From rights to reality

19^th September marked a momentous day for disabled people in Wales when the Minister for Communities and Tackling Poverty Jeff Cuthbert AM launched the Framework for Action on Independent Living. The Framework launch followed several years of campaigning by Disability Wales and its members for a national strategic approach to delivering disabled people’s right to live independently in the community.

The landmark Framework aims to:

• set out a positive vision for disabled people in Wales in the challenging context of recession and the UK Government’s programme of welfare reform, combined with public expenditure cuts;
• challenge stereotypes and negative attitudes;
• bring together for the first time a strategic approach to disability in Wales bringing together issues that have previously been dealt with separately;
• set out what the Welsh Government is doing across portfolios to promote an inclusive and enabling society; and
• highlight the key roles of local delivery partners and stakeholders.

The Framework has several significant features of note in addressing disabled people’s opportunities in Wales. It is incorporated within Welsh Government’s Strategic Equality Plan as one of eight key objectives and is underpinned by the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Signalling that disability is an issue of rights and equality rather than charity and welfare, the Framework further reinforces this message by giving practical effect to the Social Model of Disability. Consequently it focusses on removal of the attitudinal, environmental and institutional barriers within society that serve to disable people far more than their impairment.

Unlike previous strategies, the Framework is pan impairment being applicable to people with physical and sensory impairments, learning difficulties and mental health conditions. It is also cross cutting encompassing access to information, advice and advocacy, personalised support, housing, transport, employment and person centred technology.

Hailed as a model of co-production it centres on the priorities identified by DW members in our Manifesto for Independent Living launched ahead of the 2011 Assembly Elections. The development of the Framework was co-facilitated by Welsh Government and Disability Wales with extensive engagement across Wales with national disability charities, disabled people’s organisations, disabled individuals, and partners in local government and the NHS.

In keeping with the call of ‘nothing about us without us’: it emphasises the central role of Disabled People’s Organisations in working collaboratively with public sector bodies in implementing the Framework. Organisations run and controlled by disabled people provide expertise on both the lived experience of impairment and disability and in identifying solutions to barrier removal. They also have a vital role in empowering disabled people in their area through campaigning, peer support and advocacy.

From Aberaeron to Wrexham and Butetown to Bangor the Framework for Action on Independent Living sets down what is required for disabled people to access support and services not only to live independently in the community but to fully contribute to shaping Wales as a diverse and inclusive society fit for the twenty-first century.

Rhian Davies is Chief Executive, Disability Wales

Links to PDF, Word, Easy Read and Youth-Friendly Versions of the document in

English http://wales.gov.uk/topics/equality/rightsequality/disability/framework-for-action/?lang=en

and Welsh http://wales.gov.uk/topics/equality/rightsequality/disability/framework-for-action/?skip=1&lang=cy