Disability equality plan

1. What has changed?

We published A Fairer Scotland for Disabled People in 2016, which identified 5 key ambitions:

• Support services that promote independent living, meet needs, and work together to enable a life of choices, opportunities, and participation.
• Decent incomes and fairer working lives.
• Places that are accessible to everyone.
• Protected rights.
• Active participation.

The world has changed significantly since 2016. The global Covid-19 pandemic had a disproportionate impact on disabled people. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) reported that disabled people in the UK are more likely to die because of Covid-19. Between January and November 2020, disabled people accounted for 6 out of every 10 deaths involving Covid-19. Alongside the immediate threat, many support services had to be reduced as resources were diverted to managing the pandemic, and the services available to disabled people are now much diminished. This is having a significant detrimental impact on the mental and physical health of disabled people. The ONS has also found that the negative social impacts of the pandemic have been greater for disabled people. 46% of disabled people said the pandemic had a negative impact on their mental health. This compares with 29% for non-disabled people.

The cost-of-living crisis is also having an unequal impact on disabled people as they face extra expenses due to the high cost of specialist equipment and higher use of everyday essentials and energy, combined with an inadequate UK welfare system. Research by Scope found that in 2022/23 the additional amount of money a disabled household would need to have the same standard of living as a non-disabled household, (the Disability Price Tag), was £1,010 a month. Adjusting this figure for inflation over 2023/24, it rises to £1,067 extra a month.

Covid and the Cost of Living crisis have left many disabled people struggling and feeling that their lives have become more limited. As well as the direct negative impact on individuals, this has a wider impact on disabled people in general. When they participate less in communities and in public life, disabled people become much less visible and their needs fail to be considered when important decisions are made. Furthermore, an already stretched public sector is struggling to keep pace with the needs of Scotland’s increased disabled population. In some cases, disabled people report public sector service providers refusing to accept that people are struggling as much as they say they are.

It has become clear that a new approach is needed to respond to this considerably more challenging context. Our plan will enable us to refocus and identify what must now be done to support disabled people in Scotland. The Scottish Government is deeply committed to facilitating access to the rights set out in the UNCRPD, and this plan is intended to help address the barriers disabled people face in fully realising those rights.