DAA News Network
UK: Court decision puts independence of older and disabled people at risk
Posted 08/07-11 at 19.11
Elaine McDonald (67) has lost her appeal at the Supreme Court against the decision of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea to cut her support provision by refusing to provide assistance at night for her to use a commode. McDonald said she ...
UK: “Train your bowels”, disabled residents told
Posted 08/07-11 at 18.54
The Care and Social Work Improvement Scotland (SCSWIS), the country's care watchdog is investigating allegations that disabled residents at a supported-housing complex run by the Margaret Blackwood Housing Association have been told to train thems ...
USA: Victory for independent living in Illinois
Posted 19/06-11 at 16.00
On June 15th, a federal judge approved a settlement to a long-running civil case that will force the state of Illinois to begin moving hundreds of people with learning difficulties into more community-based homes and apartments of their choice. T ...
USA: Billions available to support independent living
Posted 28/02-11 at 17.08
Under the Affordable Care Act, the federal government is to spend $4.3 billion to help establish and expand community-based alternatives to long-term institutional care. $621 million will be provided over the next five years to expand the Money F ...
New Zealand: Independent living options must be made available
Posted 21/02-11 at 23.21
Ross Brereton, CEO of Disabled Persons Assembly (DPA), the umbrella body for New Zealand DPOs, has reminded the government of their duties under Article 19 (right to independent living) of the CRPD. He says that there is a long way to go before d ...
USA: Virginia warned over failure on independent living
Posted 20/02-11 at 03.37
A Justice Department investigation has found that Virginia is violating the rights of disabled residents by failing to provide sufficient community living options for those who are currently in institutions. It was also found that the state is no ...
Convention: UK committee inquiry into independent living as set out in CRPD
Posted 15/02-11 at 23.33
The UK Parliament's Joint Committee of Human Rights is conductingan inquiry into the implementation of the right to independent living for disabled people, as guaranteed by Article 19 of the CRPD. The Committee invites interested persons and grou ...
UK: Disabled people continue to miss out on the basics of a full, inclusive life
Posted 14/12-10 at 20.41
Interim results from the first official survey since 1997 of the lives of disabled people shows the they are almost twice as likely as non-disabled people to be unemployed or not be able to afford holiday or repay debts. The Life Opportuni ...
UK: Budget cuts put disabled people at risk of losing their homes
Posted 12/08-10 at 18.55
A cut in mortgage payment support, involving a loss of £1,300 annually for every £100,000 borrowed, could result in 64,000 disabled people losing their homes. Around 59,000 disabled people use the benefit to help them pay their mortgages ...
USA: Judge rules Florida must provide independent living support
Posted 06/07-10 at 02.49
Michele Haddad had been told that community services would only be available if she was willing to enter a nursing home for 60 days. However, on June 23rd, a U.S. District Court in Jacksonville, Florida, citing the Americans with Disabilities Act's ( ...
Europe: EU Transport: Commission informs disabled passengers about their rights
Posted 05/07-10 at 23.31
Over the last few years the European Commission has introduced legislation to ensure air and rail passengers benefit from the same standards of treatment throughout the European Union. They have now (from end of June 2010) launched a campaign to i ...
USA: Court orders independent living move for people held in institutions.
Posted 02/07-10 at 02.16
Afederal appeals court has ruled that New York State must comply with a lower court's order to begin immediately transferring thousands of people with mental health problems in New York City out of large, institutional group homes and into their o ...
USA: Disability group in court to fight for independent living
Posted 25/06-10 at 21.10
Disability Rights California (DRC) was in the Circuit Court of Appeals on June 15th to argue why the state should not make cuts to independent living support. Outside the court dozens of disabled and elderly people demonstrated in support of DRC. ...
USA: Support for disabled people face drastic cuts in California
Posted 12/06-10 at 15.12
Disability programmes in California are being slashed to cope with the state's massive financial deficit. Benefit payments were reduced last year and dental coverage was eliminated. The governor's current budget plan would eliminate in-home suppor ...
UK: Channel 4 to improve access
Posted 08/06-10 at 17.17
In a letter to DAA, the chief executive of Channel 4 has let us know about their plans to make programmes more broadly accessible. Starting this July they will move to provide subtitling on Channel 4, More 4, Film 4 and +1 channels. They p ...
Europe: EU urged to support treaty for access to books for blind people
Posted 01/06-10 at 13.33
In January 2010, we reported that progress had been made on an agreement, proposed by the World Blind Union, that would give blind and partially-sighted people greater access to books and other copyright material. In June, the World Intellectual P ...
UK: Death of disabled women linked to council’s neglect
Posted 02/04-10 at 12.39
Jennyfer (Alex) Spencer's friends have claimed that her death was directly related to her 7- year battle for accessible housing and to cuts in her entitlement to support by the London Borough of Camden. ...
UK: New report on accessible air travel
Posted 29/03-10 at 19.40
The UK Civil Aviation Authority has just published a report on how the European Union regulations on accessible air travel have been implemented in the country. It is important as it shows disabled people what they should expect when they fly. It ...
UK: Independent Living Fund (ILF) to restrict access for new claimants
Posted 24/03-10 at 21.01
From May, the Independent Living Fund (ILF) will only accept applications for support from those with at least 16 hours of paid work per week. This is a major change in policy brought about, they claim, by the need to maintain support within their ...
Europe: EU calls for ending institutionalisation of disabled children
Posted 24/02-10 at 00.24
At the beginning of February, the EU Committee of Ministers released a strongly-worded recommendation calling for disabled children to be cared for in families and in the community instead of long-term residential institutions. This is backed up b ...
Disabled people lobby EU on right to independent living
Posted 23/09-09 at 18.44
In the week beginning ...