‘Degrading’ disability survey corrected but ‘still contains dodgy data’

The Government has failed to quieten protests from more than 100 groups who want it to scrap a key national survey that asks disabled people about ‘physical’ relationships.

The questionnaire had contained basic flaws which led to accusations that thousands of people have been left unable to shape decisions affecting their lives in years to come.

Disability groups say it asks ‘insensitive’ questions, is difficult to access and had contained mismatched emoticons, with happy faces used for responses such as ‘quite difficult’.

On Friday, the Cabinet Office’s Disability Unit said that it was ‘grateful’ for the feedback and had updated the expressions to match the answers.

The question asking ‘do you agree or disagree that you would be happy to have a physical relationship with a disabled person?’ remains in the Easy Read version – an accessible format designed to make written information easier to understand – which can be printed off at home.

Broadcaster Victoria Derbyshire had tweeted the section and said she had been told it is ‘degrading, intrusive, inappropriate and insensitive’.

Unconvinced by the Government’s response, a coalition of groups is continuing to demand that the survey is replaced altogether.

They say a ‘digital divide’ means an online version is difficult for many to access and while the PDF document can be completed offline and returned by post, it runs to 54 pages and needs internet access to download.

Sarah Leadbetter, National Campaigns Officer, National Federation of the Blind of the UK, told Metro.co.uk: ‘The survey was wrong, so the answers will be wrong and the data will be wrong. 

‘It is crystal clear that this survey cannot continue as the data collected will be unsafe. It cannot be used to create any meaningful and representative views from disabled people.

‘There is no way we will accept dodgy data from this survey to base our futures on, nobody should be expected to accept this, so why should we?

‘Also, there is no way we will accept a survey that many disabled people have not been able to access or fill in online or that they simply did not know was happening due to the digital divide.

‘Our motto is “nothing about us, without us” and this is not up for compromise.’

A petition letter calling for the UK Disability Survey to be pulled and replaced has attracted support from 131 groups.

The campaigners have sent a message to Justin Tomlinson, the Minister for Disabled People, Health and Work, saying the questions are ‘ambiguous, insensitive and many are not asked about critical issues where disabled people want changes’.

The groups want the survey, which will inform the National Strategy for Disabled People, to be rewritten with their input.

In response, the Disability Unit tweeted: ‘We’re grateful for your feedback on the UK Disability Survey. You told us that some of the easyread emotion symbols didn’t match the written response options to the questions.

‘We’ve changed this and updated the survey.’

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) previously said the survey has been informed by research conducted by the Unit and tested with disabled people and organisations prior to launch to ensure its accessibility.

The document is available in Easy Read, BSL and written responses can be sent to DUCitizenspace@cabinetoffice.gov.uk.

The DWP also said the Royal National Institute of Blind People is closely involved with the survey and it adheres in full with digital accessibility principles set out in the Public Sector Bodies Accessibility Regulations.

The questionnaire will remain open until April 23 with responses used to inform the delivery of the Government’s plans.

A Government spokesperson said: ‘The questions in the survey were developed in close consultation with stakeholders to help ensure we gather a wide range of responses from disabled people, carers and the general public. We thank the 15,000 people who have responded so far.

‘The issue with emotion symbols was only with one of the alternative formats, the Easy Read version. This has been amended and will not affect the overall accuracy of the data gathered.’

View the petition letter here

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