How well is the UK doing to make the lives of disabled people better?

What the UK must do next to follow the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities

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This report is about the UK’s work on the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. This is a document that lots of countries have made about the human rights of disabled people. Human rights are rights that everyone has. Like the right to work, go to school and have a family. The UK has promised to do what this document says. This means the UK has to make sure that all disabled people get their human rights.

About this report

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A group of experts check how the UK and other countries are doing with this work. The group is called the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The group checked how the UK is doing with this work in August 2017. The group found many things that the UK should do to make life better for disabled people. This report tells you the main things that the group has asked the UK to work on. By UK we mean the UK Government and the governments of Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. The UK should work with disabled people to do the things in this report.

England Wales

Scotland

Northern Ireland

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What the UK needs to work on Making laws, rules and plans work well for disabled people The UK should: • make the document about the

rights of disabled people in the world part of UK law

The document is called the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities

• check all laws and rules for the UK to make sure they work well for disabled people and think about their human rights

• make a plan to solve any problems

that stop disabled people getting their human rights

• make sure disabled people can have a say in laws and rules that affect them.

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The UK should:

• make sure disabled people still get their human rights when the UK leaves the European Union The European Union is a group of countries that work on important things to do with Europe

• get much better information about

what life is like for disabled people

Use this information to make life better for disabled people.

Making sure disabled people are treated fairly The UK should: • make sure disabled people can get help

from the law if they are treated unfairly for more than one reason For example, a disabled woman may be treated unfairly because she is disabled and a woman.

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The UK should: • make all of the Equality Act 2010 law

happen. Not just some of it The Equality Act 2010 is a law about treating everyone fairly

• make sure Northern Ireland has better laws about treating disabled people equally.

Disabled women The UK should: • Make sure the rights of disabled women

and girls are part of UK plans about disability and about gender equality (being treated fairly whether you are a woman, a man or something else)

• Work with groups of disabled women

to do this.

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Disabled children The UK should: • stop so many families with

disabled children being poor • check how disabled children are doing

at school. And do more to stop them being bullied or treated badly.

Helping people think good things about disabled people The UK should do more to help people: • think good things about disabled people • see that they have the same rights

as everyone else.

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Making everything easy for disabled people to use The UK should make sure that: • everything is easy for disabled people

to use

For example, buildings, housing, information, books, phones, computers, the internet and transport

The UK should have better rules about this for people to follow

• organisations are doing what

they should to make things easy for disabled people And action is taken if organisations don’t follow the rules

• people who are deaf or find it hard

to hear can get support to communicate in sign language or other ways.

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Making voting and other things easy for disabled people to take part in The UK should make sure that: • it is easy for disabled people to do

things in the community, like vote, do sports and visit places of interest.

Keeping disabled people safe if big problems happen in the country This could be war, floods or other emergencies. The UK should have a plan to make sure that: • everyone gets the support they need

to cope and be safe in an emergency. This includes disabled people

For example, there should be easy information for disabled people about what to do in an emergency.

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Making choices

The UK should make sure that:

• disabled people can make theirown choices with support if they need it

This could be choices about whereto live or medical treatment they mayor may not want

• other people don’t make choicesfor disabled people

• the UK has better laws about this.

Help from the law (the police, courts and prisons)

The UK should make sure that:

• police, court and prison staff knowabout the rights of disabled peopleand ways to support them

• disabled people can get helpand advice about the law that is freeor easy to afford.

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Keeping disabled people safe from abuse and people treating them very badly The UK should make sure that: • disabled people cannot be kept

in hospitals and other places because of their disability if they don’t want to be

• disabled people in places like hospitals and prisons are safe and treated well For example, staff should not keep them on their own away from other people because of their disability

• more is done to stop people hurting

disabled children and adults. Or forcing them to do things they don’t want

• people who do very bad things to disabled people get in trouble with the law.

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Living in the community with everyone else The UK should make sure that: • disabled people get the right support

to live in the community with everyone else and make their own choices

• disabled people are not made to live in

homes for disabled people away from the community

• there is a good plan to move disabled people out of homes like this.

Family life The UK should make sure that: • disabled parents get the right support

to look after their children • people do not take children away from

disabled parents because of their disability.

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Education The UK should make sure that: • all disabled children can go to school

in their communities

• all disabled children can learn in the same classrooms as children who are not disabled

• there are laws and plans about how

to do this and when it will happen by • teachers, other staff and parents know

why education like this is important. Health • The UK should make sure that

disabled people get all the healthcare they need

This includes healthcare to do with sex and having children. And healthcare and support to save their lives if they need it.

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Work The UK should make sure that: • disabled people can work in a

decent job and get paid a fair wage • companies make changes

if they need to so that disabled people can work there For example, disabled people may need certain equipment or support to help them at work

• the rules for deciding if people are able to work are fair for disabled people.

Having enough money and other things to live on The UK should make sure that: • disabled people and their families

have enough money to live on

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The UK should make sure that: • the rules about benefits are fair

for disabled people

• disabled people can get the benefits they need. Like Personal Independence Payment (PIP)

• disabled people don’t have a worse life

because of changes to the benefits rules.

Disabled people across the world The UK should make sure that: • it thinks about what disabled people

need when it gives money to other countries to help with things like education

• disabled people have a say

in work that countries are doing to solve big problems in the world by 2030.

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Checking how the UK is doing

The UK should make sure that:

• groups that check what the UK is doingfor disabled people have enoughmoney to do their work

What next

The UK should:

• do what this report says and tell lots ofpeople about it

• work with groups of disabled peopleto do the work in this report

• write reports about how the UKis getting on with all this work

There should be a reportin the next year about making suredisabled people can live in thecommunity, work and have enoughmoney to live on

The next big report must be ready by 8 July 2023.

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