Assisted Dying Bill: Disability Equality Scotland Statement A bill to legalise assisted dying in Scotland has passed an initial vote by MSPs at Holyrood. This decision has caused a lot of worry for disabled people across Scotland. This does not mean the bill will become law. But it does mean Parliament will now look at it more closely and examine it in greater detail. In preparation for the Stage ...

Members Consultation: UK Government PIP and Universal Credit Changes The UK Government have recently announced a consultation about changes to Personal Independence Payment and Universal Credit. We know that these plans from the Government have caused considerable worry and concern for our members. In Scotland, Disabled People receive Adult Disability Payment instead of PIP. If the UK Government c...

Exciting News for Global Accessibility Awareness Day! Today is Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD). It’s a day to highlight the importance of digital inclusion. At Disability Equality Scotland, accessibility is central to everything we do. We’re thrilled to celebrate GAAD with some fantastic news. Disability Equality Scotland has won the HeX Productions Accessible Website Competition! HeX Pr...

We Are Hiring! Join us at Disability Equality Scotland to fill two exciting part-time roles: Easy Read Creator Make information more accessible by translating content into Easy Read format using plain language, clear layouts, and supportive images. Closing date: 16 May 2025 Training and Development Worker Help deliver and grow our training courses, including Easy Read, and support the team with tr...

Quarterly Research Review: Spring 2025 At Disability Equality Scotland, we regularly consult our members and the wider disability community to make sure their voices are heard on the issues that matter most. Our Spring 2025 Research Review brings together insights from our recent consultations. This includes: Common Chargers Big Cost of Living Survey Disability Hate Crime Disabled People’s Taxi Us...

Fact Sheet: Disability Hate Crime In summer 2024 we carried out a member’s question on hate crime and its impact on disabled people, given the Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act had taken effect earlier within the year. As a year has now passed, we wanted to learn if anything had changed, in particular people’s understanding of what hate crime is and how it affects disabled people. D...

Fact Sheet: Thistle Assistance We were asked by our colleagues at Transport Scotland to conduct a survey on disabled peoples knowledge of and experiences when using Thistle Assistance. Our survey was developed in conjunction with SESTrans who are the administrators of the Thistle Assistance scheme. You can read the results here: Fact Sheet: Thistle Assistance (Word document)

Welcome to the New Accessible Travel Hub Today is an exciting day! We’re happy to announce that the Accessible Travel Hub is now live! This website is designed to be your go-to resource for all things related to accessible travel. We’re thrilled to share it with you today! A resource created for you In November 2024, we held a feedback session with disabled people and transport providers to find o...

It is Really Not a Good Time to Be a Disabled Person in The United Kingdom – An Open Letter in Response to The Spring Statement 2025 (Social Security Changes) Following the announcement by the United Kingdom (UK) Government yesterday with regard to social security changes, our Chief Executive Officer – Lyn Pornaro – has today written an open letter to the Prime Minister expressing the significant ...

Fact Sheet: Taxi Use We were asked by Transport Scotland to undertake a survey of our members concerning disabled people’s use of taxi services. The aim of our survey was to find out: how disabled people travel; when they use a taxi; what their experience was like, including booking a taxi, accessibility of taxis and the affordability of taxis. We also wanted to find out how often people use a tax...