A radio documentary to be aired this Sunday morning will examine how attitudes and opportunities for people with disabilities have changed over the past 40 years through the eyes of one Scottish journalist.

Journalist Michael McEwan celebrated his 40th birthday this year and wanted to find out how much Scotland has moved forward as a society for people with a disability since 1983.

The programme, ‘Disability with Attitude’, will air on 3rd December at 7:30am to coincide with UN International Day of Persons with Disabilities.

Michael interviews his parents about their experiences of raising a child with Cerebral Palsy and catches up with friend Martin Dougan, now a fellow BBC journalist, to share memories of the school they both attended: Ashcraig in Glasgow.

Also interviewed for the programme are Catherine Graham, Head of Inclusion of Glasgow City Council about the steps that had been taken to make education more inclusive for pupils with disabilities by the 1990s.

Last month, the Scottish government announced extra funding for The Yard, a charity supporting disabled young people after calls for fairer funding deals for children’s charities.

Meanwhile, Holyrood’s Education, Children and Young People’s Committee has failed to back a Bill aiming to support disabled young people’s transitions into adulthood.

Now, this new documentary will hear from Lyn Pornaro, chief executive of Disability Equality Scotland who assesses the impact that the introduction of the Disability Discrimination Act in 1995 had on people living with a disability.

“Making this documentary was so important for me,” says Michael. “I wanted to look back at where we have come from in the last 40 year until now and see what has changes, not least in terms of attitudes.

“Yes, progress has make made but we still have got a lot way to go – for example in getting more people with a disability into employment.”

While this documentary looks across four decades since Michael was born, it comes just a few weeks after Scottish parliament launched an investigation into the success of Self-Directed Support 10 years since its introduction.

Disability with Attitude will be broadcast on BBC Radio Scotland on Sunday morning and will also be available soon after on BBC Sounds.

 

Articles by Michael McEwan: Bike maintenance for mental health; Column: Carers know best, so please listen to them; Column: New year, same fight for disabled rights

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