Disabled People’s Shadow Report to the UN CRPD Committee
The Reclaiming Our Futures Alliance has collected lived experience evidence from thousands of Disabled people to write this report, which documents how British Government policies since 2010 have created regression against nearly every article under the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD).
This report has been prepared by Reclaiming Our Futures Alliance (ROFA). ROFA is an alliance of Disabled people and 11 of our organisations (DPOs) in England who have joined together to defend Disabled people’s rights and campaign for an inclusive society. ROFA represents 11 organisations which have a combined membership of over 100,000 members and a reach, through social media, to over 500,000 Disabled people. We fight for equality for Disabled people in England and work with sister organisations across the UK in the tradition of the international disability movement. We base our work on the social model of disability, and human and civil rights in line with the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). We oppose the discriminatory and disproportionate attacks on our rights by past and current Governments. Alliance member organisations have been at the forefront of campaigning against austerity, welfare reform and inequality.
ROFA has collected lived experience evidence from thousands of Disabled people to write an English Shadow Report to the UK Government’s account to the UN. This evidence was collected by member groups, who consulted members, and an internet survey and case studies provided by individual Disabled people. Responses were received from over one thousand Disabled people consulted through these means. No support from the Government has been provided for the preparation of this report as the British Government disengaged from meaningful and resourced engagement with DPOs in England in 2012.
Disabled people in the UK have since 2010 experienced a continuous assault on our rights and living standards through a programme of austerity cuts impacting on every area of life. This has been both disproportionate and discriminatory, affecting Disabled people more than any other population group. In spite of opposition from DPOs, the Government has not had any meaningful consultation or co-production with DPOs. They have also refused to carry out meaningful individual or cumulative equality impact assessments on their measures and policies. This led ROFA members to report this serious and grave situation to the UN from 2012 onwards. In 2014 we requested that the UN carry out a formal investigation under the Optional Protocol of the CRPD. We also began the preparation of this report in 2014 but because of the delay in the inspection of the UK report caused by the inquiry we have updated this report again from our own resources in 2017.
This report documents how British Government policies since 2010 have created regression against nearly every CRPD article. ROFA welcomed the findings and recommendations of the UN inquiry and condemns the rejection of these by the Government. This demonstrates an arrogance which Disabled people in England have endured over the last 7 years.