Meeting of the Parliament 05 December 2023
I am pleased to contribute to today’s debate. The World Health Organization estimates that around 1.3 billion people worldwide—roughly one in six—have some form of disability. As we heard from my colleague Kevin Stewart, in Scotland, the figure is around one in four people. For too many disabled people, achieving their ambitions and dreams and fulfilling their promise are still denied to them, because of the barriers that society has put in their way. The barriers that disabled people face are not caused by disabled people or by their impairment; they are very often constructed by the prejudice, ignorance and thoughtlessness of others. Too often, unless we face those barriers ourselves, we do not notice that they are there or understand the impact that they can have.
The disability movement has had to fight for disabled people’s human rights over the years. Although society has progressed significantly over the decades, many fights are yet to be won, and there is a real risk that progress in some regards can slip into reverse. My speech will focus on the disproportionate impact that the Covid-19 pandemic, the cost of living crisis and the UK Government’s austerity have had and continue to have on disabled people’s human rights and equalities.
The inequalities that are experienced by disabled people are well documented. Disabled people are more likely to live in poverty. They have poorer ratings on personal wellbeing measures, are more susceptible to developing other health conditions and have less access to education and employment. The Department for Work and Pensions has estimated that, as of June, there were around 55,000 disabled people who are of working age in South Lanarkshire, which is the local authority for my Rutherglen constituency. Of that number, more than a third are not in employment, compared to a figure of 12 per cent among those without disabilities.
Scotland-wide, 81 per cent of working-age adults without disabilities had jobs in 2021, compared to just under 50 per cent of adults with disabilities. Scotland has a goal of reducing the disability employment gap by half between 2016 and 2038. Encouragingly, according to the Fraser of Allander Institute, the 2021 numbers show an improvement of 6 percentage points, but we can and must cut the gap further.
Members will be aware that, in the UK Government’s autumn statement last week, the chancellor unveiled deeply concerning changes to work capability assessments, which could mean that people receive less support based on a change of criteria rather than a change in their health. The Disability Benefits Consortium has called the plans a
“cynical attack on disability benefits”,
which will have
“a devastating impact on those on the lowest incomes”.
Instead of demonising unemployed disabled people, the UK Government should look at the real barriers that prevent disabled people from working.
Like many metrics, the disability employment gap widened during the Covid-19 pandemic. Covid shone a light on existing inequalities, exacerbated those inequalities for people with disabilities and exposed the vulnerability of some population groups to adverse shocks. Everyone was impacted by Covid lockdowns and the public health restrictions, but that impact was not felt equally. Many disabled people were at increased clinical risk from Covid, and many had reduced access to healthcare. Particularly for those who were shielding, many experienced starker social isolation and loneliness compared to non-disabled people. The services that they might have relied on either stopped or were altered.
I know from my own case work experience that many local services that were interrupted during Covid have not restarted or are not operating to the levels that they were before the pandemic. I put on record my appreciation for the many local groups, both formal and informal, that supported disabled people throughout Covid. From the Blantyre official coronavirus support Facebook page to Healthy n Happy and LEAP, our communities came together. However, because society has in many ways moved forward and onwards from the pandemic, with many avenues of support being wound down or withdrawn, disabled people and the wider population face a new challenge: the cost of living crisis. We are in the middle of the worst cost of living crisis for decades, and disabled people are among those who are being hit hardest.
Members might be aware of a report that was published in August this year by the Glasgow Centre for Population Health and the Glasgow Disability Alliance. The report lays bare how soaring costs for basic commodities have disproportionately affected people with disabilities. Focus group participants highlighted the cost of buying essential assistive equipment such as powered wheelchairs or talking microwaves and the need to use more electricity for charging or using such equipment, and wheelchair users noted that the increase in taxi costs meant that accessing supermarkets has become much more expensive.
The report was highly critical of the UK Government’s austerity policies, which the authors argued should be viewed alongside the impact of Covid and the cost of living crisis on disabled people. The report noted that, back in 2017, a UN committee reported that disabled people’s rights across the UK had regressed to the point of a “human catastrophe” and had been eroded through “grave and systematic violations” originating from UK austerity policies.
It is clear that, as a society, we have much more to do to protect and further the rights of disabled people. Although we do not have all the powers and levers in our hands to address all the unfairness that has been created, we must do more with the resources and powers that we have, whether that is with regard to the disability employment gap, the pronounced challenges that disabled people have experienced due to UK austerity, the pandemic and the cost of living crisis, or the wider health inequalities that they face.
With the UN’s international day of persons with disabilities taking place at the weekend, we should recommit ourselves to breaking down barriers, championing further disability equality and building a fairer Scotland for all.
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