There is a real concern some of the progress made on behalf of disabled people in recent decades could be lost in the context of public sector budget cuts.
Many would argue this is already happening, with welfare reforms disproportionately affecting disabled people, leaving them worse off, council cuts withdrawing services many rely on and charges for care and other support driving others into poverty.
Policies intended to support an increasing expectation that people with disabilities should have an equal chance of a full and active life, risk doing the opposite. I'm thinking of self-directed support, which gives people personal budgets intended to empower them, but which in some council areas has seen individuals given budgets that cannot stretch to the support they need, or have previously enjoyed.
A factor in this is care charging, which has been dubbed the Care Tax by campaigners who see such charges as an extra tax levied on the disabled, unavoidable unless they choose to give up things like help making meals or getting dressed in the morning.
The Scotland Against the Care Tax (SACT) campaign wants such charges abolished arguing that their inherent unfairness is compounded by the variations in how much is charged around the country. A Scottish Government attempt to rationalise charging foundered after a working group headed by local authorities body Cosla failed to deliver meaningful changes.
But relief for those affected by charging may be imminent.
Last week the SACT campaign was encouraged by the launch of a consultation on abolishing charging for non residential social care by Labour MSP Siobhan McMahon.
But even more encouraging was a low key appearance by Health Secretary Shona Robison at the Holyrood petitions committee. There to discuss a petition on the mesh surgery scandal, she stayed on to outline her views on charging in response to a different petition.
The government now has a report she commissioned from Professor David Bell at Strathclyde University. It outlines alternative proposals for a fairer social care charging system, including increasing the amount of income councils disregard before charges kick in, or extending free personal care to the under-65s. Ms Robison made it very clear fairness couldn't just be restricted to limited groups such as those with dementia.
Proposals will be published well before the dissolution of the current Scottish Parliament in March 2016. There were caveats there - Ms Robison stressed agreement is still needed with local government and decisions depend on the outcome of the UK Government spending review in November. But the pledge was clear: "In principle I agree with a fairer charging system," she said.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here