Take part in the Disability Action Plan consultation

While there’s much to welcome, it’s disappointing there’s no mention of any new support measures to address the rising cost of living which is hitting disabled people hard. This feels like a big, missed opportunity – join us in letting the government know what needs to change by responding to the consultation before 6 October.

How to respond to the consultation

Make sure you read the consultation document. You can request the consultation document in alternative formats including large print, braille and audio by calling 0808 175 6420.

You don’t have to read it all. If there’s something you’d particularly like to respond to, focus on that. We’ve also put together a short summary of some of the key proposals you can read here.

You can request the consultation document in alternative formats including large print, braille and audio by calling 0808 175 6420.

Points to consider

You could consider points from the following areas:

Raising the profile of assistive technology

The government has acknowledged that disabled people's access to assistive technology has been limited through lack of awareness, affordability, and skills. You could highlight costs that have affected you or raise issues around the lack of training on how to use assistive technology. You could highlight:

• Barriers you’ve faced accessing technology
• What difference assistive technology makes to you

Educating businesses in disability awareness

The consultation aims to train staff in businesses in disability awareness. You could highlight:

• What you want that training to involve
• The barriers you’ve faced engaging with businesses, including shops, services and leisure activities

Improving wellbeing and opportunities for disabled children and support for disabled parents

The Plan proposes to improve wellbeing and opportunities for disabled children, and to improve support for disabled parents. There’s also a proposal to increase the accessibility of playgrounds. You could highlight:

• Your experience of education or as a parent of a child or young people with a vision impairment and what you want to see changed

Climate adaptations and mitigations

The Plan proposes guidance for local authorities on disability-inclusive approaches to new street schemes such as ‘clean air zones’. In responding to this you could highlight:

• What you need for a streetscape to be accessible

Support for disabled people to take part in politics

The Government recognises that disabled people are underrepresented in elected office and is proposing to carry out a review on what support is available for disabled candidates. You could highlight:

• What support you think should be in place to encourage more blind and partially sighted people to stand for election
• What should be done to make political participation more accessible, including your experience of voting

Increased disability inclusion in emergency planning

The Government is proposing to support increased disability inclusion in emergency planning and in resilience work, for example, emergencies include extreme weather events, power outages or outbreaks of disease. You could highlight:

• What you think needs to be taken into account in relation to emergency planning – you could consider your experience of the pandemic

What’s missing

In the final question of the consultation there’s an opportunity to raise what you think is missing in the Plan. Here you can share what the Government needs to be doing to improve the lives of blind and partially sighted people.

You could think about:

• The adequacy of the welfare system
• Financial inclusion and access to cash
• The cost of living

Send your consultation response

You can respond in a few ways:

You can submit your responses online on the Government website, or you can email [email protected].

If you would like to respond by post, please mark your correspondence ‘Disability Action Plan’ and send to:

Disability Action Plan team
Disability Unit
Cabinet Office
Ground Floor
10 Victoria Street
London
SW1H 0NB