Forum Brief: Disability consultation

The Disability Rights Commission has launched a three month consultation on determining the key issues that they should focus attention on over the next three years.

Forum Response: Disability Rights Commission

Bert Massie, chairman of the DRC, said: "It was an immense achievement when the Disability Rights Commission was formed to promote and defend disabled people's rights.

"Disabled people's experiences were the driving force behind our activities in the first three years and our success in meeting the challenges facing us in future years will depend on being connected to disabled people's aspirations, priorities and concerns."

Forum Response: The Guide Dogs for the Blind Association

Robin Hutchinson, head of communications at the Guide Dogs for the Blind Association, told ePolitix.com: "National policies and initiatives on disability must be shaped by the experiences, concerns and priorities of disabled people themselves and the DRC's consultation is pivotal in this.

"Preventing disabled people from enjoying their full civil rights still does not seem to be taken as seriously as tackling discrimination on grounds of sex or race and this initiative should help to redress that imbalance.

"The major areas of disabled people's lives on which the DRC has had a policy-shaping impact - transport, the built environment, health, education and employment - have made, or will make, huge improvements in quality of life but there are many other areas in which loopholes and omissions in legislation are undercutting civil rights.

"These often only come to light as a result of personal experiences and the DRC's consultation has the potential to bring these into the open and to subsequently get them addressed. We very much look forward to contributing our views."

Forum Response: The Disabilities Trust

Matt Townsend, spokesman for the Disabilities Trust, told ePolitix.com: "We welcome the DRC's decision to make a renewed push to involve people with a disability in the shaping of its future priorities, it is after all their Commission.

"This move is especially pertinent as it becomes ever more likely that as a result of the government's thinking a Single Equalities Body will be set up in the not too distant future.

"The DRC has played a crucial role in championing the rights and interests of disabled people since it was formed and we hope that armed with the views of Britain's disabled community, the Commission can ensure that there is no diminution of influence for disabled people within the new body."