The government’s new £1.6bn National Disability Strategy was unveiled last month, with Prime Minister Boris Johnson hailing it as the most significant development in disability equality policy since the passage of the Disability Discrimination Act in 1995.
The new strategy aims to combat exclusion in the workplace, close the disability employment gap, and prioritise the needs of children with special educational needs and disabilities. It proposes measures such as a consultation on workforce reporting on disability for large employers, the creation of a new Centre for Assistive and Accessible Technology, which will help support disabled people to use technology, and a commitment to invest in making playgrounds more accessible for children with disabilities.
The strategy also focuses on other key areas, including public transport. It puts forward a plan to introduce legislation that would require all buses to have audible and visual announcements, and commits to improving accessibility on all forms of public transport.
Comprising around 120 measures, the strategy is bold in scope and recognises the challenges people with disabilities face in their daily lives. However, some groups have argued its provisions don’t go far enough.
Scope’s Chief Executive, Mark Hodgkinson, argued that the strategy is not transformational, and won’t have a big impact on the lives of most people with disabilities. Others have claimed the funding assigned to deliver the strategy is insufficient, and many of its ideas have existed for decades yet are still to be implemented.
Read the document in full in a range of formats on the gov.uk website.