Our latest news

It was great to hear from our 3 speakers at our ‘Creative Careers’ event back in February. They generously offered real insight and hugely practical guidance on their own experiences of barriers in arts and culture, and how they have learned to navigate these in order to be able to create their art. Their passion… Read more »

Difference North East Last month we met with representatives of Newcastle City Council as part of our Accessible Cities campaign. We had already submitted feedback about their planned changes to the city centre,… Go to this Sway

Some thoughts on the potential impact of AI on disabled people’s lives   It was great to hear the final lecture in this year’s Reith Lectures come from the National Innovation Centre for Data in my home city of Newcastle. On the site of a former coal mine transformed into a science hub, it seemed… Read more »

Disability Rights November 18th sees the start of Disability History Month. The themes this year are Sex and Relationships, and Hidden Disabilities. What a great time to have a think about human rights and disability. Disabled people’s human rights are routinely denied, in directly or indirectly discriminatory ways. For example, through receiving degrading or humiliating… Read more »

Many disabled workers have difficulties getting reasonable adjustments put in place to help them do their job. At the TUC Northern Equality Conference last weekend, we learned that a recent survey found that  only 55% of those who asked their employers for reasonable adjustments during the pandemic, had them made in full.   almost a third (30 %) said they didn’t… Read more »

A report by the Institute of Public Policy Research North shows the multiple inequalities faced by disabled people in the north of England. An Easy Read version can be found here.   Disabled people in the North East are being let down badly and it is nothing short of a scandal! In the North East… Read more »

Difference North East Newsletter – August 2021  Go to this Sway

We are deeply saddened by the devastating impacts of the floods across Europe this week. 15% of the world’s population are disabled. This means that many of the dozens who are missing, or have died in the floods are disabled. Disabled people have greater vulnerability during floods with complex disability-related challenges of relocation and forced… Read more »

This blog post marks the end of National Co-Production Week. But what does co-production mean?   This week has seen so many organisations celebrate #CoProWeek. Co-production can be a slippery term. Many people have different definitions for it.     Nothing about us without us To us, co-production means sharing power and working equally to… Read more »

Denial and Doubt A report by Chronic Illness Inclusion (CII) has found that disabled women with chronic illnesses are frequently gaslit by medical professions. They are left undiagnosed and accused of hysteria. CII received almost 800 responses to a survey about the healthcare experiences of disabled women with energy-limiting chronic illness and chronic pain. The… Read more »