National Performance Framework - disability perspective: analysis

Introduction

In July 2019, Scottish Government published a report comparing the experiences and outcomes of disabled and non-disabled people in Scotland using National Performance Framework indicators. This report aims to update those indicators with new data, where available, as well as providing some commentary on how COVID-19 has affected disabled people. The Scottish Government is in the early stages of collecting data on this issue, but data from the third sector is helpful at revealing some of the impacts COVID-19 is having, and has had, on Scottish disabled people's lives.

Additional indicators have been included in order to help describe some key aspects of performance for disabled people, but where data might not quite fit an indicator because, for example, it measures the whole of the UK rather than only Scotland. In addition, data on the impacts of COVID-19 on disabled people have been included with the additional indictors.

The 'A Fairer Scotland for Disabled People – action plan'^[5] published in 2016 was shaped by the experiences and insights of disabled people and the organisations that represent them. It was built around five longer-term ambitions:

• Support services that meet people's needs
• Decent incomes and fairer working lives
• Places that are accessible to everyone
• Protected rights
• Active participation

This report should be considered alongside the 'A Fairer Scotland for Disabled People' progress report as providing evidence on the impact the action plan has had, and drawing attention to potential areas of focus for future action. In order to aid this process, where possible updated data is provided as a part of a time series allowing for comparison over time.

Definitions of Disability

The Social Model of Disability

This report adopts the social model of disability, which was developed by disabled people: activists who started the 'Independent Living Movement'. Unlike the medical model, where an individual is understood to be disabled by their impairment, the social model views disability as the relationship between the individual and society. In other words, it sees the barriers created by society, such as negative attitudes towards disabled people, and inaccessible buildings, transport and communication, as the cause of disadvantage and exclusion, rather than the impairment itself. The aim, then, is to remove the barriers that isolate, exclude and so disable the individual. However, as the social model is seldom used in the context of survey-based data collection, statistics using this definition are limited.

Where possible disability has been defined using Equality Act 2010 harmonised guidance^[6], which defines someone as being disabled if they have a longstanding condition (lasting or expecting to last for 12 months or more) which reduces\limits their ability to carry-out-day-to-day activities. However, not all indicator data is available in this form, and some surveys/publications use different definitions for disability (i.e. only longstanding conditions).