Change is on the way

From the end of September 2012, there’ll be a change to the way in which we produce Disability Now and the way in which you’ll be able to access it.

We will continue to produce the same high quality diverse content, including those things you tell us you enjoy such as regular analysis and critiques of the Government’s ongoing cuts under the guise of welfare reform. We’ll still be producing features on the big issues facing disabled people. And we’ll have our personality and lifestyle features.

The difference is that all this content will, from September, be available on a new and massively redeveloped website.

Over the past few years, the viability of producing a print magazine has become increasingly difficult. Although we’ve done all we could to keep production costs down, the economic situation has meant they have continued to rise. Increases in the price of paper have had a particular impact.

The print magazine has also been losing advertisers. Some businesses have regrettably ceased trading altogether; others have had to reduce their spend on advertising.

At the same time subscription levels for the magazine have also fallen off drastically as disabled people have found their spare cash for anything beyond the essentials of life, diminishing, not least because of the Government’s aggressive approach to cutting the benefits budget.

But the advantages of moving to the web are not only to do with reduced costs. We will be able to provide our content to everyone for free. Reaching more people via the web will mean greater impact for our campaigns and more chances for you to take part in them.

Disability Now will continue to be the place where the genuine voice of disabled people is represented. But in future, on the web, it will be louder and heard by more people.