1. What are the main difficulties and challenges for an organisation trying to promote disability rights?

[David Grayson] Getting air-time for the issue! I have been shocked at how hard it has been to get even the broadsheets and political magazines to treat disability issues seriously - and to see them as questions of human rights and social inclusion. Unless it is a story about people in wheelchairs chaining themselves to railings in Whitehall, "brave disabled person overcoming heroic odds," or a row over welfare reform, the media doesn't seem interested.

2. What were the greatest strengths and weaknesses of the NDC?

[David Grayson] Our strengths were that whether we came from a disability perspective or as an employer / provider of goods and services (and several NDC members were all of those) we have been a very cohesive force, working together with a common vision and agenda. Our weaknesses were the lack of powers or budget that the DDA gave us!

3. In the light of your experience, what would you do differently if you were beginning the job now? What would you do the same?

[David Grayson] At the outset, we invested time in getting to know each other and building a sense of common purpose. From the early days, we identified key "stakeholders" and have done our best to keep up a two-way dialogue with stakeholders. With the benefit of hindsight, I would have pushed earlier to get more opinion-formers - in business, politics and the media - to understand and profile the disability agenda.

4. What are the 3 top messages you would send to the DRC?

[David Grayson] 1.Educate 2.Conciliate 3.Litigate - in that descending order! In other words - let's try and inspire business and other employers / providers of goods and services to go beyond legal minima. Where organisations are genuinely trying - but make honest mistakes (not least because this is a very complex area of law and practice!) - then don't throw the book at them - but encourage conciliation and positive resolution / learning. But - and this is a very big but - don't be afraid to throw the book at those persistent offenders who couldn't give a damm about disabled people.

5.What should the DRC do to ensure people with mental health difficulties enjoy equal rights with all other disabled people?

[David Grayson] Half way through the NDC's life, I was invited to sum up a national conference in Church House, Westminster on mental health. I think what left the most indelible impression on me, was how speaker after speaker from the floor, stood up and said that they explained away gaps in their cvs actually caused by mental health problems as having been because they had been in prison! They honestly believed that they would get a better deal from would-be employers as an ex-con than as someone with a history of mental health problems. Yet 1 in 4 of us at some stage in our lives will have problems with our mental health. And as the pressures of working life caused by globalisation and technology intensify, more of us face stress and pressures for work-life balance, this is going to become a much bigger issue. The DRC will need to open up the debate much more - and encourage a much more sophisticated understanding of the breadth of circumstances covered under the catch-all title of "mental health."

6. What has been your experience of 'joined-up'government? How could departments do it better?

[David Grayson] Very mixed! I think the instincts of Ministers on "joined-up Government" are right and positive. But we are talking about massive culture change - and that needs constant leadership, reinforcement and training - especially where the rubber hits the road. Take welfare reform. Technology and advances in medicine happily create many more opportunities for more disabled people to live more independent lives - to work, for instance - but then the "system" often penalises people who take up these opportunities. I have been following the case of Colin Hughes - the BBC producer - for instance - who ran into problems with the Independent Living Fund because his wages were too high and he had accumulated too much capital.

But it is not just government which has to be more joined-up! It is EFD members and other businesses too! For example, thinking about accessibility of new products and services - such as ensuring Internet-based services eg in banking are accessible to blind people - do they conform to RNIB guidelines? Are disabled people being included in "slice of life" advertising?

7. What should the government's top priority be?

[David Grayson] Log "disability" firmly in the front of their brains - so for each and every policy when being developed or reviewed, people are asking: "and what are the opportunities here to advance full inclusion of disabled people?" For example, I am a passionate believer in the power of new information and communications technology to expand life chances for many disabled people - but they could also create new forms of exclusion. In the drive for National Grids for Learning and for Health and for Justice and for Direct Government - is disability factored in?

In specific policy terms: education, education, education - both for young people who are disabled - and for the rest of society about disabled people!

8. What would you change, if anything, about the 'See the Person' campaign?

[David Grayson] The size of the budget!

Seriously: it needs long-term commitment -and rather more than paid advertising, what is particularly needed is getting champions to explain how disability impacts in their areas of experience - David Puttnam did this brilliantly in terms of his industries of media and cinema when he gave the Leonard Cheshire Lecture last year.

9. What is your advice to the big disability charities?

[David Grayson] 1.Continue the progress of recent years to ensure that you are organisations of as well as for disabled people. 2.Develop the forward agenda which builds on the changes taking place in technology, politics, society, business -as the NDC has tried to initiate with the DEMOS Report - "Towards an Inclusive Future" and 3.think about the next generation of leaders of the disability movement - how can we bring on new talent faster?

10. What does the public sector need to do, given that they often seem to block the private sector's efforts to reform?

[David Grayson] When I started my first job after university - in marketing at Procter and Gamble - my boss gave me a very valuable piece of advice. "Always remember that when you are bored to the back teeth with that new Fairy Liquid advert - because you have seen it through concept stage, budget approval, filming, editing, test-marketing etc - is precisely the moment when consumers are probably just becoming aware of it!" In other words, Governments produce laws, codes of practice etc - and when they are produced, there is a sense - "right, that's done! Now on to the next item!" In fact, far more energy needs to go in to explaining why a particular law or reform, what it is designed to achieve, and how you can implement it sensibly. I don't think necessarily that business - even small business - is inherently hostile to regulation - but it is rightly anti ill-thought out, unilateral moves the purpose and impact of which, is not fully explained with a reasonable lead-time to bring in.

11. What particular messages do you have for Update readers?

[David Grayson] Keep with it! You are pioneers - sometimes it can seem hard to discern progress! All too often, progress is much slower than we want - and healthy impatience is right. The world is changed by the dissatisfied! But equally, by being part of EFD you are at least signalling a wish to be on the journey. I listened to a young student at a conference the other day. he told the story of the man who wanted to change the world. After a time, he decided that wasn't possible, so he tried to change his country instead. Then he realised that he couldn't do that - so he tried to change his family. Finally, on his deathbed, he understood. If he changed himself, that might change his family; and then they might change the country; and just possibly, the country might change the world!

I see the glass as half-full rather than half-empty! We have to build on the experience and commitment of EFD members; encourage you all to speed up and go further - and hope that your example will change many others too!

[David Grayson] 12.How do you want the NDC to be remembered?

Reflecting on the fifty months of the NDC's life, I believe we have played three distinct roles:

As the voice to Government on disability issues when a Disability Rights Commission (DRC) was not on the cards
Paving the way for a DRC
And articulating a new agenda for disability rights campaigners.
1.A strong independent voice to Government

We tried from day one, to use the full extent of the NDC's admittedly limited powers - and I hope we have consistenty punched above our weight.

2.Paving the way

I hope that the NDC's early years helped to convert political opinion to the importance of having a full Commission. Once the present Government made clear its commitment to creating a DRC, we have done all we could to help that to happen as quickly and as smoothly as possible. We have tried to distill and pass on our experience to the new Commissioners - and we have speeded up work on a draft of a new Code explaining the final stage of implementation of Part III of the DDA in 2004. As a result, we are handing over to the DRC a working draft which they will be able to consult on almost immediately.

3.A New Agenda

We have also tried to develop a new agenda for disabled people, through speeches, articles and participation in external conferences. In particular, this past year through working with the think-tank DEMOS.