Diolch, Dirprwy Lywydd. The international day of disabled people falls every year on 3 December. The Welsh Government is very aware of the importance of marking this day, as it helps us highlight just how many people are impacted by disability-based discrimination.

Since its launch by the United Nations in 1992, right across the world, this day has represented a crucial step towards the advancement of equality for disabled people and serves as a reminder for us to work together to champion fundamental human rights, and the need for the full liberation of disabled people.

This year, the theme is transformative solutions for inclusive development: the role of innovation in fuelling an accessible and equitable world. Adaptive and assistive technology can offer many solutions to making both the working and social environment accessible to all. Many of us will be familiar with some of these technologies, and I was particularly pleased to find that the latest version of our word processing software now includes both text-to-speech and speech-to-text functionality—options that were previously very expensive. 

All representative democracies must fully reflect all the communities they serve, and we know that disabled people are hugely under-represented in all elected bodies across Wales. Disabled people can face much higher costs when running for office, which is why we have created the access to elected office fund. This fund can be used to purchase adaptive and assistive specialist equipment and software and has already made a material difference to many people who ran in the last local elections.

I am very pleased to attend the Dewis Centre for Independent Living event in Cardiff on Thursday, 1 December with my colleague Julie Morgan, Deputy Minister for Social Services. Dewis is an organisation that is controlled by disabled people. It provides crucial support to disabled people who receive direct payments. At their event, we will speak about the vital importance of embedding the social model of disability in all areas of our society and widening the use of direct payments.

Welsh Government is a staunch advocate of people’s right to control their own lives, and for many disabled people, receiving direct payments can be crucial to achieving this goal. It is critical that people who are offered direct payments are fully aware of their benefits and the support they can receive to make sure they work. In Wales, we are resolved to improving the take-up of direct payments and we are committed to identifying and removing all the barriers that are limiting their use.

In our programme for government, we have committed to improving the continuing healthcare and direct payments interface. Currently, a person receiving community healthcare in Wales cannot choose to receive direct payments to enable them to plan to meet their own social and healthcare needs. We're committed to changing this and we have recently held a consultation that proposed several changes to primary legislation in relation to social care and continuing NHS healthcare in Wales, and we will be reporting back in due course.

The Welsh Government has always supported disabled people, and as the Minister with responsibility for social justice, I am keenly aware there is still much to be done. In 2019, we produced a framework for independent living, but there is still a long way to go. We know that many disabled people are still being prevented from making basic decisions about their own lives, such as who assists them with personal care, and this is wholly unacceptable.

The COVID tragedy, which affected so many disabled people, led us to commissioning the 'Locked out: liberating disabled people's lives and rights in Wales beyond COVID-19' report. This report starkly set out how disabled people were often placed in a much more precarious position during the pandemic, and how these socioeconomic-based situations contributed to 68 per cent of COVID deaths being amongst our disabled community. As a result of this report, we established the disability rights taskforce, and I'm pleased to advise that the taskforce and all its working groups are meeting regularly, and are developing solutions to challenge the structural, physical and attitudinal barriers that disabled people face. The Welsh Government and Plaid Cymru have a shared determination to strengthen the rights of disabled people and to tackle the inequalities they continue to face and, together, we will ensure the success of the disability rights taskforce.

Promoting and embedding the social model of disability, in both Welsh Government and public bodies across Wales, is a firm priority of this Government. Through helping decision makers to understand their part in removing the obstacles that disabled people face, real change can take place. Working in co-production with the taskforce, we've commissioned Disability Wales, who are now delivering exciting and innovative training events, which are already making a difference.

Disabled people have a right to expect Welsh Government and all Welsh public bodies to model this change through their own behaviours. Disabled people often see disability-based discrimination not taken as seriously as other forms of prejudice. This must change. We should always call out discrimination, stand up against unacceptable practices, and help ensure that the voices of disabled people are heard. We're taking action by providing leadership and modelling behaviours that disabled people have a right to expect from organisations and individuals across Wales.

We have some way to go before we can state that disabled people have been liberated from the oppression that limits opportunities at every turn. And I can assure you that Welsh Government is fully committing to achieve this crucial goal. I'd like to end by thanking the disability equality forum, the disability rights taskforce, and its working group members, for their continued tenacity and commitment to disability rights. Diolch yn fawr.