Thank you for Inviting the people of Wales to be part of this enquiry. I am writing this as a disabled CEO of a disabled peoples organisation in Wales. We have literally during the pandemic crisis launched a funded project from the Social Service Prevention Funding around employability for disabled people and are very much seeing the impact right now on reduced opportunity for disabled people and the world of work and how coronavirus has affected the future potential for these people.

We have also been building a website for disabled people to gain information based on their geographical location concerning the support and help that they can get in the local community on a general basis but we have now adapted that website to provide that information regarding the COVID-19 situation as well. We felt that many disabled people felt isolated and couldn’t get access to the specific information they needed in order to get the help that they required whilst many of them were shielding from the virus.

The whole crisis has identified and highlighted the ableism that has been present both consciously and subconsciously by all areas of society in relation to disabled people, whether it be them having to attend and queue at the supermarket by themselves and a misunderstanding by staff not allowing support or carers to attend or not being able to easily access prescriptions during this time due to the complexity of access to GPs

We are aware that you have asked for a short email in the first instance and so we will just provide these highlights of what we have experienced as an organisation and ourselves as disabled people. We would very much appreciate further conversations if you feel that this is valid to undertake

Kindest Regards

Sara Flay

CEO

Legacy International Group

Legacyig.org