News
Disability Rights UK Annual General Meeting 2022
We are delighted to invite you to our Annual General Meeting (AGM) on Wednesday 23 November from 1.00pm to 4.00pm.
Join us to hear about what we have done in the past year, how we are responding to the cost-of-living crisis, and our plans for the future. Meet the Leadership Team in a panel session to hear about the challenges and opportunities facing Disabled people as well as being able to ask questions.
We will also be previewing our new website that will launch later this year and sharing our new draft strategic goals to get your input. We hope you will be able to join us online on the 23rd of November.
Visit our website for more information
Disabled People represented at COVID Public Inquiry
On Monday 31 October, the COVID Public Inquiry heard from lawyers, on the conduct and scope of module 2 of the Inquiry, which relates to political and administrative decision making during the pandemic.
Read the full COVID inquiry story on our website.
Official data flags impact of inflation on Disabled people
More than half of Disabled adults (55 per cent) are struggling to pay their energy bills and around a third (36 per cent) are having problems paying their rent or mortgage, according to Office for National Statistics (ONS) research.
Read the full ONS story, including the Disability Poverty Campaign Group’s letter to the Prime Minister, on our website.
DWP watered down plan to prevent claimant suicides
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) diluted key parts of a plan drawn up to prevent suicides and learn lessons from claimant deaths, while under the then leadership of Therese Coffey, the Disability News Service (DNS) reports.
Read the full DWP watered down plan story on our website.
Regulator highlights concerns around autism and learning disability services in damning annual care review
The health and care system is “gridlocked and unable to operate effectively”, the Care Quality Commission (CQC) has warned.
Read the full CQC Care Review report story on our website.
DWP discrimination led claimant to suicidal thoughts
The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has admitted repeatedly breaching the Equality Act, after a disabled man was left needing hospital treatment three times for suicidal thoughts caused by failures by universal credit (UC) advisers, the Disability News Service (DNS) reports.
Read the full DWP discrimination story on our website.
Government pledges national action following Doncaster abuse inquiry
Education Secretary Gillian Keegan has pledged to overhaul residential placements for Disabled children after a safeguarding report revealed “a culture of abuse” at three children’s homes in Doncaster.
Read the full Doncaster abuse inquiry story on our website.
Home Office to be taken to court over PEEPs
The Disabled leaseholder’s group, Claddag, have raised over £21,000 enabling them to go ahead with their legal challenge against the Government.
Read the full PEEPS story on our website.
Women dominate annual Disability power list
Women fill eight of the top ten spots in the Shaw Trust’s annual list of the most powerful Disabled people in Britain.
Read the full Shaw Power List story on our website.
Daily Mirror lauded for disability coverage
The Daily Mirror’s coverage of disability issues has contributed to it being named Newspaper of the Year at the London Press Awards. Judges singled out the paper’s disability series – which was written entirely by Disabled people – and its coverage of the Partygate scandal for special mention.
Read the full Daily Mirror story, including DR UK’s contribution to their disability series, on our website.
Disability Wales Celebrates 50-year anniversary
The national association of Disabled people’s organisations in Wales- Disability Wales, celebrated its 50 years anniversary with their first in-person event in over two years.
Read more on the event on the DR UK website.
DR UK demands a more accessible housing system
In our first response to the government consultation: “Social housing rents”, we made it clear that there is no acceptable, just, or fair way to raise tenant rents or service charges.
Read more on our housing policy on the DR UK website.
Report shows how activity providers responded to pandemic restrictions lifting
National charity Activity Alliance has released a new report in partnership with BritainThinks. The research explores how Disabled people’s motivations and barriers to being active have changed since the COVID-19 pandemic and how providers can support and include Disabled people better in the future.
The full story can be found on the Get Yourself Active website.
Study supports reducing traffic volumes and reallocating road space to pedestrians
Research by University College London has found that road traffic costs local communities an estimated at £31.9 billion per year, i.e. 1.6% of the Gross Domestic Product, or £631 per person. This research is being released when organisations such as Living Streets call on making walking and wheeling more inclusive.
The full story about the traffic research can be read on the Get Yourself Active website.
BBC highlights unfair PIP cut for disabled people in hospital
Thousands of Disabled people have had their benefits paused during extended hospital stays, under a rule charities say penalises the most vulnerable, the BBC reports.
It comes after a court case was withdrawn which had been set to challenge the lawfulness of the so-called hospital rule.
The full BBC story can be found on our website.
