MORE could be done to improve life for people with disabilities in York.

A report by Healthwatch York up before City of York Council's Health and Wellbeing board last week said that overall, "the general consensus was that members of the public can behave negatively towards disabled people", but this was not the case for everyone who took part in the survey.

Just under 30 per cent of those who took part in the survey said the public attitude toward people with disabilities was "somewhat negative", and about five per cent said the public's attitude was "extremely negative".

The survey also found that the attitudes of some service providers in the city were also occasionally negative.

Respondents to the survey included the following comments:

"Service providers can sometimes struggle to understand things from a disabled person’s point of view. I don’t think that this is necessarily malicious."

"Some provide an excellent and accessible service. Some do not. It’s always pot luck and this makes life very hard."

"I have had no real issues with service providers and found a good number bend over backwards to make you equal."

"Many shop assistants look over the top of me and speak to friends and carers instead."

More than 35 per cent of those who completed the survey said they believed attitudes towards people with disabilities had worsened in the last three years, due in part to national media stories about benefit cheats.

One respondent said: "From chatting to other disabled people on the internet a lot of disabled people are frightened either to go out at night or face daily abuse and suspicion. This seems to be due to tabloid scare stories."

Some people with disabilities said they had experienced problems with bus services, where drivers have told wheelchair users they cannot get on the bus as there are already pushchairs on the bus.

The report made a series of recommendations to City of York Council, suggesting the organisation of a campaign to challenge stereotypes and highlighting the barriers disabled people face and what people can do about them.

It also recommended better education on disabilities in schools, disability equality and mental health awareness training for all public-facing staff, making it easier to report hate crime, and working with disabled people to design accessibility for new buildings.