12 months of campaigning
As we welcome in the new year, we wanted to thank our campaigners for their incredible support in 2021. And share just some highlights from our work together over the past year.
January
Together we lobbied Chancellor Rishi Sunak and asked him to place disabled people at the centre of the new budget.
February
We gave evidence to the Work & Pensions Committee on the disability employment gap, which has remained stubbornly around 30%.
March
We launched the #GetOnBoard postcode checker. Find out how accessible train stations are in your area and how much it would cost to make them step-free.
April
The government announced 315 new Disability Employment Advisers to support disabled jobseekers. Enacting one of our policy calls.
May
The long-awaited Williams-Shapps ‘Plan for Rail’ White Paper was published. It included positive commitments for accessibility.
June
Internationally, Leonard Cheshire called for gender equality and inclusive education for all girls. We influenced the G7 Girls’ Education Declaration to be disability inclusive.
July
A busy month! We launched our Care For Equality campaign. The long-awaited National Disability Strategy was also launched by the government.
August
You supported our social care campaign and sent over 220 emails to your MPs asking them to #CareForEquality.
September
Nearly 700 of you shared your experiences of receiving health and disability benefits. This shaped Leonard Cheshire's submission to government's review of the disability benefits system.
October
We called for people to pledge their support to make the internet #NoPlaceForHate. Our research found that online disability hate crime was up 52% in the last year.
November
We published our #StillLockedOut report:
- 69% of disabled adults say their work has been impacted by the pandemic.
- 1 in 5 employers are still hesitant to hire a disabled person.
December
The government finally published their social care white paper for England. Together we'll continue to push for good social care for all disabled people in 2022.