A Fairer Scotland for Disabled People: easy read summary version

A Fairer Scotland for Disabled People - Easy Read: Summary

The Scottish Government has worked with disabled people and organisations to find out what needs to be done to remove the barriers that exclude disabled people from living as independent a life as they can.

This is a summary of the plan the Scottish Government has made for the next 5 years.

A summary is a list of the main points.

The full plan has over 90 actions. This summary includes the most important ones.

The plan has 5 key aims

The Scottish Government call this Our 5 Ambitions.

Our Ambition 1

Support services that meet disabled people's needs and promote independent living

Health and social care support services are designed to meet the individual needs of disabled people.

The Scottish Government will work with disabled people and local authorities to reform adult social care.

The Scottish Government will work with disabled people and carers to develop a set of outcomes for social care support in Scotland.

The Scottish Government will look at care packages being the same over time when a disabled person moves from one local authority area to another.

The Scottish Government will introduce an Independent Living Fund scheme to new people.

The Scottish Government will bring in The Carers Act on 1 April 2018. This will mean better support for disabled people and carers.

The Scottish Government will spend £150million on better mental health services over the next 5 years. The Scottish Government will also introduce a Mental Health Strategy for the next 10 years.

The Scottish Government will consider if people with learning difficulties or autism should be covered by existing legislation for Mental Health.

The Scottish Government will look at the policy on guardianship and think of how to raise awareness of supported decision making.

The Scottish Government will think of the next priorities to the Scottish Strategy for Autism and the Keys to Life Learning Disability Strategy.

The Scottish Government will look at how young disabled people can get the best services and support available to them. This will be called the National Framework for Families with Disabled Children and Young People.

Our Ambition 2

Decent incomes and fairer working lives

Making sure disabled people have enough money to participate in whatever they want to do in life.

The Scottish Government will reduce the barriers to employment for disabled people. The Scottish Government will also look at reducing the employment gap between disabled people and people of working age.

The Scottish Government will set targets to increase the number of disabled people employed in workplaces in the public sector

The Scottish Government will introduce a work experience scheme for young disabled people to help them adjust when they find a permanent job.

The Scottish Government will look at how to promote the Project SEARCH model. This will help young people with learning disabilities and autism find a job.

The Scottish Government will work with the Department of Work and Pensions to promote the Access to Work scheme to employers and disabled people

The Scottish Government will introduce employability programmes to help disabled people into a job.

The Scottish Government will support disabled young people through a scheme called Young Employment Strategy. Developing Young Workforce.

The Scottish Government will remove the barriers to disabled people getting into a Modern Apprenticeship.

The Scottish Government will give young disabled people the highest level of funding for their chosen Modern Apprenticeship. The funding will last until they are 30 years old.

During 2017 to 2021 the Scottish Government will deliver a disability internship programme for 120 jobs in the third sector or the public sector or in politics.

The Scottish Government will publish a ten year Social Enterprise Strategy. The plan will look at how disabled people can set up their own businesses.

The Scottish Government will give funding that will help disabled people do voluntary work.

In 2017 the Scottish Government will hold a meeting with employers, Scottish Trade Unions and disabled people's organisations on Disability and Employment and the Workplace.

The Scottish Government will introduce a new Social Security system where people will be treated with dignity and respect.

The Scottish Government will make sure information on benefits will be available in accessible formats so that disabled people are not discriminated against because of communication barriers.

The Scottish Government will make sure no one is charged the bedroom tax in Scotland.

The Scottish Government will extend Winter fuel payments to include families with severely disabled children by 2020.

The Scottish Government will raise the Carer's Allowance payment. The Scottish Government will also increase the Carer's Allowance for people looking after more than one disabled child.

Our Ambition 3

Places that are accessible to everyone

Including housing and transport.

The Scottish Government will work with councils to make sure that their housing plan includes wheelchair accessible housing.

The Scottish Government will set timescales for housing and care providers to install housing adaptations.

The Scottish Government has developed an accessible travel plan. This is called the Accessible Travel Framework.

The plan sets out rules to improve travel accessibility for disabled people.

The Scottish Government will develop an Accessible Travel Hub.

The Scottish Government will develop disability awareness training for people who work on public transport.

The Scottish Government will introduce rules for the standard of service disabled people should get if their travel on public transport goes wrong.

The Scottish Government will improve bus layouts to make them more accessible.

The Scottish Government will consult and introduce new rules on parking spaces for disabled people

The Scottish Government will improve physical and online access to historic sites and museums.

The Scottish Government want to improve disabled peoples' participation in sport and physical activity. They will talk with disabled people and create a plan of action.

Rural and Island Communities

The Scottish Government know that disabled people who live in rural areas face more barriers than disabled people who live in towns and cities.

The Scottish Government will work with rural and island communities to identify anything in this Plan that might not suit their communities.

The Scottish Government will deliver a workshop with local groups to look for new ideas on removing barriers for disabled people.

Our Ambition 4

Protected rights

Disabled persons' rights are protected and they receive fair treatment from the justice system.

The Scottish Government will ban fees for employment tribunals once they have full control over this service from the UK Government.

The Scottish Government will work with disabled people and organisations and Police Scotland to encourage people to report hate crimes.

The Scottish Government will look at how the legal aid system affects disabled people and if changes should be made to it.

The Scottish Government will make sure that Justice organisations like the Police and Courts make information available in accessible formats.

The Scottish Government will carry out access site audits on criminal justice buildings. A criminal justice building would be a court or a police station or a prison.

The Scottish Government will support professional people who understand disability discrimination law in Scotland.

The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service will work with disabled people and organisations on fire prevention.

Our Ambition 5

Active participation

Disabled people can take part in daily and public life in Scotland.

The Scottish Government want more disabled people to become elected in councils and Scottish and UK parliaments. The Scottish Government will keep funding the Access to Elected Office Fund to help with the costs for disabled people to stand in the Scottish Parliamentary election in 2021.

The Scottish Government will look into how disability affects different people.

The Scottish Government will make a plan to deal with social isolation and loneliness of disabled people.

The Scottish Government will promote the Inclusive Communication hub to the public sector so that they know the best ways to communicate with all disabled people.

In October 2017 the Scottish Government will introduce a National Action Plan on British Sign Language. The plan will improve access and information for British Sign Language users.

The Scottish Government will raise public awareness on the barriers disabled people face. The campaign will be called One Scotland Campaign.

The Scottish Government will work to make sure disabled people are members of boards for public meetings and committees.

How does the Scottish Government know their aims are being met?

The Scottish Government will also do the following to check on the progress of the plan.

• Start disabled people's panels in 2017. This will be a group of people to talk about each aim.

• In 2018 there will be a survey of disabled people. This will be to ask people what the impact of their aims are.

• Every year the Scottish Government will hold an Annual Disability Summit. This will be to check on the progress of the plan.

• In 2020 the Scottish Government will hold a Major Disability Summit. They will think about what to do after this plan of action has ended.

• A report will be submitted to the Scottish Parliament before the election in 2021. This will be to look at what work needs to be done following the election in 2021.

Work Already Done

This is a list of the work that has already been done in removing barriers for disabled people.

• The Disability Discrimination Act is 20 years old.

• The United Kingdom adopted the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Disabled People 10 years ago.

• This plan recognises that human rights of disabled people must be the basis for a lot of policy and legislation that affects disabled people.

• This plan will connect with other work being done by other Scottish Government departments on removing barriers for disabled people.

• The Scottish Government know that these aims are over a long period of time. The Scottish Government will continue to work with disabled people to make sure their voices are listened to.