Inequalities and challenges experienced by disabled people in Scotland: evidence review

Conclusion

This review has presented the current evidence from 2019 to August 2025 about disabled people’s experiences in Scotland. This review presented demographic and intersectional information about the disabled population of Scotland. This Evidence Review found that disabled people experience inequalities in outcomes compared to people without disabilities and negative experiences across areas of Scottish society including labour market, poverty, health, accessing services, education, and within their communities (discrimination and crime).

This Evidence Review demonstrates that there are inconsistencies in the ways in which disability is understood and that despite a focus on the social model of disability in Scottish Government policy, much of the existing measurement standards and research landscape uses the medical model of disability.

According to the census there are more people reporting a disability in 2022 than there were in 2011. There are particularly higher rates in reported mental health conditions. Further, there are notably higher rates of disability for those with intersecting characteristics including trans people and those in Gypsy/ Traveller communities. Findings in this review suggest that intersectional characteristics such as ethnicity, gender, trans status and sexual orientation can lead to disabled people experiencing compounded inequality. However, very little evidence about disabled people from minority ethnic groups in Scotland was identified for this review and it may be beneficial to carry out in depth research into the ways in which ethnicity and disability intersect in a Scottish specific context.

Disabled people face economic challenges which is tied to higher costs associated with disability. Poverty rates for disabled people are higher than those without disabilities and face challenges securing accessible housing. The benefits system can be challenging and does not always meet the needs of disabled people in Scotland. There are employment and pay gaps between people with and without disabilities which create compounding inequalities when compared to non-disabled people.

Finally, disabled people may face challenges accessing services and support and can experience discrimination as a result of their disability and other intersectional characteristics, such as age and ethnicity.

This Evidence Review also found some evidence gaps that would benefit from being addressed in future research and these specific gaps are mentioned throughout the review.

The following recommendations are based on the conclusions made throughout the report, which have been summarised into broad focuses:

• Although in some cases experiences of specific disabilities have been highlighted, this evidence reviews focused largely on aggregated experiences of ‘disability’. A deeper exploration of how the experiences discussed in this evidence review differ across different types of disability is required to understand where challenges are the most pressing and tailored approaches are required for inclusive policymaking.
• It is important that future research on disabled people investigates the ways in which experiences of inequality can impact disabled people with intersecting characteristics, for example ethnicity and disability, across intersecting policy areas in Scotland to effectively inform service design and policy provision.
• Finally, this report was able to find a large body of evidence to understand inequalities (where comparable) and challenges that disabled people face. Therefore, better use of existing data and creation of new evidence about disabled people should be used in future policymaking to progress towards the overall vision of the Disability Equality Plan.

Future work being carried out in the Scottish Government may also aid in understanding more about inequalities experienced by disabled people in Scotland. For example, the Strategy for Transitions for Disabled Children and Disabled Students will be taken forward from 2025^[170]. This report provides an evidence base to inform this and other future policy as well as an opportunity to collaborate with Disabled People’s Organisations to improve inequalities and challenges for disabled people in Scotland.

Next Steps

Our Disability Equality Plan represents the first phase of activity to improve the lives of disabled people, with a focus on laying the foundations for future work through a strong focus on collective leadership, accountability and disability competence.

As the Scottish Government moves through delivery of this Plan, and works towards developing the next phase of a longer-term approach to address systemic inequalities and barriers for disabled people, the evidence review will be central to our work. This report provides an evidence base to inform future policy and collaborate with DPOS in order to improve inequalities and challenges for disabled people in Scotland.

We will work with DPOs to co-design research to fill priority gaps, working within available budget and other resource constraints. Drawing on this evidence, a monitoring and evaluation framework will set out the key indicators that will be used to measure progress and the impact of our actions.