UN International Day of Persons with Disabilities takes place on Tuesday 3 December, during UK Disability History Month (14 November to 20 December).

UK Disability History Month (UKDHM) is an annual campaign to tackle the social exclusion, stigma, stereotypes, negative attitudes and socially created barriers experienced by disabled people. The theme for this year is Disability Livelihood and Employment.

Cambridge City Council supports UK Disability History Month as part of our wider commitment to strengthening equality and diversity in Cambridge.

According to the 2021 Census, 16.7% of people in Cambridge have a long-term health problem or disability that limits their day-to-day activities, which is identified as a disability in the Equality Act 2010. Cambridge City Council provides a range of support for people with disabilities.

Access to and within the city centre

The council runs its Taxicard scheme to help disabled people who live in Cambridge and have a low income to pay for taxi journeys. This reduces barriers to getting around. When people join the scheme, they are given vouchers worth up to £160 for each year. These vouchers are redeemable on Cambridge Dial-a-Ride – a charity providing community transport to people finding it difficult to access transport due to a disability, a long-term health condition or older age.  To qualify, your Council Tax must be payable to Cambridge City Council.

For people needing help getting around once in the city centre, we provide the Shopmobility service at the Grand Arcade and Grafton East car parks where we can provide you with an electric scooter or wheelchair. We have limited amounts of some equipment, so we recommend that people reserve equipment in advance.

• During UK Disability History Month, Cllr Gerri Bird, Executive Councillor for Housing led an awareness-raising session for fellow councillors and council officers to highlight some of the accessibility issues facing wheelchair users, disabled people and people with different accessibility requirements when navigating Cambridge city centre. Participants had the opportunity to use a wheelchair and experience some of the difficulties regular wheelchair users and others need to consider in and around the city centre, such as dropped kerbs, the historic cobblestones in the market square, street furniture, slopes and irregular surfaces.

We have also been increasing availability of Changing Places toilets that are fully accessible. These are peninsular toilets with support rails and space for a wheelchair either side. These private rooms have plenty of space for carers and a height-adjustable changing bench and hoist too. There are Changing Places toilets at Clay Farm, Meadows Community Centre, Drummer Street and Cherry Hinton Hall.

The council employs an Access Officer who can give help and advice on the disability aspects of the Equality Act 2010 to businesses and individuals. This can be on legal, technical, or practical issues. Please email: markj.taylor@cambridge.gov.uk for this support.

Adaptations to homes

Cambs Home Improvement Agency (HIA) provides Disabled Facilities Grants of up to £30,000 to carry out adaptation works for disabled people. Adaptations can include accessible kitchens, ramps, level access, over-the-bath showers, stairlifts and even small extensions to enable ground floor living.

Disabled Facilities Grants are means tested and sometimes a contribution from a householder would be needed for work to be undertaken. The staff at the HIA will help people apply for a grant, design the works, appoint a contractor and oversee the work to completion while liaising with Occupational Therapists and builders as needed. Even if people are not eligible for the grant, the HIA can help.

Keeping active

Our exercise referral service is available to help people manage long-term medical conditions or disabilities with a prescriptive activity programme. Each programme lasts 12 weeks or longer and includes support, assistance and supervision from specialist exercise professionals.

A tailored programme might include gym-based exercise sessions, exercise classes, or online courses to follow from home. There is a cost for sessions, except for the free home-based ones.

We also provide the low-cost Invigorate programme of physical activities to improve wellbeing, especially for people experiencing anxiety, depression or other mental ill health.

For older adults with mobility needs, we provide strength and balance classes across the city at a small cost, in Queen Edith’s and Coleridge as well as at Assisted Living Schemes – all of which are available to any Cambridge residents.

Community Grants funding

As part of our annual £1 million+ Community Grants programme, grants were awarded in 2024-25 to a number of local groups that support people with disabilities. The groups range from Cambridge Community Art, which runs creative arts courses or people disadvantaged and isolated due to mental and physical health conditions; to two local organisations who run swimming sessions for disabled children; and Cambridge Gateway Club – a befriending, social and leisure club for people of all ages with physical and learning disabilities.

Accessible homes

The council has built 650+ new council homes since 2018 and has a target of building 1,000 more by 2030. All of these homes except two will be adaptable to become wheelchair accessible. 75 new homes (5% of the 1500) are targeted to be adapted for families with wheelchair users. We have so far completed 606 homes which are adaptable, of which 29 are adapted as wheelchair accessible. We currently have a further 724 adaptable homes in our programme and are investigating opportunities to provide level access at existing council homes through refurbishment schemes.

Website accessibility

We updated our website design in July 2024 to make it easier for everyone to use, including people with disabilities, and so that it complies with Website Content Accessibility Guidelines. We also have a website accessibility toolbar that customises the website features. To launch the toolbar, simply select ‘Accessibility tools’ at the top of the website. Functions in the toolbar include text to speech, a ruler, an interactive dictionary, and a translation tool with over 100 languages.

SignLive

British Sign Language (BSL) users can use a free online service called SignLive to contact the council through a professional interpreter. Accessing SignLive is free via a smartphone or tablet app, or users can use a computer with a webcam, microphone and speakers.

Disability Confident

We have been awarded Level 2 as a Disability Confident Employer and have been signed up for a number of years. This is a national initiative we are signed up to that was developed by employers and disabled people’s representatives to help improve recruitment, retention and career progression of disabled people in workplaces.

Find out more about the support available for disabled people.