Welcome to this special edition of the CordisPulse, which we have produced to mark the 13th UK Disability History Month. This is an annual national awareness campaign that takes place from 16 November to 16 December and aims to recognise the history of disabled people’s activism, including both their struggles for equality and achievements in changing the human rights landscape for individuals with disabilities in the UK.

For this PulseSpecial, we have produced a digest of key reports, briefings and tools published in 2021 and 2022 across the sectors we work in that focus on this year’s theme for Disability History Month: ‘disability, health and wellbeing’.

This PulseSpecial shows that we still have a long way to go to ensure that people with disabilities can access high-quality services to support their health and wellbeing. Across adults and children’s services evidence suggests that COVID-19 has had a disproportionate impact on the health and wellbeing outcomes for people with disabilities and that they have been adversely affected by the closure of services during the pandemic.

However, a wide range of resources and research, including those linked in this PulseSpecial, highlight actions and ways forward to improve the health and wellbeing of people with disabilities. This includes listening to people with disabilities and making sure they are centrally involved in their care, ensuring staff have sufficient skills and training to support people with disabilities, and the need for more support for people with disabilities following the pandemic.

Cordis Bright is committed to addressing the inequity evidenced in this PulseSpecial and improving outcomes for people across society. We understand the importance of making sure people with disabilities are meaningfully involved and reflected in the research we conduct and ensuring people with a disability are an equal and supported part of our team. We will continue to reflect on this as part of UK Disability History Month and throughout the year.