Crippen Cartoons cartoons at the cutting edge of disability

The launch of The UK Disability Strategy Survey has brought mixed reaction from fellow Crips and our groups and organisations (DPOs).

It is so obviously created by those faceless bureaucrats who have no real understanding of disability and who hide away in the Cabinet office’s Disability Unit. In fact, the only parts that seem to provide any real opportunity for us to have our say is at the very end of the survey – questions 111 to 113.

If we focus on these last three questions, the Survey actually provides a unique opportunity for us to try and hold the Government to account for the erosion of our rights and living standards over the last decade.  It also provides us with the opportunity to suggest ways that this government can implement the United Nations Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities (UNCRPD).

Once again, our friends at The Alliance for Inclusive Education (ALLFIE) have come through and have provided some ideas on the sort of issues we should be addressing when answering these three questions.

The issues include addressing matters as diverse as demanding a fully inclusive education system within mainstream settings; tackling disability structural racism, intersectional inequality and discrimination; making Independent Living once again a reality, including creating a legal right to independent living and setting up a National Independent Living Support service; the de-institutionalisation and the closure of residential institutions and hospitals for Disabled children and adults and a radical reform of mental health and mental capacity laws, to name but a few.

You can read ALLFIES’ detailed list of suggested responses to the survey by clicking here.

More information about the UK Disability Strategy Survey, including accessible formats

Complete the UK Disability Survey

Description of cartoon for those using screen reading software

Two young disabled women are holding up three pieces of paper with question 111 on the first piece, question 112 on the second, and question 113 printed on the third. At their feet is another piece of paper with ‘UK Disability Strategy Survey’ printed on it. One of the women, of African heritage is saying to her companion: “Looks like the disability unit have cocked up this time – giving us some questions we can not only answer but can use!”