Despite recent progress, almost a fifth of air travellers with disabilities are still dissatisfied with their experience

Disabled passengers will have better safeguards when flying, the government has pledged, including protection from damaged wheelchairs and support from trained staff.

A report from an industry-led accessibility group said there was “much more to be done” but progress was being made, a year after a review led by Tanni Grey-Thompson demanded action to improve air travel in response to numerous incidents in which passengers had been left stranded without assistance.

Dr Denise Al Mari-de Waal and Aaron Hume call for lifelong support and an integrated care pathway that recognises the physical and mental health impacts of cerebral palsy

The sudden passing of RJ Mitte has deeply affected many people in the cerebral palsy community (RJ Mitte, actor best known for Breaking Bad, dies aged 34, 12 October). His success challenged assumptions and showed what can be achieved when people are given opportunities and support.

Yet the 165,000 people with cerebral palsy in the UK are too often underestimated. Others frequently decide what we can and cannot do without recognising our abilities, ambitions or potential.

The prime minister has a once-in-a-generation chance to reintroduce fairness to the system. He has to seize the moment

Back in 2009, months before the coalition government unleashed sweeping austerity, the then Conservative backbencher Iain Duncan Smith produced a study that would go on to lay the foundations for the rollout of universal credit. Now, nearly two decades later, Duncan Smith and his thinktank, the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ), has published State of Dependency: a landmark report promising to expose “the full scale of Britain’s worklessness crisis”.

The study paints a picture of mass benefits reliance: it identifies 3,400 local areas where more than half the working-age population are on out-of-work benefits, or “economic opiates”, as the authors call them. They’ve even provided an interactive map (in the yellow and black colours of a road hazard sign, no less) so members of the public can type in their postcode to see if their neighbourhood is “a welfare hotspot”.

Frances Ryan is a Guardian columnist

Resolution Foundation says ‘crude changes’ to benefits system would probably make it harder for people to work

Banning people with anxiety, ADHD or autism from claiming disability benefits would not deliver major financial savings and would probably make it harder for them to get or stay in a job and participate in society, a leading thinktank has warned.

The Resolution Foundation said any proposals to make certain mental health and neurodevelopmental conditions ineligible for personal independence payments (Pip) would be “crude changes” aimed at hitting unrealistic savings targets.

Readers respond to John Harris’s article on the need to consider disabled people of working age when reforming the care system

I found myself nodding in agreement at John Harris’s worries about his son’s future as he leaves full-time education to enter the world of adult social services (Social care for disabled adults is in as much crisis as support for elderly people – so why is the government silent about it?, 5 October). John’s concerns were shared by my wife and I as our disabled daughter moved from her specialist residential further-education setting 17 years ago.

However, with her gutsy approach and strong financial support by way of 24-hour care from our local council, she is able to say, “I love my life”, and has expressed this in a little book, How I Flourished, published by Lewisham Adult Learning. This despite being quadriplegic, having no speech and being dependent on her personal assistants for all the necessaries of life.
I could wax at length about her wheelchair dancing, the “proper job” she secured with a wonderful charity (the Deptford-based Entelechy Arts), her painting, thirst for maintaining social relationships involving long and tiring overseas travel, and so on. The blunt truth, however, is that we, as her parents, have always needed to be closely involved in managing her care and safety, and for taking up the opportunities to broaden her landscape. We are aware that she has had a much better deal than so many people in adult care institutions.

Overhaul of special education in England could unravel, thinktank finds, because of ‘use it before you lose it’ dynamic

Labour’s flagship changes to special education in England are at risk of unravelling because parents are rushing to secure support for their children before the system changes, new analysis has found.

The Institute for Government (IfG) thinktank says the government’s plans to largely replace education, health and care plans (EHCPs) in England with more widespread support in mainstream schools may be too optimistic and take longer to complete than its 2030 timeline.

Anna Bird and Rick Burgess respond to the government’s proposal to axe the health element from universal credit that disabled people under 25 receive

Reports that the government is considering removing the universal credit health element for disabled people under 25 will be alarming for families (Key disability benefit for young people may be axed under major welfare changes, 1 October). For many, it raises serious concerns about how they will keep disabled young people supported and able to participate in everyday life.

At Contact, we hear from families worried about universal credit and its impact on disabled family members. Some receiving the health element are studying, working part-time or volunteering; others have disabilities so significant that paid employment is impossible.

LD is the submissive to Lady Alice’s dominatrix – and it has been a revelation for them both

• How do you do it? Share the story of your sex life, anonymously

I have cerebral palsy and live with my parents. Lady Alice is a delicious secret