We often look for national or international days (or weeks, or months) we can tie in with to help promote our work as the Digital Accessibility Unit, as well as awareness of tools, training and services around digital accessibility. So as November rolled round, we knew UK Disability History Month was the next big calendar event in this field, so I went to check the theme and this year’s dates. This year’s UK Disability History Month will be running 20th November to 20th December and the theme for 2025 is… Disability, Life and Death. Ah. Not the best topic to tie in with to promote Digital Accessibility.
So where is this blog post going? If you’re worried I’m going to try to promote digital tools as helping make things “dead easy”, don’t. I do love a pun but that isn’t where this is headed. Stay with me here…
Disability History is a challenging field. It is a history littered with prejudice, mistreatment, violence and organised attempts to eradicate disabled people. It is painful, difficult and immensely important to remember. Part of that is the importance of recognising and remembering those past, but another part of this is the importance of highlighting persistent prejudiced attitudes and practices today. The philosopher George Santayana said “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it” and this is a history we cannot risk being forgotten and cannot allow to be repeated.
And whilst that might sound hysterical, it is striking to note how late legal protection of the rights of disabled people was enacted and globally how many disabled people are still living without that protection today. Whilst disability history stretches back as long as humanity (we’ve always been here), disability civil rights and the eventual passing of anti-discrimination legislation is surprisingly recent. On a personal level, I find it sobering that the UK legislation which protects my rights as a disabled person (the Disability Discrimination Act 1995, later superseded by the Equality Act 2010) has been passed within my own lifetime. Nor are the rights and services currently available to disabled people in the UK assured.
The government published Pathways to Work: Reforming Benefits and Support to Get Britain Working Green Paper in March this year, which outlined the biggest recorded cuts to disability benefits in the UK. Although after strong public objections part of this have now been rolled back on, the risk of cuts still looms. The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has refused to rule out spending cuts to personal independence payment (PIP) following the review, raising concerns that PIP will be harder to apply for and many disabled people currently reliant on PIP will no longer be eligible. Other groups have been more vocal about their opposition to disability benefits. This month the Reform party announced plans to drastically reduce disability benefits, making some claimants ineligible based on diagnosis and with the Reform party welfare spokesman accusing many of those currently receiving disability benefits of “gaming the system”. As disability benefits claimants are being styled as burdens on taxpayers, this begins to echo some of the darkest chapters of disability history.
Their spokesman went further, also attacking the motability scheme and advocating for the return of the three wheeled invacars for disabled people in need of vehicles. Ugly, capable of only short distance travel and with only a single seat, the invacar (the abbreviation making a marginally better name than the full title of “invalid carriage”) has not been produced since 1976, recognised as stigmatising its users and failing to meet their needs. Furthermore it was dangerous – small, poorly balanced on three wheels and built cheaply without crumple zones – it would completely fail to meet the road safety standards required in the UK today. The suggestion that we return to these is both punitive and dangerous. The invacar should be consigned to disability history, not proposed as current policy. The controversial Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill is against this backdrop of proposed cuts, with many concerned that without proper support available, disabled people could be pushed toward the option of assisted suicide. This blog post was written before the UK budget announcements, and the budget may have further specific impacts on disabled people.
Last month, the Conservative party leader Kemi Badenoch announced that Conservatives would take the UK out of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), if they win the next election. Although the areas of policy mentioned in the reasons for this did not include disability legislation, the removal of human rights protections as a whole does make life feel more precarious for minoritised groups. In this case, it paves the way for the potential removal of legal protections on which many of us rely. Other parties have decided waiting to win an election may be too long to wait and have tried to push the issue – on October 29th, the Reform party leader proposed a bill for the UK to leave the European convention on human rights. Although this was easily voted down by MPs, the proposal and the number who voted in favour does illustrate how many members of parliament are willing to remove human rights protections.
All in all, this creates an unwelcome atmosphere to living as disabled person in the UK today. It feels like an increasingly hostile environment.
So this is where we get to the digital accessibility bit (still here? Thanks for staying with me!). In the face of global and national issues, we can feel helpless. Where do you start? What can an individual do? Having a small concrete action you can take is important. Digital accessibility is unlikely to resolve the biggest issues around disability, life and death, but it is a way in which you can show consideration to disabled peers, friends, family and colleagues. Being more inclusive in our digital practice is something we can all do, both in our personal lives and in our workplaces. It’s a small way of making the world more inclusive and of making that hostile environment a little less hostile to disabled people. Whether or not it is an adjustment that we might need as disabled individuals, seeing that someone else has considered accessibility, has anticipated the participation of disabled people, has tried to make things more accessible – we can feel more recognised and included.
So no, this year’s UK Disability History Month is not a time to promote particular assistive software or accessible features, but it is a time to reflect on how we respond to a painful history in making a more inclusive society and digital accessibility can be a part of that. Disabled people have always been here and we’re part of the digital world too. Digitally accessible practice recognises we are here and helps hold that space for us.
And let’s end this post by highlighting how you can use disability history to explore improving digital accessibility and disability identity:
First up is a blog post from Dr Josh Lim, at the University of Bath. How technology and design shapes digital access offers a great potted history of digital accessibility, which helps us reflect how far we have come and how far we still have to go.
Second is a wonderful resource from a University of York student, Angharad Stables, who curated Disability and Neurodiversity: Joy and Justice – and we could all use some more Disabled Joy in the world! Angharad was one of the University of York library’s student curators this summer and created this brilliant digital resource. Angharad also writes about the experience of curating this in this post from the University of York library blog.