Inclusion Scotland has conducted and commissioned a lot of our own research. We published a well respected piece of research on the impacts of welfare reform in 2014. We also often do research when we engage with our disabled members. We promote the use of coproduction when researching disabled people’s barriers, and for more details of this you can read about DRILL and Access to Elected Office research projects below.
Our research with disabled people
Disability Research on Independent Living and Learning
The Disability Research on Independent Living and Learning (DRILL) programme is a Four Nation Research Project which delivers the world’s first major research programme led by disabled people. Inclusion Scotland runs the DRILL project in Scotland.
Research has traditionally been carried out by non-disabled researchers and has usually treated disabled people as subjects of research, rather than as equal partners in research. We think that the results of research about disability will be better if decisions about what is researched and the way the research is done, are informed by the lived experience of disabled people. DRILL offers disabled people the opportunity to carry out research on issues that matter to them.
Please look at the DRILL UK website for information on research which is currently being funded and to find out how to take part.
Access to Elected Office Research Project
In 2015-16, Inclusion Scotland worked on the Access to Elected Office Project, with paid disabled interns placed with political parties who conducted research for this report. They investigated the barriers to disabled people being involved in politics, and becoming elected representatives. The report, published in June 2016, was a culmination of the data that the disabled interns gathered. The report informed our work on the Access to Elected Office Fund pilot, set up to offer financial assistance to disabled people seeking selection and standing as candidates in the 2017 Scottish Local Authority Elections.
You can find the original version of the report here, and the updated, summary version here.
Disabled people's human rights
We have been making sure that disabled people’s human rights are recognised and promoted by decision makers for many years. We’ve done research with disabled people to find out what has got better and worse for them over the last few years. We also work hard to raise awareness among disabled people of their human rights, and how they can be used in everyday life. Find out more about our work on human rights.
Welfare Reform
When the Welfare Reform Act (2014) replaced some existing benefits and introduced new changes and a tougher sanctions regime, Inclusion Scotland were immediately concerned about the potential impact this would have on disabled people. We were particularly concerned about:
- Tougher assessments for disability and sickness benefits
- More stringent conditions for out of work benefits
- A disproportionate number of disabled households being hit by the Bedroom Tax
- Harsher political and media messages about benefit claimants, including disabled people.
In researching for ‘Second class citizens? How welfare reform marginalises disabled people’, we took a fourfold approach. We did a literature review; conducted an online survey of disabled people’s experiences of the reforms so far; conducted semi-structured qualitative interviews with disabled people contacted through our networks; and then approached some of our survey respondents to find out more about their experiences.
Findings relate to the difficulties of applying for benefits, failure of the system for women survivors of sexual violence, lack of consistent information about the benefits changes, the need for more support (not less) from Job Center Plus staff for disabled benefit claimants, the stigmatising affect of political and media messages about benefit claimants, fear of loss of benefits, and the negative affect of fear that benefits changes have caused for disabled people seeking work.
The report is available here: Inclusion Scotland welfare reform impacts
