DISABLED people from all over Yorkshire gathered in Huddersfield to launch an equal rights campaign.

The gathering took place on Saturday at Kirklees Council's Swallow Court Day Centre in Springwood.

It was part of cerebral palsy charity Scope's Time to Get Equal campaign, which aims to tackle discrimination against disabled people.

Disabled people at the event shared their experiences of difficulties carrying out daily tasks, such as shopping or going for a drink with friends.

They also discussed how to co-ordinate local campaigns for improving disabled access.

Catie Smith, a spokeswoman for Scope, said: "We know that for small firms making improvements can be expensive.

"But quite often it is case of making a small change, or even just adjusting the attitude of staff.

"For example, in a London bar, staff refused to serve a man with cerebral palsy because they thought he was drunk."

Time To Get Equal follows a high profile survey carried out by Scope and disabled people across the UK two months ago.

The Free2Pee campaign involved around 1,500 disabled people visiting their local pubs, bars and restaurants to see if they had disabled access.

The test was carried out because the Disability Discrimination Act had just been passed, which gave disabled people the legal right to access public goods and services.

The aim of Free2Pee was Scope's attempt to show that many business proprietors are unsure of the law and disabled people are still not being properly catered for.

Catie Smith added: "We took Free2Pee as the title because if you go into a pub and have a few drinks, you'll need the toilet and lots of pubs don't have disabled access to the toilets.

"So disabled people have to think very carefully about where they go.

"The campaign is all about having the freedom to not have to plan for hours just to have a night out."

Scope campaigns manager, Ruth Scott, added: "The message to the hospitality industry is clear: work harder to fulfil your legal obligations and secure the £50bn income from the 10 million disabled people who are denied access to your facilities."

The results of the Free2Pee testing of disabled access are being published in a report on December 3 - the United Nations' International Day of Disabled Persons.