Stephen Hodgkins / , Disabled people's organisations

Better understanding of the relationships between local and specific communities across the globe and their social issues have been facilitated by online information sharing technologies. 

What are the implications?

• Understanding the benefits of global relationships offers opportunities for disabled peoples organisations to form remote partnerships and support networks, both between disabled people and across broader social issues, such as poverty or other areas of inequalities.
• Ensuring that loca...

Personalisation: the reform of public services driven by empowered disabled people as consumers

Plans to transform public services from ‘one size fits all’ to a ‘personalised’ consumer driven approach poses both opportunities and challenges for Disabled Persons - and User Led - Organisations (ULOs). 

What are the implications?

• The document Improving the Life Chances of Disabled People calls for a User Led Organisation, modelled on the Centre for Independent Living, to be established in eac...

Independent and inclusive living, as asserted by the disabled people’s movement from the 1970s onwards, called for access to opportunities, such as education and employment, and control over daily living resources, such as direct payments for equipment and personal assistants.  

What are the implications?

The influence of ‘independent living’ has been huge, and various UK government documents such as ‘Improving the Life Chances of Disabled People’ and ‘Putting People First’ espouse systems tha...

The impact of climate change and the green agenda, and its relationship to disabled people’s equality and access needs, is yet to be explored in great detail, and therefore a largely unknown area.

What are the implications?

• Possible issues may include changes to transport systems, energy and power, natural disasters, and ‘green’ building developments.  For people with mobility impairments using motability cars or scooters, rising fuel prices, specific ‘car taxes’ or power shortages could reduce ...

Ensuring the inclusion of diversity across equality categories and characteristics can be a challenge for organisations, as funding streams and agendas have traditionally been specific to particular identities and areas of work. The Equality Bill (passed April 2010) proposes single legislation to incorporate current UK anti-discrimination laws and duties.  It is proposed that this will strengthen protection, advance equality, and simplify the law. 

What are the implications?

• Disabled Peoples’ Or...

Disablism: The discrimination, abuse and injustice experienced by disabled people because they have impairments.

Equality, human rights and anti-discrimination legislation provides inconsistent support for disabled people. While the introduction of anti-discrimination and related legislation has brought about some legal protections for disabled people, actual enforcement has produced variable results.   

What are the implications?

• There is poor availability of useful ‘disability rights’ informat...

Hi George - Inclusive education is a major issue for disabled people and their organisations. The issue that came up through this work was about a vision for the future where disabled students are not excluded.

As the image shows 'above a big heading of 5 years are the words inclusive education and a image of school, a group of people with a banner reading ‘life for all and a special school with a red cross through it indicating it is closed'. It was not about the coalition government hal...