Piloting our own plane

Imagine being on a plane flown by someone other than a pilot. The person who has the specialised knowledge, skills and experience – not to mention the licence – to fly it.   

It’s unthinkable. (And scary!) But non-Disabled people think nothing of making decisions for Disabled people without the knowledge, skills or experience to do so.  

Piloting our own plane

So many policies and services for Disabled people are designed and delivered without us. And most of the larger disability charities in the UK – those that tend to have the confidence of funders and the ear of government – are led by non-Disabled people. In fact, 97.3% of government disability funding goes to organisations run by non-Disabled people.  

Disabled people have the skills and experience to know what does and doesn’t work for us – to pilot the planes of our lives, and to lead organisations. Lived experience is expertise. 

True co-production

True co-production means Disabled people being involved in both the design and implementation or delivery of policies and services.  

The Government is getting better at it in some areas and failing in others. For example, the majority Disabled people steering group for the current review of Personal Independent Payment is encouraging. But the recent review of the Disability Confident Scheme involved no consultation, and the system redesign happening this year is not being co-produced with Disabled people. 

For Disabled People’s Organisations, co-production is not an ambition or commitment or something you build into a service, project or campaign, it’s who and what they are. Their DNA.  

This campaign is run by Disabled people. We will keep pushing for the genuine involvement of Disabled people in all decision-making that impacts our lives.

Photo by Artturi Jalli on Unsplash