Making life easier for disabled people

[sotired67]

The Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, Thérèse Coffey, announced the government's £1.6bn strategy to improve the lives of disabled people.

So far, the public response has been cynical: many would say that is to be expected, given the cuts across the board, and the negative impact it has had upon the health of disabled people.

A disabled Tory peer Lord Shinkwin described the plans as a "damp squib'',

while a number of disability campaigners called it "flimsy."

In addition to that, people are also saying that the plan lacks ambition, clear funding and falls short of providing “transformational change”.

I listened to the LBC presenter, Shelagh Fogerty earlier and she had a debate about it with a number of people: Mark Hodgkinson, CEO of the Disability Equality Charity Scope, a Labour MP and of course, calls from the general public.

On whole, the response to the strategy would almost certainly have left the minister in charge feeling deflated, however, given the heartbreaking links between her department and the suicides and other deaths of benefit claimants, one can presume that she expected anything less than a enthusiastic response.

How do you feel about it if you are disabled?

Would you agree, for example, that public transport (buses) are more accessible (in particular) to wheelchair users than they were prior to the start of the 21st century?

Depending on your age, you may, or maynot, be able to recall the Routemasters buses.

I do, and I also recall the lack of accessiblity to wheelchair users because of the standard design which catered on whole to the relatively healthy public.

Further to that, I recall the lack of space on buses for parents with prams prior to the formation of TFL on 3 July 2000 and the subsequent changes that were made to the oldstyle buses and trains.

Those changes, has made travel for wheelchair users possible than it was in the past century.

So, in my view, though there is room for improvement on all buses and trains,

overall, public transport (in particular) for disabled people is much better.

Please share your thoughts on this issue.

Thanks.

[Lili986]

I think accessibility has greatly improved over the years but it still needs to improve. It is usually an afterthought or after complaints.