Recommendations of the Disability Rights Taskforce: executive summary

The pandemic impacted the lives of people across the globe, intensifying inequalities, and socio-economic disadvantages. In Wales, COVID disproportionately affected some communities. In July 2021, the ‘Locked Out: Liberating Disabled People’s Lives and Rights in Wales beyond COVID-19 report highlighted the inequalities experienced by disabled people in society. One of the responses to the report was to set up the Disability Rights Taskforce, a partnership between Welsh Government and stakeholders and co-chaired by the Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice, Trefnydd and Chief Whip, Jane Hutt MS, and Professor Debbie Foster, Cardiff University, and co-author of the ‘Locked Out’ report.

The Taskforce formed 10 thematic working groups, to recommend action that would improve disabled people’s lives, these were:

• embedding and understanding of the Social Model of Disability (across Wales)
• access to services (including communications and technology)
• independent living: social care
• independent living: health
• travel
• employment and income
• affordable and accessible housing
• children and young people
• access to justice
• well-being (as a workshop) 

The Taskforce collaborated with more than 350 external stakeholders and 200 Welsh Government policy officials, working together to develop recommendations aimed at improving outcomes for disabled people in Wales. Disabled people were active partners in the Taskforce’s process, sharing insights and lived experiences, which have shaped actions to address disabled people’s rights and dismantle existing barriers.

The Chairs of the working groups brought both expertise and personal lived experience to their leadership roles. Guided by the principles of human rights, the social model of disability, and co-production, members of the thematic working groups, under the Chairs' leadership, shared their invaluable experiences and knowledge.

The Taskforce’s recommendations were considered alongside work already initiated by policy officials across the government following the Taskforce’s inception. Much of this work is showcased in our progress report, highlighting achievements such as our 'hate hurts' campaign.

Policy officials across the government worked together to turn recommendations into actionable steps, assessing which could be implemented in the short term. These are detailed in our actions document. Recommendations deemed medium to long-term will remain crucial resources that the Welsh Government can revisit in the future, guiding medium to long-term strategies to achieve the ambitions and outcomes for disabled people outlined in our 10-year plan.

Chairs of the working groups and policy colleagues came together to consider the ‘outcomes’ the Welsh Government needs to achieve for all disabled people in Wales, through the Disabled People’s Rights plan. This plan sets out our cross-government 10-year framework which expresses the ambition we are trying to achieve, to ensure disabled people can flourish as equal members of Welsh society, and to challenge discrimination and prejudice.