"This is the Disability Rights Commission's microsite, focusing on our policy and parliamentary activities and news about the Commission. It is particularly addressed at MPs and peers, researchers, civil servants and public bodies who might be interested in our activities or indeed their own duties as employers or service providers.
This site tells you about the Disability Rights Commission (DRC) - what we want to achieve and what services we can offer.
There are around 10 million disabled people in Great Britain - nearly one fifth of the population. Around 6.5 million disabled people are of working age and there is an average of 15,000 disabled voters in each parliamentary constituency. By the time you add families and friends to that number, disability and the barriers disabled people face become major issues in many people's lives.
Unfortunately, despite some progress, disabled people as a group remain among the poorest in society. Their opportunities in every sphere of life continue to be limited by physical and communication barriers. Their everyday experiences are too often still affected by prejudice or simply ignorance.
The DRC aims to help all sectors of society to overcome ignorance of disabled people's needs and to dismantle barriers to disabled people's enjoyment of their rights. Our vision is of a society where all disabled people can participate fully as equal citizens. Such a society will be a better one for us all.
We look forward to working with parliamentarians and others to achieve this vision."
Bert Massie CBE, Chairman
DRC Position on Assisted Dying
The DRC believes that the legalisation of assisted dying would not be safe for disabled people at the current time and it is a much higher priority to legislate for rights to independent living and high quality health and social care "including palliative care" free of discrimination. The DRC believes assisted dying could create an additional and discriminatory pressure on some disabled people to choose death in a society where they are made to feel inferior and a burden on relatives, carers and public resources, where there is a lack of social support and appropriate health services to aid dignity and independence and often a lack of palliative care. Given such significant reservations the DRC cannot support legalising assisted dying at this point in history.
DRC Briefing on Disabled Children and Education
The DRC is fully engaged in the current debate around disabled children/young people and education. The following detailed briefing was prepared for the recent parliamentary debates on the issue.
Parliamentary Bulletin
The DRC Parliamentary Bulletin summer 2005 edition has just been delivered to MPs and Peers. It contains information on our position on the Equality Bill, Incapacity Benefit and Welfare Reform, the DRC Disability Debate, and DRC party political conference activities for 2005.
