IT has been a busy time for East Renfrewshire Disability Action.

Our meetings take place in Eastwood Health Centre on the last Monday of every month, with the exception of July and December.

The group was launched in March 2011 and campaigns at local and national level.

As well as promoting advocacy and inclusiveness, we support people with all ranges of disability.

If you have an interest in local disability issues within East Renfrewshire, please get in touch.

We are always on the lookout for new members, whether you have a disability or are able bodied, to further our aims.

Our next meeting is on March 27 and there will be further meetings on April 24, May 22 and June 26.

Among the issues currently of interest to the group is a campaign for more accessible taxis.

East Renfrewshire is served by a mixture of public and private taxis, amounting to around the 500 mark.

East Renfrewshire Disability Action has been pushing for a number of years for this situation to be rectified.

Disabled people use taxis for a variety of reasons. Sometimes, they are the only mode of transport people have for getting out of the house.

It may be that people use taxis for getting to work, keeping appointments or socialising.

What they don’t need are any extra obstacles put in their way.

Many of those who are users of wheelchairs are also reliant on benefits or, if they are working, are part-time or on low pay, so they can’t afford the extra cost of having to go outwith the local area to use a Glasgow or Paisley taxi instead.

For many people with a disability, being housebound leads to other health issues which make problems even harder to overcome.

We have made our case to the licensing committee and will continue to push for improvements. Hopefully, they will listen carefully to what we have to say.