This report was published by the Jo Cox Commission on Loneliness. As founder members of the Commission, the disability charity, Sense, has brought together a coalition of disability charities, including National AIDS Trust, to collectively highlight the issue of loneliness for disabled people, and to call for action.
The powerful stories contained within this report demonstrate that chronic loneliness is an experience that many disabled people share, despite huge variations in the nature of their impairments and personal circumstances.
The causes of loneliness for disabled people are complex. There can be practical barriers to establishing social connections, such as physical access to transport and premises, or issues related to the nature of conditions themselves. Worryingly, for the groups represented in this report, stigma and poor public attitudes were also directly related to feelings of isolation.
Due to the complex range of causes, and the uniqueness of each individual, there is no one-size-fits-all solution to loneliness among disabled people. However, changes in the following areas would be crucial steps towards reducing loneliness and social isolation: improving social attitudes through public awareness campaigns, increasing professional awareness and support, enabling independence through access to social care, providing access to services that respond to loneliness, ensuring physical access to communities, providing accessible transport, addressing the digital divide, providing fair and adequate financial support and increasing access to employment and work experience.