The Minister also committed to reviewing disability legislation, saying it is currently not fit for purpose.
Communities Minister Gordon Lyons has launched the consultation on the Executive’s Disability Strategy, a key part of his drive to increase participation and inclusion for deaf and disabled people.
The cross-departmental Strategy seeks to increase and enhance life opportunities with improved access to work, health and social care, transport, education, sport, arts and leisure activities.
The Strategy sets out a series of commitments, including a Regional Disability Forum to advise on the monitoring and implementation of the strategy, a review of disability legislation, including how to incorporate the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities within the legislative framework; and the publication of an annual Disability Data compendium.
Speaking to Belfast Live, Communities Minister Gordon Lyons said: “I think the number one commitment that we have in here is to create a regional disability forum, so that is going to be made up of deaf and disabled people, and they are going to help chart the course for where we go. They’re going to monitor the implementation and delivery of the strategy, but they’re also going to contribute to it as it goes on over the next 10 years.
“It’s really important that we hear directly from deaf and disabled people. That’s what this will do. We’re also committing to a review of disability legislation. It’s not fit for purpose. It’s not up to date. We’re going to do something about that.
“We have 58 commitments as a whole within this strategy. It’s what the sector has been calling for, but we’re going to listen during the consultation process to see what it is that we need to do to make sure that we give deaf and disabled people the best chances in life and give them the opportunities on the same basis as everybody else.”
The Strategy will run for a ten-year period from 2025 to 2035. It will be underpinned by an Action Plan which will set out a range of time-bound, measurable actions targeted at progressing outcomes and commitments.
RNIB and the Centre for Independent Living were part of the co-design group that helped shape the strategic approach.
Deena Nimick, Policy and Campaign Manager at the Centre for Independent Living, told Belfast Live: “When it comes to living as a human being, all of the government departments have an impact on us, whether we have a disability or not.
“And I think that sometimes people will think, oh it’s the responsibility of the Department for Communities or the Department of Health, but all of the government departments have an impact on how we live our lives.
“So it’s really important that they are actively engaging with us and that there is a joined-up approach because one department is never going to be able to deliver on any strategy.
“If we’re going to see progress, we really need to see the government working well together.”
Paula Beattie, RNIB Policy and Campaigns lead added: “It’s over a decade now since we’ve had a disability strategy in Northern Ireland, so we welcome the fact that it’s out.
“We want to encourage everyone to engage in consultation, and we want to make sure that people who are living with vision impairment and all disabled people have a say in the development of the strategy, the action plan behind the strategy and the review of the strategy as well.
“We very much welcome there’s going to be a disability forum who’s going to lead in consulting around the action plan for the strategy and that’s really important because while you’ve got strategic aims, we want to see how it’s going to work on the ground, and the fact that disabled people should and will be involved in that action plan is really really important so we do welcome it, we know it’s maybe not the old singing all dancing, but we think, If disabled people engaged and people with vision impairment, over 57,000 in Northern Ireland with vision impairment, we want to see them engaging with us and having a say in how the strategy develops.”
A public consultation on the draft strategy has opened to allow the public to have their say. An extended 14-week consultation process will run from Tuesday 09 December 2025 and run until 5pm Friday 20 March 2026.
Read the Disability Strategy and have your say by clicking here. Additionally, RNIB will be running a series of consultation days both in person and online for people with a visual imperment with dates to be confirmed.
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