Last month’s independence referendum made many people think about what kind of Scotland they want. Inclusion Scotland – a consortium of organisations of disabled people and disabled individuals – took the opportunity to highlight the issues faced by the disabled community. Dubbed the ‘Disabled People’s Organisation’, Inclusion Scotland has set out its Vision for an Inclusive Scotland by calling upon the experience and knowledge of its members.
Members were asked what they felt were the most important things the Scottish or UK governments could change to improve their lives. Areas which came under the spotlight include politics, public attitudes, education, employment, social care and housing.
Strategy For Inclusion
The resulting report calls for a ‘Strategy for Inclusion’ to be drawn up together by the Scottish Government and disabled people with the aim of achieving effective coordination between policy areas. Suggestions put forward for achieving this includes cooperation between national and local government as well as greater coordination of policies across Scottish Government.
Politics
In politics, the members expressed that disabled people feel under-represented and this needs to change. Currently, only two out of 129 Members of the Scottish Parliament self-identify as disabled even though disabled people make up one in five of the Scottish population. The ‘Strategy For Inclusion’ encourages increased communication and engagement with disabled people by politicians and aims to help give them better representation.
Education
In education, the findings also show that disabled people want greater effort to be made to integrate disabled children into mainstream schools where both disabled and non-disabled children can benefit from learning to live with one another. Better support to help disabled people make the transition from school to employment is also called for.
Housing
Another interesting area which the report covers is housing. The members of Inclusion Scotland suggest that all new homes should be built as ‘Homes For Life’. The idea is that if all new homes are built to cater for disabled and older people from the start, the need for costly adaptations later will be greatly reduced. This would not only benefit the disabled community, but also the country’s ageing population.
If you would like to read the full Vision for an Inclusive Scotland, you can do so by clicking here.
You can also find out more about Inclusion Scotland by visiting its website at http://www.inclusionscotland.org/.
