A recent news report on BBC’s Ouch Behind the News (see http://www.bbc.co.uk/ouch/news/btn/dandrc.shtml ) mentioned a group called Disabled Peoples Direct Action Network, DAN. They are campaigning about seven needs of independent living which are:-

• Access to information
• Peer support and counselling
• Housing
• Technical aids and equipment
• Personal assistance
• Transport
• Access to the built environment.

This mirrors much of Scope’s own campaign issues and I wondered whether anyone had done a proper analysis on the likely cost bringing services up to scratch or perhaps something like a university research project? For example, whether direct payments cater for all these needs? How effective are social services’ departments are assessing people’s individual needs based on these key points?

If we continue to rely simply on the standard payments of benefits such as Disability Living Allowances, how realistic are level of payments made to ensure independent living?

It would be useful if people could log their experiences.