Today, on 10th July 2023, Disability Wales launches its report ‘Barely Surviving’: The Impact of the Cost-of-Living Crisis on Disabled People in Wales.
This report is dedicated to the memory of the disabled people who have lost their lives during the cost-of-living crisis.
It has been difficult to escape the cost-of-living crisis, but the reality of it for many disabled people across Wales has been devastating. This report may be a tough read for some, but we are unapologetic for it as we believe it is a necessary one.
Our research indicates that disabled people in Wales and across the UK have been systemically let down by their governments and our findings show that trust in Government is at an understandable extreme low.
This report is split into sections to mirror the survey that was circulated. Starting with the impact of increased energy bills where we found that most respondents had experienced large bill increases and many found themselves unable to meet their costs as a result.
Next, we move to the impact of increasing costs in other areas, focusing mostly on transport and food, where we see disabled people being unable to afford three meals a day or their impairment-related diets and experiencing ever-increasing social isolation due to lack of access to transport.
We then consider the impact on physical health, mental health and well-being, this section sees some of our most concerning findings regarding an ongoing crisis in mental health among disabled people that remains unaddressed.
The cost-of-living crisis has caused significant harm to many disabled people across Wales. Support measures implemented have been insufficient to deal with the extent of harm that the crisis has caused.
The short-term responses have been inadequate for a long-term crisis. We also see little support for other related impacts of the crisis, such as measures to reduce the cost of public transport, food, and mental health support for those struggling to meet the costs.
Download the report
To find out more about our findings, please download the report below.
If you experience any issues when downloading the report, please email megan.thomas@disabilitywales.org.
