Diolch, Dirprwy Lywydd. Prynhawn da. This Thursday is the United Nations international day of disabled people. Since 1992, the United Nations has designated 3 December as a day for promoting the rights and well-being of disabled people and celebrating their achievements across the world. The theme for 2020 is building back better towards a disability-inclusive, accessible and sustainable post-COVID-19 world. The pandemic has shone a light on and amplified the problems within our society. Many of these are not new or specific to COVID, but they've become more obvious to us all. During the pandemic, isolation, disconnect, disrupted routines and diminished services have greatly impacted the lives and mental well-being of many disabled people.

The latest available data from the Office for National Statistics shows that in the period from March to July in Wales, 68 per cent, or almost seven in every 10, of COVID-related deaths came from our disabled communities. It has also been reported that people with a learning disability were disproportionately more likely to die from COVID, and I'm sure we are all greatly saddened by this. It is also emerging that this death rate was not the simple, inevitable consequence of impairment, as many of these deaths were clearly rooted in socioeconomic factors. Building on the admittedly slow progress made over the last 25 years since the introduction of the Disability Discrimination Act in November 1995, we must take positive action so that we can do better as we recover from the effects of COVID.