Equality and Human Rights Commission

Article 28 says:

• Disabled people have the right to a good enough standard of living including clean water, decent clothes, enough food and a decent home.  There should not be big gaps between disabled people’s standard of living and non-disabled people’s. Disabled people should expect to see continuous improvements in their standard of living.
• To make this right real, government should take action to ensure that:
  • disabled people can afford any equipment, aids or services they need
  • disabled people – and disabled girls, women and older people in particular – can access benefits and schemes to help them get out of poverty
  • disabled people living in poverty get enough help from the State with their extra costs
  • disabled people have access to social housing (such as homes built by housing associations or councils which are cheap to rent or part-buy / part-rent)
  • disabled people get the same chance as other people to get retirement pensions and initiatives for older people.

What does this mean?

The Convention says that disabled people should expect a continuous improvement of living conditions. This could mean that it is not enough just to meet minimum standards of care or housing. For example, if a disabled person’s needs are best met through providing a live-in/sleep-over carer, then this may mean that they are housed in a place with an extra bedroom to accommodate the carer, something which is currently prevented by Local Housing Allowance rules. It also could mean that governments need to continue with initiatives like Lifetime Homes which sets minimum standards for accessibility and adaptability of new homes, and not reduce their commitment.

Disabled people could use this Article to show that housing authorities need to think about housing allocation to meet their needs. For example, they should not house a family with a child who has severe asthma in a damp building.

One-third of disabled adults in Britain live below the income poverty line.  The additional costs faced by many disabled people mean that the actual number living in relative poverty is even higher.  Government will need to consider steps to address disability poverty.