Download The Briefing: Technology and the Disability Action Plan Consultation in MS Word.
Overview
The Disability Action Plan
- By the end of 2023, the government will publish a document detailing new steps to improve the lives of disabled people.
- The Plan will only include actions that can be completed by the end of 2024, though these initiatives can also lay “the foundations for longer-term change.” [i]
The Consultation
- The government already has some proposals for actions to be included in the Plan, and it is asking the public for their views on these proposals.
- The consultation state that it “is not intended to set out a full, detailed list of the policies which government will deliver. Rather, it is a chance for us to make sure that we are heading in the right direction, and to gather information about problems and potential solutions.”
- You don’t have to answer all the questions in the consultation.
- The deadline is 6 October 2023.
- There are three ways to submit your response:
- By online form. (you can save the form part way through and come back to it before you submit it).
- By email disabilityactionplan@cabinetoffice.gov.uk (you can also use this email address to ask questions about the consultation.
- By post: mark your correspondence ‘Disability Action Plan’ and send it to:
Disability Action Plan team
Disability Unit, Cabinet Office
Ground Floor
10 Victoria Street
London
SW1H 0NB
Technology
- The consultation includes proposals on 7 topics. One topic is “Raising the profile of assistive technology” (ATech).
- The consultation proposals on ATech are:
- “raising the profile of assistive technology within government and appointing a senior assistive technology champion.
- enhancing the [ATech] knowledge and skills of civil servants and other public sector service delivery staff.”
- The consultation proposals on ATech are:
Background
The Government’s ambition for ATech
- The Government has stated an ambition to “make the UK the most accessible place in the world to live and work with technology.”[ii]
- There are many ways that Government already plays a role in providing access and support to use ATech, such as via health and care services, and education and employment support. In addition, the Consultation notes some recent steps the government has taken in this area, such as:
- Delivering ATech training to “95% of DWP’s 26,000 Work Coaches” and to “staff in around 150 mainstream schools.”
- Providing scholarships for disabled people to take “master’s level AI or data science courses.”
- Innovation funding aimed at improving access to “smart energy technologies” in people’s homes.
- The Consultation also points to plans publish an Export Promotion Brochure on ATech.[iii]
- The 2021 National Disability Strategy made several commitments on ATech including: to “explore the establishment of a world-leading Centre for Assistive and Accessible Technology.”[iv] However, this commitment is currently paused in response to a legal challenge to the Strategy.[v]
The ATech awareness agenda
- Disabled ATech users and those in the ATech sector have consistently stressed the need to increase awareness of ATech across society. This has been a finding of the APPG for Assistive Technology, in reports such as Talent and Technology and Smarter Homes, and of the ATech Policy Lab, in its report Frontline Accessibility, as well as in research recently commissioned by the Cabinet Office Disability Unit, and other research.[vi]
- The Frontline Accessibility report showed that we can drive awareness by delivering fundamentals-level ATech training for teachers, job coaches, care workers and other professionals who work directly with the public. When frontliners have confidence and awareness around ATech they can, e.g. share tips and tricks directly with clients, raise the topic of tech as part of assessment processes, and seek out further advice and support from more specialised colleagues / services where needed.
- The report therefore recommended:
- “…a partnership between government, the tech and disability sectors, and public sector leaders, to deliver training to 250,000 frontliners by the end of 2025.”
- “The partnership to mainstream ATech awareness should be led by a senior champion within government: we propose the appointment of a UK Chief Accessibility Officer – similar to a Commissioner role – to drive this agenda.”
Government proposals on raising the profile of ATech
- ATech Champion: “appointing a senior assistive technology champion”.
- The Consultation states that “An assistive and accessible technology [ATech] champion’s role would be to raise awareness of assistive technology across government.”
- The “champion would work alongside other cross-government work to raise the profile of assistive technology. For example, scheduling regular cross-government discussions on assistive technology with existing groups, such as the Ministerial Disability Champions and the DU [Disability Unit] assistive technology officials group.”[vii]
- Training. “Enhancing the knowledge and skills of civil servants and other public sector service delivery staff.”
- The Consultation notes the ATech training that has already been provided to Work Coaches and proposes to investigate whether this, or similar, training could be delivered to additional “civil servants and other public sector service delivery staff.”
The Consultation question on ATech
- The question posed is: “To what extent do you agree that access to assistive technology would be improved by better-informed advice from public sector staff?”
- The Consultation asks for you respond in two ways.
- First, rate your level of agreement according to a multiple choice (“Strongly agree”, “Somewhat agree”, “Neither agree nor disagree”, “Somewhat disagree”, “Strongly disagree”).
- Second you have the option to explain your answer in a text box (suggested maximum 500 words).
- To illustrate how this works consider the following example response:
- Multiple choice: “Strongly agree” (“that access to assistive technology would be improved by better-informed advice from public sector staff.”)
- Text box:
- Importance of awareness. Writing on behalf of {organization} we know from… {our work … / research …} that it is vital for public sector staff such as teachers, work coaches, care workers, occupational therapists etc., to have awareness of assistive and accessible technology (ATech). For example {public service staff who are aware of ATech have helped / supported disabled people by… / lack of awareness within public services creates a barrier because…}.
- Training for public sector staff. We welcome the proposal to explore training for public sector staff. I believe the initiative should have the following features to ensure it helps drive awareness across society and improves support for disabled people to use ATech…
- ATech Champion. We welcome the proposal for a senior ATech champion in government. To ensure the champton can effectively drive awareness across government and the public sector, the role should be designed with the following features…
- Complementary actions. These immediate actions to drive awareness of ATech can lay the foundation for longer term change as part of a wider strategy that would include…
- Note that questions 13 and 14 of the survey allow you to offer you thoughts on any topic, not just the proposals listed.
[i] See: Open Consultation: Disability Action Plan 2023 to 2024.
[ii] See: Minister on “transforming awareness of ATech across society.” (2023)
[iii] This welcome development follows long-standing engagement with government on the ATech trade ageda, see APPG for Assistive Technology ‘Outcomes briefing: UK EdTech at home and abroad’ (2020)
[iv] See: National Disability Strategy (2021)
[v] See Response to Question 189783 for details of which initiatives have been paused as of June 15 2023. However, the government recently won it’s appear against an earlier judgment that the Strategy was unlawful, see National Disability Strategy Update (July 12). An update posted on the Disability Action Plan consultation reads “The High Court’s judgment means that both the NDS [National Disability Strategy] and the UK Disability Survey are lawful, and the government is able to continue with the important work of implementing this long-term strategy to transform disabled people’s everyday lives for the better. The government will provide further details to Parliament in September 2023 about what this means for the implementation of the NDS.”
[vi] See Talent and Technology: building bridges to employment for disabled people (2021); Smarter Homes for Independent Living: putting people in control of their lives (2022); Frontline Accessibility: Building ATech Awareness and Confidence Among Public Service Professionals (2023); GDI Hub: Assistive Technology Changes Lives: an assessment of AT need and capacity in England (2023); well Edyburn, D (2020) ‘Rapid literature review on assistive technology in education’; Howard et al (2020), ‘Exploring the barriers to using assistive technology for individuals with chronic conditions: a meta-synthesis review’; Boyle et al (2022) ‘Promotors and barriers to the implementation and adoption of assistive technology and telecare for people with dementia and their caregivers: a systematic review of the literature
[vii] The Ministerial Disability Champions are group of ministers who “provide a personal lead and commitment to championing accessibility and opportunity for disabled people within their departments”. The ATech officials group consists of officials from a range of department and public bodies whose work is relevant to the ATech agenda.
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