Disabled People’s Rights Plan 2025 to 2035: Welsh language impact assessment
Welsh language impact assessment of our plan to improve the rights of disabled people living in Wales.
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Introduction
The Disabled People’s Rights Plan 2025 to 2035 demonstrates a strong commitment to supporting disabled people in Wales by promoting accessible communication and inclusive services. Through the strategy Cymraeg 2050 and the plan Mwy na geiriau / More than just words, the Welsh Government acknowledges the intersectionality of language and disability, emphasising the importance of effective communication across health and social care.
By aligning the priorities for the Welsh language with the All Wales Accessible Communication and Information Standards, the Government ensures that disabled Welsh speakers can access essential services without facing additional barriers. The Active Offer principle, which places the responsibility on providers to offer services in Welsh, further removes obstacles for disabled individuals, allowing them to use their language confidently and comfortably.
The Welsh Government’s policy statement on Welsh language technology and ongoing updates to Welsh language terminology reflect a proactive approach to inclusion. By investing in technology that supports Cymraeg, especially in tools designed for disabled people, and by maintaining up-to-date, standardised terminology, the Government facilitates greater participation of disabled people in education, employment, and cultural activities. This focus on accessibility extends to Welsh-medium spaces and events, ensuring that activities and cultural festivals are welcoming and inclusive for all. Overall, these measures are designed to foster equality, empower disabled Welsh speakers, and help build a more cohesive and diverse society in Wales.
Cymraeg 2050 is our national strategy for increasing the number of Welsh speakers to a million by 2050.
The Welsh Government is fully committed to the new strategy, with the target of a million speakers included in its Programme for Government. A thriving Welsh language is also included in one of the 7 well-being goals in the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015.
We also have a statutory obligation to fully consider the effects of our work on the Welsh language. This means that any Welsh Government policy should consider how our policies affect the language and those who speak it.
The Cymraeg 2050 strategy has 3 interrelated themes:
Theme 1: increasing the number of Welsh speakers
- Language transmission in the family
- The early years
- Statutory education
- Post-compulsory education
- The education workforce, resources and qualifications
Theme 2: increasing the use of Welsh
- The workplace
- Services
- Social use of Welsh
Theme 3: creating favourable conditions (infrastructure and context)
- Community and economy
- Culture and media
- Wales and the wider world
- Digital technology
- Linguistic infrastructure
- Language planning
- Evaluation and research
Our Disabled People’s Rights Plan and actions will improve access to training and employment in all areas of Wales for disabled people. Disabled people living in Welsh-speaking areas will have the support they need to participate in working life in their own communities, to thrive and to help ensure that their communities remain active and vibrant.
By working closely with Cymraeg 2050 Welsh Government policy officials, our actions will support Welsh speaking disabled people to access technology and information online in their preferred language of choice.
The Plan will be available in a number of languages, including Welsh, BSL and English. The views of Welsh speakers and Welsh language specialist groups will feed into specific actions and goals around Welsh Language in the Plan, though goals and actions across the many different policy areas, will impact Welsh speakers.
We have collaborated with Welsh speaking organisations to hold face to face meetings and gathered valuable feedback. This approach enabled disabled people, who may have been unable to attend our working group sessions to review consultation documents and share their perspective. It also provided us with firsthand insights from Welsh speaking disabled people in rural areas of Wales.
How will the proposal affect Welsh medium education and Welsh learners of all ages, including adults (both positive and/or adverse effects)?
The Plan will have a positive effect on Welsh Medium education and Welsh learners.
During the consultation period, we met disabled young people from various backgrounds, including Welsh-medium, to collect their feedback on the Disabled People’s Rights Plan.
We will continue to ensure appropriate and up to date terminology exists in the Welsh language. Welsh language standardised terminology in this field, as published in the Welsh Government's TermCymru online terminology database and the Porth Termau terminology portal by Bangor University's Language Technologies Unit, was recently updated in line with the Social Model of Disability. The continued mainstreaming of this framework will aid in consistency and awareness of these terms. Welsh language terminology in this area will continue to be updated proactively to meet the needs of users.
No discernible negative impact on the Welsh Language has been identified.
How will the proposal affect services available in Welsh (both positive and/or adverse effects)? (e.g. health and social services, transport, housing, digital, youth, infrastructure, environment, local government etc.)
The Welsh Language Strategy aims to increase the range of services offered to Welsh speakers, and to see an increase in use of Welsh-language services.
We will continue to look for opportunities for technology to support the use of Cymraeg and making health and social care more accessible in line with our priorities in More than just words.
The Welsh Government is working to ensure that appropriate Welsh language assistive software, including bilingual speech recognition and synthesis is easily available to make it easier for disabled people to use their Welsh. Through its Welsh Language Technology Action Plan. The Welsh Government has financed a technical innovation to support Welsh speakers at risk of losing their voice due to health conditions such as Motor Neurone Disease or throat cancer. 'Lleisiwr’ allows individuals to bank their voice and create a personal synthetic voice.
The Welsh Government has also committed to prioritise improving access to Welsh language technology, including for people with specific needs. Specifically, working to help everyone use more of their Cymraeg in tools where Welsh isn’t supported to the degree it needs to be, and also to identify gaps and offer data and resources to motivate companies to support Welsh.
Services
How will you ensure that people know about services that are available in Welsh and are able to access and use them as easily as they can in English? What evidence / data have you used to inform your assessment, including evidence from Welsh speakers or Welsh language interest groups?
Actions from the Disabled People’s Rights Plan will support Welsh speakers to use more of their Cymraeg in tools where Welsh isn’t supported to the degree it needs to be e.g. in specific software for disabled people.
The feedback and information from the External Advisory Board, the Disability Disparity Unit and the Disability Equality Forum will be the mechanism of appraising the delivery and impact of the Disabled People’s Rights Plan.