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 disabilities 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.
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…
What do the political parties think about Reverse The Ban?
York Disability Rights Forum is not linked with any political party. We wanted to ensure that you, our lovely readers and members, know what the different parties think about the city centre access issue… So, in alphabetical order……
Upcoming events
We have a few events coming up locally that we wanted to let you know about. To be kept up to date, you can also sign up to our newsletter or follow us on social media. Disability and…
Are you registered to vote? Do you have voter ID?
The right to vote has been fought for and so it’s really important that we honour that and get out (or stay home) and vote where we can! But first we need to know we are registered to…
Labelling and harm
In the third episode of YDRF About Disability Hate podcast, Olivia sits down with Miles to talk about disability hate. They discuss the dangers of labelling, especially of people with hidden disabilities, the potential positive impacts of the…
Join the Steering Group!
Do you want to make a difference to disabled people in York? Are you disabled and live or work in York? Join us! We’re an incredible group of committed disabled people who want to improve York. If you…
A brief look at 2022
We are where we are today because of all of our incredible members, Steering Group members past and present and volunteers who have helped us develop policies, procedures and more. Thank you to all of you. Finances Our…
Being disabled, the cost of living and food
We’re sure you’re all concerned about the increasing cost of living and one of the areas where this is going to hit hard is around food. Eating well is so important to health and quality of life and…
York Disability Week Returns for a 6th Year!
Now in its 6th year, York Disability Week (26th Nov to 3rd Dec), which includes UN International Day of Disabled People on 3rd December, offers something for all. Almost all events are free to attend and there’s a…
Reverse the Ban: Latest News
If you’ve been paying attention to local news, you’ll know that Reverse the Ban (a coalition of charities, associations, action groups and other organisations who aim to reverse the ban on blue badge holders’ access to York’s pedestrian…
The Silent Side of Disability Hate
Listen to our Disability Hate Podcast where we talk to Jennie. She’s kindly written a blog post for us as well. What a complicated thing disability hate is to define or understand. Why would one human being hate…
What you told us about your bus experiences
We recently asked our members and social media followers about their experiences with buses in York. Thank you to everyone who shared their experiences. In summary, you told us of multiple occasions on different buses where wheelchair users…
About Disability Hate Podcast: Episode 1
At YDRF we have launched a new podcast to raise awareness of disabled people’s lived experience of disability hate. In the first episode, recorded in May 2022, Olivia sits down with Flick, a disability rights activist, to discuss…
Disabled People Delivering Awesome TED Talks!
Disabled people have lots to say and we’ve just picked out a few of the incredible TED talks out there. Let us know your favourite disability TED talk in the comments! https://youtu.be/8K9Gg164Bsw https://youtu.be/4WIP1VgPnco https://youtu.be/twaKuhvYpss https://youtu.be/uJr4wGcLNsA https://youtu.be/Mvoj-ku8zk0
Quiet Pride!
Are you LGBTQ+ and disabled? Let us tell you about Quiet Pride! Pride is great, but it can be very overwhelming, and by its nature can’t be fully accessible. So, we’ve been plotting with Portal Bookshop to put…
June Social!
We want to meet you! As a result of covid, and us setting up in covid, we’ve only managed to meet a few of you in person. We’ve met most of you online and as the temperature (maybe)…
Reacting to self harm
A tweet recently asked what one thing people would like to change about the way society reacts to and perceives self harm. The answers to this question were mainly related to the medical profession and the treatment of…
The Advantages of Motor Vehicles for Disabled People (or why taking away our parking in city centres is disabling)
Thanks York Accessibility Action for this important post about why disabled people may need their vehicle, and how taking away parking is disabling us. Please note, you can download a longer version of this post. This post will…
Past Blog Posts
- November 2023 (1)
- October 2023 (3)
- September 2023 (1)
- August 2023 (1)
- July 2023 (1)
- June 2023 (1)
- May 2023 (2)
- April 2023 (4)
- March 2023 (2)
- February 2023 (2)
- January 2023 (2)
- December 2022 (1)
- November 2022 (4)
- October 2022 (2)
- September 2022 (1)
- July 2022 (1)
- June 2022 (1)
- April 2022 (2)
- March 2022 (3)
- February 2022 (2)
- January 2022 (4)
- December 2021 (1)
- November 2021 (9)
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- December 2020 (5)
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