Keep up to date with the latest news and contributions from Forum members and guests!
The Forum is made up of a wide range of people with different impairments and experiences and we want our blog to reflect that. As such, you might hear from someone with a visual impairment in one post and someone with epilepsy in another.
If you have an idea for a blog post, get in touch! See our blog submission guidelines for more information.
Don’t forget to check out our “Subgroups” tab to see what our subgroups are doing.
Trans and Disability Rights: Intersectionality
YDRF and Trans Rights At YDRF, we advocate for human rights for all. We strongly believe that everyone deserves to be treated with dignity and respect. Disability Rights UK have posted an article about how the struggles for…
Local Updates on Benefit Cuts
York Disability Rights Forum peacefully picketed in St Helen’s Square ahead of the Full Council Meeting on 27th March and attracted a large crowd. We had a number of speakers who made clear the likely impact that the proposed…
Public Participation at CYC Full Council 27/03/25
Four of our members took part in the public participation section of the City of York full council meeting on 27th March 2025. Below is a text copy of their speeches.* You can also watch the speeches from…
An Urgent Call to Action from York Disability Rights Forum
#StopTheCuts Right now, the Government is considering changes to disability benefits. But for millions of disabled people, these benefits are a lifeline. They are the difference between surviving and being pushed deeper into poverty. Disability benefits such as…
From Diagnosis to Podcast: Sharing my Crohn’s Story
Hi, I’m Olivia. I’m a student at York St John University, and I’ve been diagnosed with Crohn’s disease since July 2019. My journey with Crohn’s has been anything but easy, but over the years I’ve come to learn…
Victorian Healthcare
Disability Rights and the Right to a Healthy Environment – Complementary or in Conflict?
Thanks to Marilyn Crawshaw, Danila and Ray Taylor, and Srish Arjen for this reflection. Disabled people have perhaps more reason than non-disabled people to be concerned about the environment. Statistically, in the event of an extreme weather event…
Budget 2024: Key messages for Disabled People
Steering group members Hilary and Helen have been sifting through the Chancellor’s 2024 Budget over the past 24 hours and have put together a bite size list of what we believe are the key details for disabled people….
Enough is Enough: September 2024 Summary
It has been 18 months since we first learned of the new autism and ADHD pilot scheme introduced by the Humber and North Yorkshire Integrated Care Board (ICB). We have fought it through legal letters and the media,…
Disability Invisibility in Conflict
The media rarely considers the impact of being disabled in war zones, apartheid states, colonised and exploited countries, and as a result our unique concerns and experiences go under the radar and are rendered invisible. As highlighted by…
Quiet Pride 2024!
What is Quiet Pride? Quiet Pride is a space to celebrate being LGBTQ+. It aims to be as accessible and inclusive as we can. Disabled LGBTQ+ people need a space to celebrate their wonderful, intersectional identities. Quiet Pride…
Shape the future of YDRF!
York Disability Rights Forum invites you to our Annual General Meeting 2024 3.00pm for a 3.15 start, Thursday 11 th July 2024 Orchard Hall, New Earswick Folk Hall, New Earswick or attend by zoom All members, allies and interested parties welcome….
April 2024 Update on Autism and ADHD Assessment Pathway
We’ve been busy behind the scenes here at the YDRF ND subgroup but have had numerous bouts of burnout and exhaustion since our last blog post. There has been only two of us for some time, though we…
Reflections on About Disability Hate Podcasts: Part 2
The About Disability Hate podcasts were only made possible thanks to our amazing volunteers Michayla and Olivia. They interviewed disabled people about their insights and experiences of disability hate and wrote blogs. They have shared their reflections on…
Reflections on About Disability Hate Podcasts: Part 1
The About Disability Hate podcasts were only made possible thanks to our amazing volunteers Michayla and Olivia. They interviewed disabled people about their insights and experiences of disability hate and wrote blogs. They have shared their reflections on…
Playing the Waiting Game
As we start to get used to the idea of a new year, our Neurodivergent (ND) community remains bound by the York and North Yorkshire autism and ADHD assessment pilot. You can access everything we have done since…
Spotlight on Menfulness
Today’s blog is an interview with Menfulness, a great local group for men that’s led by men who’ve struggled with their mental health and the pressures of life. Thanks for joining us, first can you let us know…
Misleading Email from the ICB
A lot of people have been in touch with us this week about an email they have received from the Humber and North Yorkshire Integrated Care Board (ICB). Thank you to everyone who contacted us and alerted us…
Challenging times for disabled people and unpaid carers using direct payments (DPs): One family’s diary
In January 2021 Ben and I wrote a blog about the difficulties we faced in lockdown. Love, care and common sense got us through the Covid crisis. We were looking forward to better days. We weren’t expecting another…
The Ever-Shifting Sands of the Pilot Scheme
We have been made aware of some changes associated with the autism and ADHD assessment pilot pathway in York and North Yorkshire. You can read all of the history and our actions on our dedicated webpage. The ICB…
Disabled Parenting: Kids Books Featuring Disabled People
Hi, I’m Elki and I’m going to talk to you about being a disabled parent. I have a physical disability that affects my mobility and energy levels and am a part-time wheelchair user. I have one daughter (under…
An Open Letter to the Connecting Our City Project
Finally, Some Information
Brace yourselves, this is a long one. In response to one of the Freedom of Information requests, the Humber and North Yorkshire ICB have finally given us some information. We break down the headlines below, but if you’d…
Pilot extended for 9 months
YDRF has been informed that a decision has been made for the autism and ADHD assessment “3 month pilot” to be extended for 9 more months. We believe there might also be some changes to the eligibility criteria…
The Sound of Silence: Communicating with the Humber and North Yorkshire Health and Care Partnership Integrated Care Board (ICB)
As the pilot restricting Autism and ADHD assessments in York and North Yorkshire is due to end on Tuesday 27th June, we had hoped to write a blog this week to explain ICB’s plan for the future. Despite…
ADHD Diagnosis is a Right, not a Luxury
by YDRF member Carla Morris I’ve always felt different, but I didn’t notice how different until secondary school. I loved to learn and devoted a huge amount of time and effort to the things I found interesting. But…
How My Autism Diagnosis Changed My Life
Guest Blog: Reflections on NHS England Guidance for Autism
NHS England published their national framework and operational guidance for autism assessment services on 5th April 2023. David McAsey has been in touch to share his initial thoughts on the guidance as it is highly relevant to the…
Update on legal challenge to York’s Blue Badge Ban
York Accessibility Action have an update to share with our members about the legal challenge to the Blue Badge Ban: “It has been some time since we updated supporters about our possible legal challenge to York City Council…
Autism and ADHD Assessments Update – Commissioner Response
Keep up with developments on our updates page here Following our blog post on the 26th March (opens in new tab), many of you have communicated with the York and North Yorkshire Health and Care Partnerships to raise…
Changing perceptions
The fourth episode of the YDRF podcast centres the experiences of Astrid. Olivia and Astrid discuss the matter of perception in disability hate crime, the complex relationship between disability hate and the pandemic, and the value of disabled…
Autism and ADHD Assessments to be Refused
North Yorkshire and York Health and Care Partnership* are removing access to autism and ADHD assessment and diagnosis for adults in North Yorkshire and York in new pilot *Apologies to TEWV NHS who were previously named as having…
Past Blog Posts
- April 2025 (2)
- March 2025 (3)
- February 2025 (1)
- January 2025 (1)
- October 2024 (1)
- September 2024 (1)
- July 2024 (1)
- June 2024 (2)
- April 2024 (1)
- February 2024 (1)
- January 2024 (3)
- November 2023 (1)
- October 2023 (3)
- September 2023 (1)
- August 2023 (1)
- July 2023 (1)
- June 2023 (1)
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- April 2023 (4)
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- December 2022 (1)
- November 2022 (4)
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- September 2022 (1)
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- June 2022 (1)
- April 2022 (2)
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- January 2022 (4)
- December 2021 (1)
- November 2021 (9)
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- December 2020 (5)
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- August 2020 (3)