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…

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…

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…

#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…

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…

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…

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….

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,…

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…

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…

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….

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…