From NPC:
This is a question and answer piece with the charity Disability Rights UK. This is the third in a series of interviews which further explore the impact of the cost of living crisis on individuals and charities.
The cost of living crisis shows no signs of abating. Indeed, facts and statistics show that it is getting much harder for both the Disabled and the care community as the gulf between income and expenditure is almost unattainable.
We, both at Disability Rights UK and the DPCG (The Disability poverty campaign group, a countrywide coalition of disabled people’s organisations, charities and relevant organisations), are witnessing families and individuals now struggle to afford the basics of life. For instance a recent survey by Leonard Cheshire found that over 600,000 Disabled people are currently living on less than £10 a week and that a quarter (surveyed in 2022) had missed meals or not heated their homes. This tragic instance of food poverty is shown in statistics released by the Trussell Trust that showed even back in 2021 that more than six in ten (62%) working-age people referred to food banks in early 2020 were disabled. There is also the fact that many Disabled people are now making drastic decisions on what essential day to day equipment, such as powered wheelchairs, through to floor lifts and ceiling track hoists, they can do without as energy costs are spiralling. It is a food and fuel crisis.
