The simple answer is I do not believe everything needs to have Disability Equality Training (DET) or awareness training, which is slightly difficult, or at least not formally. DET is about teaching people about the models of disability and that basically disabled people are human beings like everyone else. It can be useful for some but it can also be delivered in a hostile way that puts people disabled people for life.


The fact is you can not formally change attitudes but you can change and enforce behaviour in specific places like the workplace. As a consumer, I do not care what people think of me so long as they behave in an acceptable manner. Bus drivers for example just need to know how they are expected to act and do not need to be overloaded with the science and politics of disability or be trained to treat disabled people special or with pity by some badly delivered training.


I do believe policy makers and those who work in the health and social care fields, which directly impacts the lives of disabled people, do need to understand the issue of disability from all perspectives and in that context, I have myself delivered training to students at various universities. 


We live in an era where the public understanding of disability is improving and this means that disabled people may not always get everything their own way!