by Kevin Shinkwin and George Relph
Demos, in association with Conservative Peer Lord Shinkwin, is launching a discussion paper reflecting on the experiences of disabled graduates in the UK, as we approach the 25th anniversary of the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA).
Despite the progress that has been made, there are many barriers, including using public transport and finding accessible housing, that prevent disabled graduates from equally participating in the workforce.
In order to level the playing field for disabled graduates, Able to Excel – written by Kevin Shinkwin and George Relph – calls for improvement for disabled people in the following areas; Accessible housing, accessible transport, transparency reporting, equal access to goods and services and a strategic and accountable oversight body.
To this end, Able to Excel makes innovative policy recommendations, including:
- Implement a consistent and transparent reporting framework for indicators on disability equality practices, including indicators on both process (the practices), and the outcomes (disability employment at differing level and pay), especially as they relate to talented, young, disabled graduates.
- Commit to Increasing the minimum standard of accessibility to Category 2, and adopt the ratio of Category 2 and Category 3 housing to be built from the Draft New London Plan, by 2022.
- Ensure that all transport infrastructure developments, particularly rail and parking, are designed, built and upgraded in consultation with Disabled People’s Organisations and with the standards of fully-independent travel in mind.
- Establish a body within the Cabinet Office with responsibility for designing and delivering a programme to create the right conditions to enable talented, young, disabled graduates to realise their potential and reach the top of their professions.
Read the discussion paper here.
The full contributions are available here(PDF/doc).
A plain format word document of the report is available here.
The full video interviews with contributors Sophie Christiansen, Dr Hannah Barham-Brown and James Lee, will also be available here soon.