Nine Out Of Ten People Feel Disabled People Are Treated Badly

A press release I have just received:

New research revealed yesterday by charity Papworth Trust has found that almost 9 out of 10 feel disabled people are treated badly.

1 in 7 believed that disabled people are labelled “benefit scroungers” and 12% said they felt like second or lower class citizens.

The survey was based on a sample of over 750 people, most of whom were disabled. It also found that those questioned often felt marginalised by the actions of politicians and the media. 82% of people surveyed said politicians did not treat disabled people fairly, while 68% levied the same criticism at newspapers.

Many disabled people said that after years of seeing improvements in attitudes to disability, they had recently noticed a backlash. “For most of my life things have been improving for us disabled. However in the past couple of years it feels like the clock is being turned backwards, and quickly,” said one participant.

Papworth Trust Director of Marketing David Martin says, “While progress has been made in legislation, disabled people have told us that they need further changes in day-to-day attitudes. We spoke to people with the same hopes and dreams for the future as anyone else; young people planning careers, people hoping for relationships and people wanting the best for their children in the future. We urge the Government to consider the recommendations that have come out of this research.”

The survey was carried out by Papworth Trust as part of its response to a Government consultation to inform their disability strategy. The charity concluded that there are 2 easy changes which could be made to improve attitudes towards disabled people:

1.    A Government-led national review of Government and media language to highlight the damage done by pejorative language and negative stereotyping. This should lead to stricter and better enforced codes of conduct associated with the misleading use of language and statistics, with harsher penalties for inaccurate coverage (some people even suggested laws banning suggested links between disabilities and “scrounging”).

2.    More education and awareness raising campaigns directed at schools, professionals and the public about disability. This would include a review of the effectiveness of current awareness-raising programmes about disability where they exist and assess where gaps could be filled.