A decade into the 21^stcentury, accessibility is still a major issue for disabled people. Not being able to use public transport is a huge problem, robbing people of their independence and often incurring additional travel costs when other forms of transport have to be used.

Aspire ran focus groups, held interviews with wheelchair users and ran online surveys to collect views on a range of transport issues. Our consultation responses to the Department for Transport on powered wheelchairs and mobility scooters and on improving bus passenger services made extensive use of this research.

Aspire regularly feed our expertise to government on a range of issues that affect people with spinal cord injury. Recently, Aspire has responded to the Department of Health on the Liberating the NHS – Commissioning for Patients paper; the Department for Work and Pensions on the Disability Living Allowance Reforms, Disability Employment Schemes and the 21st Century Welfare paper; and the Mayor of London on the Greater London Authority Draft Disability Equality Scheme 2010-2011.