Disability Campaigning 2012

I believe passionately that the success of disability campaigning in this new not-so-bright millennium is down to the cohesion of disparate groups, all with different messages and different styles, attacking this government on every level.

Too intelligent to spend our time bickering and pulling apart, campaigners have attacked this so called "Welfare Reform" with commitment, drive, innovation and desperation.

We don't campaign because we want to - far from it. Many campaigners have made themselves so sick they've been hospitalised. Karen Sherlock died campaigning for what she believed in.

Kaliya Franklin is so unwell, she can barely leave her house.
Sarah Campbell (@SpoonyDoc) is having the worst flare of her life and is now totally housebound.
I've been in and out of hospital since January and have to go back today.
Secret Spartacus is also having a terrible flare and is finding it increasingly hard to cope. .
The We Are Spartacus group is also struggling to keep afloat due to sickness and exhaustion
Nicky Clark (@mrsnickyclark) is trying to hold her family together

What was Spartacus? Well, back in January it was simply a hashtag to launch a report worked on, produced, researched, designed and distributed by sick and disabled people. It spoke for no-one and anyone. It was a call to act, to uncover, to expose this government and all their dirty tricks.

Could Spartacus have happened in a different time or place? No. Without social media, sick and disabled people would still have no voice, still be reliant on big charities to speak for us.

But can social media act alone in a bubble? Of course not.

Would disability rights be on the agenda without ALL of the work done by different groups and individuals  to highlight our cause? Of course not.

Black Triangle worked tirelessly to ensure that the BMA voted against Work Capability assessments. Their website is currently the best source of information for those seeking to help in our struggle.

DPAC have consistently and tirelessly taken the fight to the streets and to Atos, the private IT company charged with finding sick or disabled people fit for work.

Other groups have focussed on workfare, such as Boycott Welfare Reform.

Nicky Clark defends sick and disabled people from hate speech tirelessly and often thanklessly

Atos Stories aims to compile human tales of suffering and despair caused by this farce of a system.

For my part, I have worked more than anything else, to bring the Labour Party back to a disability agenda that listens to the sick and disabled, rather than preaching to us. Much of this work is behind the scenes, or relies on a well timed article on my blog or in the Guardian. That is my personal passion and I will not be satisfied until Labour accept their part in introducing ESA and it's failures.

Would I "work with the enemy"? Damn right I would. If they asked. I worked with the Lib Dems at a time when no-one else would, changing their party policy to oppose WCAs. For all the good it did, it was still a change of policy.

Would I sit at a table with Atos or Iain Duncan Smith? Damn right I would. If they asked. Which they haven't. I will do anything to improve the situation for sick and disabled people as it stands. But let me be very clear - I want WCAs scrapped and I do not want PIP to be introduced. 

Nonetheless, I have not yet managed to persuade Labour that they should support either of those positions. Yet. I have not managed to persuade large charities to support them either. Yet.

I believe that any small change makes things better for people like me. People like you. If your WCA can be fairer or kinder or more accessible, I will take those "scraps from the table" - it would be ludicrous not to.

If PIP can be designed to be more accurate or fairer than ESA, of COURSE I would do all I could to make it so. If I can ensure that fewer seriously sick or disabled people undergo a face to face assessment, I will. If I can change the descriptors - for ESA or DLA to make them fairer, to ensure that fewer people face misery or poverty, I will. If the Conservatives ever deigned to discuss their welfare agenda with me, I would sit at a table with them.

But not only do I respect those that won't, I believe there is a desperate need for both approaches.

I imagine the DWP as a bullseye and every group is hitting the mark from a hundred different angles.

Some by protesting right outside Atos offices, some by preparing academic work to challenge the lies of the DWP, some by working behind the scenes to win the heart and minds of our politicians, some by isolating the DWP to ensure that doctors won't support this failing system, some by telling their stories and allowing them to go viral, some by challenging press releases and facts the moment they are uttered and setting the record straight, some by appearing on TV or Radio to take the issues to a wider audience, some opposing hate crime....

Bang! Bang! Bang! Each arrow hits it's mark and every time we win a small victory, the DWP get weaker, their position becomes less and less tenable.

But we cannot work alone. Simply lobbying politicians would not get us very far.
Simply protesting outside Atos offices would not get us very far.
Working with the BMA in isolation would have been fine, but would not have had nearly the impact it did if no-one else was opposing WCAs
Producing a report or two would mean nothing at all without armies of supporters tweeting and sending them to their MPs and making sure they are read by the widest audience possible.
Complaining about hate crime would do little in a bubble
Telling our stories would not mean very much if no-one knew what we were talking about.

Other movements have come and gone. Protesting and campaigning is hard. It is exhausting. As chronically ill or disabled people, our strength lies in doing what we can, when we can, respecting each other's views entirely, never pulling apart always pulling together and all realising that no matter what happens, we are all on the same side, we all want the same things.

We may choose to achieve them differently, but that's what makes it work. That's why we can attack the DWP from so many different angles. That's why they have no idea what we will do next.

So I will spend every last drop of energy trying to hit the mark. I don't care in the slightest how I do it or who I do it with, but if I can score a "win" I will and if it makes this terrible mess better for just one person who is ill or struggles to cope with a disability, it will have been worth it.

But make no mistake, this system is cruel, dangerous and based on flawed ideology. It will collapse and I will fight to the end to make sure that it does. But I'm just a blogger. A writer, A lobbyist.

I write what I think and no-one controls what I say. Sometimes you will agree with me, sometimes you won't, but maybe if I keep saying it, some of it gets through. I am no more or less than words on a page.