Latest News for Parents & Carers

On Monday 17 October 2022, The Shaw Trust hosted its Annual Disability Power 100 awards event at the Landmark Hotel in London. The event was held in person for the first time in three years and was hotly anticipated as one of the key celebratory events of the year for the disabled community.

Just 1.6% of characters in the top UK TV shows are disabled compared to more than 21% in society, according to streaming advice service WatchTVAbroad.com and its Diversity in the UK study. It found that a number of popular, prime-time programmes, such as Eastenders, Coronation Street and Killing Eve, fall woefully short when it comes to disability representation.

One in five (20%) people living with asthma in the UK (of which there are 5.4 million) have had an attack as a result of changes they have been forced to make due to rising energy, food and household bills, according to the research by Asthma + Lung UK. More than a million people in the UK have experienced life-threatening asthma attacks after cutting back on medicine, heating and food amid the soaring cost of living crisis.

A user-led organisation has warned MPs and peers that the government’s planned mental health reforms do not go far enough and have failed to engage with disabled activists who have been pushing for a more rights-based approach. Mary Sadid, policy manager for National Survivor User Network (NSUN), a network of groups and people with experience of mental distress, said there were concerns that the experiences of those detained under the Mental Health Act would not improve for many years, even if the reforms became law.

For the first time in England and Wales, deaf people have been able to fulfill their civic duty and serve on a jury, supported by British Sign Language (BSL) interpreters. This summer, Karen – a volunteer at charity DeafCOG in London – became the first deaf person to complete jury service with a BSL interpreter at Croydon Crown Court, deliberating over a racially aggravated harassment case.