The government could be setting itself up to fail with its constant trumpeting of new visions because people have a habit of measuring reality against what they remember of the vision. But New Labour remains undaunted. So far we have had a vision for children's services, born out in the Children Act 2004, we've been promised a vision for adult social care, and the latest is a vision for improving the life chances of disabled people.

The vision is outlined in a report1 which states that by 2025 disabled people in the UK "should have full opportunities and choices to improve their quality of life and will be respected and included as equal members of society".

The report sets out the long-term strategy to achieve this under four headings: independent living; support for families of young disabled children; transition into adulthood; support and incentives for getting and staying in employment.

These four areas are pivotal in disabled people's lives. Underpinning many of the recommendations is a proposal, to be piloted over the next three years, which aims to boost independent living by amalgamating funding streams into an individual budget, which the disabled person can decide how to spend.

Putting aside this potentially radical step, there is plenty more to get to grips with in the report. John Knight, head of policy at disability charity Leonard Cheshire, says: "The document is helpful as it sets out a plan of action. There needs to be greater integration and the ingredients for that are here."

He has concerns, though. Local government is not included in the document to the degree he would have wished, leaving him unsure as to whether the necessary relationships between agencies will work. "They don't have ownership of it. It is pitched very much as a central government piece of work, but service delivery is a local government responsibility."

His unease is exacerbated because the vision for adult care is still not with us, and Derek Wanless is now carrying out an independent review of funding for older people's services. The fact that these interdependent documents are being drafted in isolation from one other is regrettable, Knight says.

Nevertheless, the proposals in the strategy are long overdue. Taking the widest definition, which this report does, of disability being "the disadvantage experienced by an individual as a result of barriers that impact on people with impairments and ill health", it encompasses about 11 million disabled adults and 770,000 children in the UK. They are more likely than non-disabled people to live in poverty; be economically inactive; experience problems with hate crime or harassment, housing, and transport; and less likely to have educational qualifications.

So is it fair to expect disabled people to wait another 20 years before they can be "respected and included as equal members of society"? While most would want to see some substantial progress made towards meeting the aims well before then, there is an acknowledgement that to change such long-standing and endemic attitudes will take time.

Knight is not so worried about the timescale. He is of the view that as the new Office for Disability Issues will get going this September, some "quite quick winds in terms of co-ordination and integration" will be generated.

First on its to-do list, he says, should be a look at how local government fits into the strategy in terms of delivery. Others, however, feel let down by the timescales.

Catherine A'Bear, communications director at the Shaw Trust, which provides employment services for disabled people, says they are "unambitious". "We are disappointed with the timescales they are talking about when so many of the measures are already under way."

A'Bear is "not altogether thrilled" by pensions secretary Alan Johnson's idea that Jobcentre Plus should be at the heart of the Pathways to Work programme, which helps those on incapacity benefit return to work. Plans to roll the programme out further could be delayed, she says, if Jobcentre Plus is to completely take on the running of it.

"It is strange because there is a network of private and voluntary organisations that are delivering job brokering services under New Deal for Disabled People and they have told the minister that they can help run Pathways to Work. Our staff already have the skills and if we want to get it running quickly we are able to help do that."

Ignoring this offer would be a waste of a massive resource as these organisations are experienced in helping disabled people who want to find a job. "Although this document has taken on board the problem, it hasn't taken on board the work already under way," A'Bear adds.

This feeling is mirrored at the Employers' Forum on Disability where there were raised eyebrows from chief executive Susan Scott-Parker when she read the strategy. The forum has more than 400 members employing 20 per cent of the workforce, and it works to make it easier for employers to employ disabled people.

As well as recommending more business-to-business communication to raise awareness across companies of the benefits of employing disabled people, the report also recommends a best practice standard for employers.

"I was a little surprised to see this as Alan Johnson launched one with the forum in November," says Scott-Parker.

The forum's disability standard means that organisations can assess their performance on disability, taking into consideration risk management, customer care, employment, and accessibility of goods and services.
Despite this, she says: "We are pleased that the government has made it policy to value employers as important stakeholders in this system. For a long time organisations have been blamed for not employing disabled people but there has been nothing to help them get it right."

But the best way to effect real change in attitudes is to get business people to meet disabled people face to face. Scott-Parker doesn't feel this is emphasised enough in the report and getting it to happen will be one of the forum's priorities.

Another part of the equation is the government's shake-up of incapacity benefit and accompanying plan to get more people off this benefit and back into work. This month it announced that those with the most severe health conditions or disabilities will qualify for more money than they do currently, while those with more manageable conditions will receive less - with plans to remove the incentives to stay on incapacity benefit.
Scott-Parker says: "One of the reasons we have so many people on incapacity benefit is the perception that they are not going to get a fair deal when they look for work - that's why the benefit was created. We don't know why they are on benefit or what skills they have. We have no reason to believe they are all malingerers. The message should be that the government is serious about finding work for those who want it and it should be on the basis of one person being matched with the right job."

As for helping parents of disabled children back into employment - the report does not offer enough, says Jill Harrison, director of external affairs at charity Contact a Family.

Just 3 per cent of mothers of disabled children work full-time compared with 27 per cent of mothers overall. It means that 55 per cent of disabled children grow up in or at the margins of poverty. Child care which, expensive at the best of times, is even more expensive when you have a disabled child.

Although Harrison is pleased with many of the recommendations in the chapter on early years and family support, she is disappointed that government cannot see the importance of change to the tax credit system.
Tax credits help people in work on low incomes but everyone receives the same amount of money regardless of circumstances. Harrison wants a sliding scale, so that families with children with the highest needs have additional help.

"This is a fundamental thing that is needed to improve these families' lives because it prevents them going out to work or doing ordinary things like others.

"It's about different provision for different groups of people. We need to sort out the problems now," she says. "It's nothing short of scandalous that there are many women who want to work but can't because there's little suitable, affordable child care."

Although she can see that the government is aiming for much better child care by 2025, in the interim she wants to see much more help for families.

Meanwhile, Knight says: "The government has one last chance to get it right, otherwise disabled people will be swimming in a sea of fragmented services for ever more."

1. Improving the Life Chances of Disabled People from www.strategy.gov.uk

RECOMMENDATIONS

Independent Living

• From early 2005: Individual budgets to be piloted, bringing together sources of funding, services equipment and adaptations.
• By 2010: each council should have a user-led organisation modelled on centres for independent living.
• By 2012: Department of Health and other departments should work towards a new approach to supporting independent living, delivering support, equipment, and adaptations

Early Years

• By 2015: Sure Start unit to ensure that all families with a disabled child under five can access high quality, flexible child care.
• From 2006: local authorities should consider including the provision of a keyworker to families as a key performance indicator of local social care, education and health services.
• By 2006: DfES should identify how local authorities can shift the emphasis of expenditure towards early intervention. If transitional funding is needed, DfES could consider a national fund to cover restructure of services.

Transition

• By 2015: all disabled young people and their families will experience continuity and co-ordination in the services they receive, as both children and adults.
• By 2015: all young people will have the opportunity to be fully involved in the personalised planning of their future activities and provision.

Employment

• From 2005: Department for Work and Pensions and DfES to ensure that New Deal for Skills and employer training pilots meet the needs of disabled people.
• By 2010: DWP should restructure the ways of providing in-work support through Access to Work which provides help, such as interpreters, and special equipment so that disabled people can work.