John Pring, who runs the Disability News Service, publishes his weekly news round-up of the happenings in the disability world the past week.
• Disabled activists have reacted with astonishment after the government claimed in a new action plan that its sweeping welfare reforms and cuts to disability benefits would help in the fight against disability hate crime.
• Fresh concerns have been raised about the government’s work capability tests after new figures showed a huge increase in the number of disabled claimants of incapacity benefit being reassessed as “fit for work”.
• Concerns have been raised about the Metropolitan police’s reluctance to seek advice from its disabled advisers, following a high court case which led to a teenager with autism winning nearly £30,000 in damages.
• London’s mayor could be breaching his Equality Act duties by refusing to trial an accessible version of his cycle hire scheme, it has been claimed.
• A user-led advice service that has lost its council funding fears similar cuts could have serious financial consequences for disabled people in other parts of the country.
• The government has refused to say whether it will withdraw funding for sheltered businesses across the country, following last week’s decision to force the closure of at least two-thirds of the remaining 54 Remploy factories.
• A disabled MP has backed the government’s decision to withdraw funding from the remaining sheltered factories run by Remploy.
• Disabled activists have again been forced to warn of the “catastrophic” consequences of a weakening in the laws on euthanasia and assisted suicide, after the latest “right to die” high court ruling.
• A disabled peer has spearheaded the latest defeat of the government over its plans to reform the legal aid system and cut £350 million from its budget.
For links to the full stories, please visit Disability News Service.
Disability News Service (DNS) is run by John Pring, an experienced journalist who has been reporting on disability issues for more than 15 years.
