Fund (ILF) next June, according to a new survey. Just 10 of […]
A UN committee is set to postpone its public examination of how the UK is implementing the disability convention until after next year’s general election. The decision will mean that the coalition will avoid the potential embarrassment of a high-profile discussion […]
The government should scrap laws that force people with mental distress to be treated against their will in their own homes, according to leading disabled campaigners. Community treatment orders (CTOs) – where service-users are forced to take medication, but do not […]
Disabled people’s organisations are in danger of becoming “servants” of their local authorities, as the government encourages them to compete for the right to provide council services, a user-led forum has warned. North Tyneside Disability Forum (NTDF) is concerned that council […]
Disabled people have been hit disproportionately hard by the government’s welfare reforms, a new report published by the equality watchdog has confirmed. Experts commissioned by the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) confirmed in the report that assessing the overall impact […]
A work and pensions minister has been caught giving misleading information to the government’s own benefits advice body about the possibility of assessing the overall impact on disabled people of its sweeping welfare cuts and reforms. Lord Freud, minister for welfare […]
One of the companies responsible for assessing disability benefit eligibility failed to make its own workplace accessible for a disabled employee for more than three years, and then sacked her when she became too ill to work. Sharon Dickens is the […]
Websites for five of the UK’s top airlines are still “difficult and frustrating” to use for their disabled customers, 11 years after they were found to be failing to meet minimum accessibility standards. The technology and disability charity AbilityNet published results […]