the country's only news agency specialising in disability issues
Disabled campaigners have described the government’s decision to reintroduce benefit sanctions – in the middle of a pandemic – as “barbaric” and “life threatening”. The decision meant an end to the three-month suspension of benefit sanctions and conditionality* in England, Scotland and […]
A disabled man starved to death after he became isolated during the coronavirus pandemic and was unable to access food because he had obeyed the government’s “stay at home” message. The man, from Streatham, south London, was living with mental distress and […]
New government figures have revealed that the proportion of disability benefit claimants who died in April was 15 per cent higher than the previous year, providing fresh evidence of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on disabled people. The figures, secured by […]
The equality watchdog failed to consult its own committee of disabled advisers before deciding not to investigate deaths of benefit claimants that have been linked to the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). It came as disabled activists and relatives of disabled […]
The Labour chair of the Commons committee tasked with holding the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) to account is refusing to question its attempts to cover up links between its actions and the deaths of benefit claimants. Disability News Service (DNS) […]
Disabled activists say the government has yet again ignored the support needs of disabled people during the pandemic crisis, after omitting social care workers from a list of travellers who can enter the UK without self-isolating for 14 days. The Home Office rules […]
A local council has admitted that it has no idea how many of the buildings it owns and rents to businesses are accessible to disabled people. The admission by Scarborough council came after it refused to force a restaurant and bar to […]
A disabled student has launched a legal case against the Department for Work and Pensions over an “unlawful” policy that prevents many disabled students claiming universal credit. Sidra Kauser, from Halifax, who is studying for a master’s degree at the University of […]
Disabled people’s organisations have demanded an inquiry into the reasons behind the disproportionately high number of deaths of disabled people during the pandemic, following the publication of “shocking” and long-overdue official figures. They have also called on the government to take urgent […]
The government’s decision to further ease measures that have been protecting hundreds of thousands of disabled people from coronavirus since late March has left many of them “stunned and anxious”, say campaigners. The 2.2 million people currently described as “clinically extremely vulnerable” […]
The equality watchdog has rejected calls for it to investigate deaths linked to the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), more than a year after an MP asked it to launch an inquiry. Labour’s Debbie Abrahams, a former shadow work and pensions […]
Disabled activists have called for opponents of universal credit (UC) across the country to help mirror the campaign that led to the poll tax being abandoned in the early 1990s, by joining a new national alliance that is demanding UC is scrapped. […]
The government’s continuing failure to allow benefit appeals to be heard via video conferencing is discriminating against disabled claimants, say welfare rights experts. Many disabled people are being forced to ask for their tribunals to be postponed, because they are only being […]
“Comprehensive failings” within one of the largest and best-known disability charities placed service-users at undue risk of harm and exposed some disabled children with high support needs to actual harm and distress, the charity regulator has concluded. Royal National Institute of Blind […]
A leading disabled campaigner and crossbench peer has called for an end to the use of the word “vulnerable” to describe disabled people. Baroness [Jane] Campbell said the term had been used repeatedly to describe disabled people during the “worst times” of […]
Disabled people have faced discrimination in every area of their lives from the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, new research by a user-led organisation has found. The research by Inclusion London reveals that the COVID-19 crisis is impacting disabled people across every […]
Black disabled people must organise a protest to draw attention to their continuing “invisibility” and the multi-layered discrimination they face, according to a leading disabled black activist. Julie Jaye Charles spoke out this week in the wake of mass protests across the […]
The failure of NHS England to consult with disabled people over new guidance on hospital visitors has left the door open to “dangerous and discriminatory” treatment, according to two campaigners. Fleur Perry and Mark Williams have asked NHS England to explain why […]
A day of action on social media has celebrated disability culture and highlighted the concerns of disabled artists about their future as they struggle with the impact of the coronavirus pandemic. Artists and cultural leaders shared work by disabled visual artists, actors, […]
A one-day online festival is set to showcase some of the most exciting and influential disabled performers, artists and activists, challenge the erosion of disabled people’s rights, and point the way towards a more inclusive society. The WILD Day In festival – […]
Disabled people will only end the oppression they have experienced over the last decade by getting involved in grassroots activism, according to one of the most significant figures in the development of the social model of disability. Professor Colin Barnes, founder of […]