The Disability Charities Consortium (DCC) has responded to the Government’s consultation on the draft Terms of Reference for the COVID-19 inquiry.
The DCC is a coalition of leading disability charities in the UK. Business Disability Forum co-chairs the consortium.
The pandemic has had – and continues to have – a disproportionate impact on disabled people. The DCC welcomes the inquiry, but wants to see specific reference made to the impact on disabled people and their carers.
Proposals to the Terms of Reference inquiry
In particular, the DCC has called for the inquiry to:
- Use the ‘social model’ of disability rather than the ‘medical model’. The ‘social model’ states that people are ‘disabled’ by the barriers operating in society that exclude and discriminate against them.
- Recognise and investigate both the short and long-term impacts of the pandemic and response on disabled people.
- Look at how the Government considered the impact of its decisions on disabled people, including the data used. Also, the steps the Government took to reduce the impact.
- Consider how decisions were communicated to the public, to healthcare and social care providers, and to employers and businesses. This has particular importance for many disabled people.
Read the DCC’s full consultation response to find out more about their proposals:
