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The government’s new disability forum has begun its work with a marathon six-hour meeting, with ministers and civil servants hearing strong messages from campaigners on issues such as independent living, hate crime and segregated services. The Fulfilling Potential Forum will meet […]
A bus company has become the first national operator to sign a new charter that aims to ensure services are accessible to blind and partially-sighted passengers. First UK Bus has won praise from RNIB after joining local operators Reading Bus and […]
Disabled campaigners have vowed to fight on in the battle to save the Independent Living Fund (ILF), despite the government deciding to go ahead with its closure. Mike Penning, the Conservative minister for disabled people, told MPs today (6 March) in […]
Activists hope an historic House of Commons debate will prove a significant step towards forcing the government to assess the overall impact of its welfare reforms on disabled people, and to scrap the hated “fitness for work” test. Backbench MPs agreed […]
One of the UK’s two major disabled people’s representative organisations appears to have staved off the threat of insolvency. UK Disabled People’s Council (UKDPC) lost its last paid member of staff last summer, when its chief executive Jaspal Dhani was made […]
Staff working for the outsourcing giant Atos refused to comment this week as disabled activists protested outside their head office about the company’s involvement with the government’s “fitness for work” test. The protest near Euston station in London was one of […]
Activists have staged demonstrations at scores of locations across the country to highlight how a government contractor has “humiliated” disabled benefits claimants, and to call for the abolition of the “fitness for work” test. The national day of action saw an […]
Disabled campaigners are calling on a city council to give them a wider choice of public transport, after a five-year delay in deciding whether to license a more accessible type of black cab. Coventry city council has been accused of breaching […]
Millions of disabled people have been thrown into poverty and social exclusion by the European Union’s attempts to recover from the economic crisis, according to Europe’s leading disabled people’s organisation. The European Disability Forum (EDF) spoke out as it launched its […]
Plans to set up a new user-led organisation for people with learning difficulties in England have been described by an existing national group as “divisive” and “damaging” to the self-advocacy movement. Disabled activists Gary Bourlet and Kaliya Franklin told last month […]