Disabled People’s Organisations (DPOs) and the Scottish Human Rights Commission are warning the United Nations (UN) disabled people in Scotland are experiencing ‘unrelenting attacks on their human rights’.

Despite Scottish government commitments to fully realise human rights, the coalition says the situation is yet to improve for disabled people.

In two parallel reports submitted to the UN, the group says worsening poverty rates, the cost-of-living crisis and cuts to social care support means conditions faced by many disabled people across Scotland are worsening.

The reports come just days after research led by the Glasgow Centre for Population Health (GCPH) and Glasgow Disability Alliance (GDA) revealed the ‘devasting impact’ of the cost-of-living crisis on disabled people.

Almost half of all people in poverty are those living in a household with at least one disabled member.

The Scottish Human Rights Commission will fly to Geneva later this month to deliver recommendations on how Scotland can do more to protect disabled people’s human rights.

Jan Savage, Executive Director of the Commission, says there is an urgent need to address the barriers faced by disabled people and the cumulative impact of these:

“The Scottish government has not done enough to ensure disabled people’s human rights are fully realised and we are pushing for protection of disabled people’s rights to employment, independent living and an adequate standard of living.”

In a report prepared by the Scottish Human Rights Commission alongside other UK human rights organisations, the Scottish government is urged to meaningfully engage disabled people and DPOs in policy development.

Designed to support the UN to review progress toward rights for disabled people in the UK, the report also calls for the Scottish government to end long term hospital detention of people who have a learning disability and/or autism.

Earlier this month, doctors have urged the Scottish government to ensure the care sector is supported and sustained ahead of rising hospital demands this winter.

Independent living – stark choices

In the second report to the UN, the Scottish Independent Living Coalition (SILC) of Disabled People’s organisations says poor support amidst the cost-of-living crisis is forcing some disabled people to make ‘stark choices’.

In some cases, the increasing costs of using medical equipment and essential assistive technology means disabled people are choosing between eating or breathing.

Echoing the concerns of the GCPH and GDA, the report says the government and local authorities is still failing to take into account the barriers that face disabled people in policy development.

SILC highlights a need for better understanding of the cumulative, interrelated barriers facing disabled people and the impact of these in Scottish policy and practice.

However, the report also highlights that within its devolved powers, Scotland is delivering two of three new benefits for disabled people despite pandemic delays.

It also acknowledges Scottish government’s introduction of some short-term mitigation measures in response to COVID-19 and the cost-of-living crisis.

While recognising that Social Security Scotland tries to take a ‘human-rights based approach’, SILC says this rhetoric must translate into action, highlighting increasing processing times and the mobility component of the Adult Disability Payment.

Following the closure of the UK-wide Independent Living Fund (ILF), Scotland established its own to mitigate the UK government’s austerity measure and safeguard disabled people’s right to live independently.

Currently the fund supports just under 1,000 disabled people with high support needs to choose to live in their communities.

Yet, it has been closed to new applicants since 2015, and SILC is again recommending that the Scottish government re-open the ILF, especially in the face of the cost-of-living crisis, adding that this would provide ‘welcome and early progress’ ahead of the longer-term development of the National Care Service (NCS).

Moreover, SILC calls for progress on the NCS ‘without delay’ and inclusion of disabled people at the centre of NCS discussions.

The coalition also highlight that cuts to social care support during the pandemic were ‘devasting’ for disabled people in Scotland – and are still being felt three years on.

The report details that not everyone’s social care package has returned to pre-pandemic levels and that 6 in 10 people who died with COVID-19 in Scotland were disabled.

Dr Jim Elder-Woodward, Independent Chair of the SILC, says the situation faced by disabled people now is, in many respects, worse than seven years ago:

“The current cost-of-living crisis, in which the price of goods and services outpace the rise of income, comes after a decade of devastating cuts in public services, which support disabled people in the community.

“Our place in society has been further jeopardised by a pandemic response, which did not prioritise our human rights, and an approach to economic recovery that does not value us.”

The report adds that social isolation continues to be an issue for disabled and vulnerable people, who report feeling left behind as COVID protections were lifted.

These warnings and calls for change come as the UN Committee on the Rights of Disabled People begins its review of progress across the UK on the recommendations from its 2016 austerity inquiry.

That inquiry found that the UK was responsible for “grave or systemic violations” of disabled people’s rights. 

Dr Jim Elder-Woodward says the review serves a “timely reminder of the stark inequalities” still experienced by disabled people across Scotland today:

“The Scottish Independent Living Coalition (SILC) acknowledges the Scottish government's commitment to realising human rights, but maintains that this is not the reality for disabled people on today’s day-to-day basis.

“We urge the UK and Scottish governments to move from rhetoric to action, by working with disabled people and their directly accountable organisations to address, fully, the Committee's recommendations and make rights a reality.”

Read more: Voices of disabled key to policy development; Cost-of-living ‘catastrophic' for disabled people; New Disabled Children and Young People Transition Bill; Scotland prioritises neuro-inclusion, says government

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