Disability Rights UK is the UK’s leading organisation led by, run by, and working for Disabled people. The social model of disability underpins all our work, with an understanding that it is society that disables us, not our impairments. It is with this framework that we advocate for an eradication of the barriers people experience throughout society based on disability, race, class, gender or sexuality. 

RADAR keys

We were formed in 2012 as a unification of Disability Alliance, RADAR and the National Centre for Independent Living. As part of this merger, we became stewards of the National Key Scheme, selling and distributing RADAR keys to Disabled people across the country to ensure we have access to the 9,000 accessible toilets in the UK.  

Buying a RADAR key from DR UK means you can be sure your Disabled toilet key is manufactured and guaranteed by the makers of the Radar locks themselves. As a charity led directly by Disabled people, we plough back all our marginal RADAR key UK profits into funding our services, such as our free helplines and factsheets, innovative projects to support independent living and standing up for Disabled people’s rights. This includes campaigning for the rights of people with non-visible disabilities and to raise awareness of the fact that not everyone who needs an accessible toilet ‘looks Disabled’.

Disability Rights Handbook

Other work we do includes writing the Disability Rights Handbook, which will be coming up to its 50^th anniversary next year. This book began as a pamphlet in the mid-seventies, produced by Disability Alliance. In those days, it was impossible to access any information on state benefits or welfare rights. Whilst the system is extremely complex and difficult to navigate today, back then everything was shrouded in even further mystery – many of the benefits were discretionary, rather than statutory and few decisions were being challenged. Since then, the Handbook has grown to hundreds of pages, with updated versions each year on changes to legislation. Whilst some Disabled individuals find it useful, it is mostly a resource for benefits advisors at organisations like Citizen’s Advice and CPAG, who provide benefit support services. We do also offer the Handbook at less than half price for those on income-related benefits. You can find out more about the Handbook’s history on our blog and how to buy it on our shop. 

Other guidance

Alongside this guidance, we also offer smaller pamphlets and resources for specific benefits, such as PIP and Universal Credit. This guidance has proven vitally important for people navigating the welfare system, something daunting to do alone. You can download all our resources, completely for free, on our website. They are also available to purchase as a hard copy if that’s something you’d be interested in! If you have a query specifically related to Personal Budgets, or being a Disabled student, we also have helplines open to offer you advice and guidance. You can find out more about these on our Helpline page. 

Keep up to date with us!

If you would like to stay up to date with DR UK’s work, you can sign up to our fortnightly E-news, which compiles all of our policy work, blog posts and any opportunities for you, all in one place. Sign up here. We have also just launched Future Ready, a newsletter designed to support and empower young Disabled people in their journeys through education and employment. You can sign up for Future Ready on this page. 

Alongside these guidance and resources, our policy team tirelessly campaigns for changes in policy to support Disabled people – be it through housing, climate change, health and social care or transport, amongst other things. We continue to champion the Disability Movement motto, ‘Nothing About Us Without Us’, and are proud to be Disabled-led. We hope some of the resources above will be useful for you and would love for you to stay in touch with our work!