One in five people in the UK has a disability and a third of all people living in poverty have a disabled person in their household. “Disability and poverty” is therefore a mainstream issue affecting everyone and not a matter simply to be confined to the margins of society. Nonetheless, the impacts of austerity in the UK and Europe have more damaging effects on the disabled community than on mainstream society. Disability Rights UK have published a report which tackles big questions such as:
- Is austerity necessary?
- Is it inevitable that disabled people are adversely affected?
- How can disabled people be supported to reduce the costs of aids and adaptations or goods and services sold to them?
The paper also asks whether disabled people can form communities rather than act as individuals in order to have real political leverage and be able to exercise their consumer power to drive down the costs of goods and services. Read ‘Affordable Papers’.
