Today’s Blog post is written by Rob Trotter, research officer at Scope and former intern at Runnymede

Work by the Runnymede Trust has found that by 2051 there will be around 3.8 million black and minority ethnic (BME) people over the age of 65, a huge increase on current estimates. One key effect of this ageing population will be the impact on how many disabled people there are from black and minority ethnic backgrounds. Older societies often have more disabled people, so as the BME population ages, we can also expect the numbers of BME disabled people to increase.

Research published today by Scope and the Equalities National Council (ENC) presents new evidence about this community, drawn from statistical analysis and focus groups with nearly 60 care users.

The report – Over-looked Communities, Over-due Change - confirms what others have found: that BME disabled people face a range of difficulties in their everyday lives.

People told us about money worries, and trying to make do on low incomes without being able to find a job. Our statistics showed that at least half of all BME disabled people live in household poverty – and the true picture is likely to be even higher.

Others told us about the challenges they faced trying to get care and support through services. Many people spoke about being lonely and isolated, and so struggled to find out what help they were entitled to. Others reported local services translating only very basic materials for care users.

Today's blog post is written by Ojeaku Nwabuzo, a researcher at Runnymede

On Monday 6 August I read a twitter message from a close friend saying “riots are about to happen in Hackney”. At this point there had been two days of civil unrest in Tottenham and Brixton and I had a feeling it would eventually erupt in Hackney. Why? Well there was a pattern emerging. These were urban areas with high proportions of deprivation, unemployment and minority ethnic people that appeared to be reacting to the death of Mark Duggan at the hands of the police.

Over the next few months I worked on the Riot Roundtables project; one of the few in-depth inquires into civil unrest in England last year that asked if race was a factor in the disturbances. As part of this project we visited communities across England and overwhelmingly participants in our research said that racial injustice was an underlying cause of the disturbances in August 2011.

Many roundtable participants felt that the death of Mark Duggan, a mixed raced man, had awakened a deep and real memory of historical injustices and grievances that Black and minority ethnic (BME) communities have had with the police and the criminal justice system. Currently, we can see in America how the killing of Trayvon Martin has lead to outrage within the black community and as one commentator said his death “is finally lifting the lid on the US's racist underbelly”.