Governments Disability Strategy

[StarBright]

There's a LOT to read here & I've just skimmed. So I will try & break it down:

Link to the main page: https://www.gov.uk/government/public...ility-strategy

Part 1: practical steps now to improve disabled people's everyday lives

https://www.gov.uk/government/public...everyday-lives

Rights and perceptions: removing barriers to participating fully in public and civic life and wider society

Removing historic barriers to participation in public life

New campaigns to inspire social change across the UK

Improving access to justice

Improving access to courts and legal support

Supporting disabled victims and witnesses

Improving frontline staff’s understanding of neurodiversity

Tackling crime against disabled people

Ensuring protection at home

Housing: creating more accessible, adapted and safer homes

Boosting the accessibility and supply of housing for disabled people

Extending tenants’ rights on accessibility

Ensuring the safety of disabled people

Transport: improving the accessibility and experience of everyday journeys

Transforming the accessibility of the railway station network

Improving disabled people’s experience of travelling by train

Improving the accessibility of buses, bus stations and bus stops

Tackling shortages in community transport drivers

Improving the accessibility of taxis and private hire vehicles

Making ‘lifeline’ ports more accessible for disabled passengers

Creating accessibility standards for electric vehicle charge points

Improving the Blue Badge scheme

Tackling pavement parking

Jobs: making the world of work more inclusive and accessible

More support for disabled people to start and stay in work

Transforming Access to Work

Encouraging employers

Disseminating best practice to employers

Disability Workforce Reporting

Expanding supported employment services

Strengthening rights for disabled people in the workplace

Introducing unpaid carers’ leave

Supporting disabled entrepreneurs

Supporting disabled civil servants to thrive at work

More opportunities for disabled people to serve in Defence and the security agencies

Education: ensuring children and young people fulfil their potential

Delivering the SEND Review

Funding for educating those with complex special educational needs and disabilities

Investing in school accessibility and capacity

Training for all schools and colleges in supporting children and young people with SEND

Training more educational psychologists

Involving families of children with SEND in service design

Smoothing transitions to adulthood

Supporting pathways to employment

Shopping: more consumer choice and convenience

Transforming the accessibility of our towns and high streets

Driving innovation in assistive technology

Improving the accessibility of private sector websites

Appointing more business leaders to promote accessibility in their sectors

Leisure: widening access to arts, culture, sport and the great outdoors

Widening participation in art, culture and sport

Making the UK the most accessible tourism destination in Europe

Improving access to nature

More inclusive playgrounds

Public services: making access as smooth and easy as possible

Improving access to disability benefits

Health and adult social care reform

Improving disability data and evidence

Supporting autistic people and people with a learning disability

Improving the accessibility of online public services

Part 2: disabled people's everyday experience at the heart of government policy making and service delivery

https://www.gov.uk/government/public...rvice-delivery

Disabled people at the heart of government policy making and service delivery

Transforming evidence and data

Reforming government procurement to drive better outcomes for disabled people

Enhancing our engagement with disabled people

Ensuring that our communications are accessible

A world-leading Centre for Assistive and Accessible Technology

Leading internationally

Tracking progress

Part 3: a cross-government effort to transform disabled people's everyday lives

https://www.gov.uk/government/public...everyday-lives

Cabinet Office

Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy

Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport

Department for Education

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Department of Health and Social Care

Department for Transport

Department for Work and Pensions

Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office

Home Office

Ministry of Defence

Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government

Ministry of Justice

[beau]

I won't hold my breath.

[Sky]

Just stopping pavement parking would make a huge difference to my life. I'd like to force the culprits to suffer a week of blindness or having to use a wheelchair; then they may have a little more appreciation of how difficult they make our lives.

If that fails, just shoot the bast***s.

[beau]

Not only disabled people with pavement parking but those with prams and pushchairs too.
I got stuck yesterday on my scooter, there is a bend I can't see round to see if the coast is clear.
Our area is dreadful for pavements being blocked.

[StarBright]

This one is interesting New campaigns to inspire social change across the UK. A small quote from that section say's:

The Disability Unit will develop a UK-wide campaign to increase public awareness and understanding of disability, dispel ingrained and unhelpful stereotypes and promote the diverse contributions disabled people have made – and continue to make – to public life.

That's going to be a tough one especially as the media for decades have been telling people that disabled people are scroungers & leeches on society backed up by inadequate benefits from the government

[scrubingcookers]

Pavement parking, mmmm!!!. Big one that. In a lot of places it will make roads more narrower of coarse, both sides parking on the road. A one way would solve the problem or, trafic lights, (not going to happen) A lot of cars being scrapped by "white vans" tring to get through roads where both sides park on the roads. Any ideas where to put you"r dust bin that takes up 2/3rds of the width of the pavement. Good day.

[nukecad]

Pavement parking is already illegal, it's just mostly ignored and not enforced.

TBH it's a lot of money spent on a 'Policy Document' that says very little new, and just sets out some vague intentions.

Interesting that they have put this out just a few weeks after starting a new 'Green Paper' consultation on disability: "Shaping future support: the health and disability green paper"
https://www.gov.uk/government/consul...ty-green-paper

I've had a look at the online questionaire for that one:
https://getinvolved.dwp.gov.uk/05-po...y-green-paper/
My opinion: Leading questions, where any answer can be interpreted as they want to.

[nukecad]

TBH it's a lot of money spent on a 'Policy Document' that says very little new, and just sets out some vague intentions.

It seem that I'm not the only one who thinks that:
https://www.disabilitynewsservice.co...t-for-purpose/

A network of more than 20 of the country’s leading DPOs has attacked the new strategy, which was launched yesterday (Wednesday), with one describing it as a “damp squib” and the network saying it was “full of rehashed old policies” and failed to tackle the growing poverty, exclusion and discrimination disabled people face.

[StarBright]

Nuke, sky did a section on this the day it was released. Some disability person from something official (sorry can't remember who) said that it was being based on the shaping future support survey type thing.

And that they had seen what questions they were asking & they were really cross that a lot of them were not even relevant, like would you go out with a disabled person. I'm guessing that's to see how people see disabled people

Anyway I knew when I put it up here before I had seen the bit on Sky that all it is doing is saying what we will do not what they are doing now. I worked that out by skimming through the sections. The one about changing people's opinions on disabled people "campaign" made me smile because how can they say disabled people are equal to able bodied people when they treat them differently through the amount of money they give people on benefits.

It's the same with the ad campaign for motability scheme. Conservatives changed DLA to PIP & raised the bar for the mobility award so a lot of people didn't get high rate to be able to get motobility. Now they are wondering why no one's going on the scheme! it's because the gov won't let them score enough points!

On the plus side I really love the song they chose for the ad

[nukecad]

It's all re-election guff.

Like the criminal tagging and 'community work' from last week.

Good old Tory party standby's, or cliches if you prefer, that they know go down well with their voters.

They know they don't work, but still trot them out time and again.