Attitudes to disabled people deteriorate

Negative attitudes towards disabled people are on the rise, a quarterly poll shows.

The attitude survey, commissioned by disability charity Scope, found that almost half of disabled people (47%) said people’s attitudes towards them have got worse over the past year, compared to 37% in May.

Two-thirds of disabled people (66%) say that they have experienced aggression, hostility or name calling, compared to 41% in May, while almost three-quarters (73%) said they felt others presumed they did not work, compared to half (50%) in May.

Alice Maynard, chair of Scope, said that a crucial way of improving people’s attitudes is for disabled people to be able to play a visible role in their communities but that this is becoming increasingly difficult.

“Disabled people rely on a complex infrastructure of support,” she said. “The support is like a house of cards — if you pull out one element, the whole thing is in danger of falling down.

“Without it, disabled people struggle to play a visible role in the workplace, in shops, restaurants, offices and community spaces, and this has serious impact on the way society views disabled people.”

She said it was therefore no surprise that at the same time as this vital support is being picked apart, attitudes towards disabled people are deteriorating.

According to research by think tank Demos, disabled people are set to be as much as £370 million worse off in 2011 alone.