God Bless us Every One!

As I frantically try to tie up as many loose ends as possible before tomorrow, I couldn't log off for Xmas (actually Dave is going to lock my computer in a drawer for 3 days!!) without a few seasonal thoughts.

The last two weeks have been mind-blowing. As soon as I launched the appeal fund for DLA research, it was as though the disabled and spoonie community went into overdrive. Were we all waiting for a focus? Did we all just decide that fighting was the only option left to us?

When my DLA rejection post went viral, it was as though the universe conspired to give our campaign a boost just when we needed it most.

We raised the first £2000 almost immediately. When I checked last, we were over £2,500 and donations are still coming in. The generosity, trust and optimism you are showing is overwhelming.

Over 200 people have volunteered to be "Constituency Reps" and send the research to their MP on the release date.

Charities, media and even politicians have rushed to help behind the scenes - the response has surprised no-one more than me.

On twitter, people are springing up with their own ideas for the New Year, ways to maximise the impact of the research or get our vital messages to peers before the House of Lords return to debate the welfare reform bill in the New Year.

Lib Dem peers have received literally hundreds of messages about Time Limiting ESA.

The change in attitudes and confidence is remarkable. Something seems to have convinced you all that we CAN do this, and the more of us that believe it, the more chance there is of it coming true.

It occurs to me that this IS the Big Society Dave. This IS a Movement for Change Labour!! Yet how ironic that none of you engage with it? Clearly this is not the kind of participation you were hoping for.
We won't go away. We won't all drift off once you use your privileges to force your incoherent bill through parliament.

We've learnt that we can DO this. We can do it on our own. We can build support and friendships, we can help each other out. We can network and every day that network grows. Every day more people learn about our fight and every day they join our campaign.

If we can do this in just over a year, can you imagine, Dave, how annoying we will be by next Christmas? Can you imagine just what a PR nightmare we will become? Is it not better to just engage with us now, before it's too late? Before you take a step you cannot turn back from? Before you introduce policies that are going to see a steady stream of cancer patients at soup kitchens and wheelchair users begging on the street? Does it really have to be this hard?

We are the Big Society. We are the Good society. We might even be Alarm Clock Britain and the Squeezed Middle - it really is time you considered that. We are a constituency of millions, we are intelligent and capable. It's time you considered that too.

So guys, pour a glass of eggnog, pull up an opiate and give yourselves the most enormous gold star!!

As The Broken of Britain so eloquently remind us - "Alone we Whisper, Together we Shout."

Have the happiest, most joyous of Christmases and every single one of us has the gift of knowing that we're not alone any more.

Time to Choose

Good news!!! We hit the target for the research fund!! Yep, It's finally back up and running and has surpassed the £2,000 target!! Wonderful news and quite thrilling.

The research I'm co-ordinating  is very nearly finished, printers are booked, envelope stuffers recruited, designers designing, researchers burrowing, PR team talking themselves hoarse, briefers briefing, analysts analysing and we have pledges from over 150 different constituencies to personally email a copy of the research to their MP on the release date. If you would like to volunteer as "constituency rep" just leave a comment below leaving a name and constituency. All you have to do is email your MP a copy of the research on a certain date at a certain time (to be confirmed) with a covering letter asking them as a constituent to please read it and respond. (Template letter will be provided.)
You can email me on suey2yblog@hotmail.co.uk

The response has been overwhelming, and I'm confident we can put together a very comprehensive media response. Again if you would like to volunteer to speak to journalists or make phone calls, leave your name below. Again, email me on suey2yblog@hotmail.co.uk

If you live in Sussex, you can volunteer with the envelope stuffing or addressing. (7th & 8th Jan)

If you have a courier firm you can save us some money ;)

If you have design or print experience, please get in touch.

And between now and the next debate of the welfare reform bill in the Lords, (11th Jan) RT everything on twitter, post everything to Facebook and ask people to share. Make as much noise as you possibly can. Keep the emails and letters going to Lib Dem Peers and Crossbenchers https://mail-attachment.googleusercontent.com/attachment?ui=2&ik=51bddf73de&view=att&th=13457243d7d0b796&attid=0.1.1&disp=inline&safe=1&zw&saduie=AG9B_P_lB1l0iRUbrf4HvArsAsO7&sadet=1324469485508&sads=djEAXwKC_ZZYhnL-0f5GmnwyhHg 
http://www.libdems.org.uk/peers.aspx

So this is my question. Would you like me to let the research fund run and use the money to maximising the impact of  the research, or shall I stick to the original target?

With more funds we can mail out more copies, make more phone calls (at the moment I'm just using three of my own phones!!) and basically pay for some of the things we would otherwise have to do ourselves, ie driving things to London, sending people to meetings etc.

I will post a full breakdown of accounts once the report has been released so that you can see where all the money went.

At the same time, some may feel that a target is a target and it is unfair to move the goalposts. Please feel free to give an honest opinion.

Please tell me what you think below.

Sue

The Very Definition of Irony

I am Sue Marsh. Disability Campaigner.

With just 4 or 5 weeks to go to save Disability Living Allowance, I am working flat out on major research aimed at protecting 3.2 Million vulnerable people from losing benefits that they rely on to survive.

I have severe crohn's disease. Probably one of the most severe cases in the country.

I have had 7 major life saving operations to remove over 30 obstructions (blockages) from my bowel.

I take chemo-shots every two weeks that suppress my immune system, ensuring that I regularly have to fight infections. Exhaustion, pain and nausea plague every single day of my life.

I have osteoprosis and malnutrition.

I have had major seizures and a stroke.

Nonetheless, I have just heard from my own Disability Living Allowance application, that it has been rejected. Completely. I will receive no support at all from DLA. Despite claiming successfully in the past, despite only getting weaker and more frail and less able to live independently, my reconsideration was rejected.

The only option now is to appeal. I will have to fill in a horribly complicated appeal form over the Xmas period, wait up to one year to go to tribunal, and probably go bankrupt in the mean time.

The state will pay thousands to hear my appeal.

The only conclusion I can come to is that if I don't qualify for DLA, no-one with bowel disease can.

The reasons they gave for the original rejection were nonsensical and didn't relate to he information I had given on my form. Today, the letter refusing my reconsideration had no details at all.

I honestly thought that sense would prevail. DLA is not (yet) ESA and decisions are usually taken with at least some logic.

So do I carry on fighting for DLA for 3.2 Million or fight for myself? There simply aren't the hours in the day to do both. There's no contest is there? The 3.2 Million must come first. The deadlines are even the same!!!

I just need some help. I cannot clean my home properly any more. I often can't look after my children or even myself. My husband takes more and more time off work to care for me. It costs me £70 in petrol every time  have to go to the specialist hospital 130 miles away from home. I must spend more on good quality food, or I just get more ill. I don't want the world, I just want to survive.

What an utter, utter waste of time and resources.

We Won Something!!!

Last night, Peers voted against the government to support Lord Best's amendment on housing benefit and spare rooms. There's a very good summary here:  http://www.politicshome.com/uk/article/41983/lord_best_benefit_cut_treats_homes_as_transit_camps.html

The were defeated by a majority of 68!! 72 Crossbenchers, 14 LibDems and even one Conservative! (Lord Newton of Braintree, we salute you!)

Here are the Lib Dem Peers who voted against the government :

• Eric Avebury
• Brian Cotter
• Archy Kirkwood (former Chief Whip in the Commons)
• Veronica Linklater
• Ken Macdonald
• Sue Miller (former Liberal Democrat Home Affairs spokesperson)
• Roger Roberts
• Ros Scott (former Party President)
• John Shipley
• Trevor Smith
• Matthew Taylor (former chair of the party’s Campaigns and Communications Committee)
• Celia Thomas
• Jenny Tonge
• Geoff Tordoff (former Chief Whip in the Lords)

Ben Stoneham abstained.

(Hat Tip to Lib Dem Voice http://www.libdemvoice.org/14-liberal-democrat-rebels-help-defeat-housing-benefit-cuts-in-the-house-of-lords-26224.html )

In plain terms, it means people in social housing with a spare room cannot be forced to downsize and the government have to go away and come up with a better plan. This is particularly important for disabled people who may have had adaptions made to their homes to live independently or who need a second room for a carer. 

The Lib Dems originally stopped the government from cutting housing benefit by 10% for the long term unemployed  so this is clearly an issue they are prepared to fight on. It's too early to tell whether this is just an extension of their commitment to protect tenants, or part of a broader willingness, to take policies within the welfare reform bill on merit. 

That's all we ask, after all. That EVERY policy, every proposal is discussed on MERIT and peers vote accordingly. 

Either way, it's a welcome change :)

**Update : The Research Fund raised a spectacular £1,900 so far in less than 24 hours. Please keep donating and spreading the word, thank you so much for your generosity. 

DONATE HERE 

Research Fund - Fighting Disability Cuts

For months now, I have been working on vital research. There are only a few of us, all unpaid, all seriously unwell or disabled. 

We have no funding, we are not a charity or an NPO. We do what we do because we are desperate. Because it is our lives being decided in Westminster, our futures in the hands of remote politicians. 

We do it for the people who can't fight for themselves, for those who may not even know what is being done in their name. We do it for the people who have shared their stories of fear or desperation or hardship. 

We have given our time and what precious energy we have to presenting evidence and testimonial to politicians who have been all to often, unwilling to listen.  

Now, time is running out. We have just a few more weeks to present our research to MPs, Lords, the media and the public. We need to get our work to the printers, we need envelopes, we need stamps. We want to make sure that every parliamentarian has the evidence in front of them before they vote for the final time, before they pass the welfare reform bill. 

The vote will abolish the Disability Living Allowance, I must try to stop that. The voices of the sick and disabled have not been heard. I have to change that. People are suffering every day. 

Please, give what you can afford. Do NOT give more than you can afford. £1 will get us closer to our target. £3 will pay for 6 MPs or Peers to see our work. £20 will mean that 100 parliamentarians with the power to change the bill have all the evidence they need to make a balanced decision. 

I've never asked you for money before. I wouldn't be asking now if I didn't think this could make a real difference. 

Thank You. 

Click Here to Donate

Update : WOW! We have already raised nearly £600 in less than 3 hours!! Thank you all so very very much. I wanted to share some of the comments that people have left as they are so very touching. 

"I'm sorry I don't have the time or the spoons to campaign with you guys anymore. It hurts me that I can't, but I've been working since May (self-employed, choosing my own hours, not too much a week, pretty much a dream job for a spoonie) and it's been draining me far too much. So here, have some money, and please use it to keep fighting for the DLA that allowed me to start working in the first place."

"I thank you with all my heart for the work you do especially as you are so ill yourself. No words can express my appreciation. (Partially sighted, chronic cervical spondylosis and ESA time limit anxiety sufferer!)"

"Now we see the true Big Society in action. People who despite being ill and impoverished are helping each other. I can only give £5 but I feel it will help - not only financially but as a symbol of the strength we have when we support each other and work together. I am so proud to be a part of this and to see people's kindness and generosity. Thank you."

"Glad you finaly asked for help, lets us feel like we are also supporting even if we cant do as much as you!"

"I've followed your campaign everyday since the beginning. I don't have the energy to get involved so I am glad to have this opportunity to do a little bit to help with what you do."

Now it's Real. First Cancer Patients, Now Government slash benefits for Disabled Children

Last night, the House of Lords failed to support an amendment put down by Tanni Grey-Thompson, the most successful paralympian of all time, to protect the benefits of disabled children once Universal Credit is introduced.

You can read more here http://www.family-action.org.uk/section.aspx?id=14225 but effectively, under universal credit, all but the most profoundly disabled children will only get half as much support. Child Tax Credit additions for disabled children will fall from £52.21 per week to £25.95 per week - a loss of £1366 per year, or £20,000 over the course of a childhood.

You might wonder what possible argument a government who promised to "protect the most vulnerable" could possibly make for this change. I myself was fascinated to see how on earth they had justified throwing disabled children to the wolves.

Ready? OK, if they didn't betray disabled children, it would just have to be disabled adults. After all, disabled children have parents to look after them. What's more, if they didn't cut money used to buy wheelchairs and incontinence pads for disabled children, they wouldn't be able to afford to address the hideous failures of ESA (Employment and Support Allowance or sickness benefit) and ensure that all those who qualify for long term support, get it.

Could there be a more disgusting example of divide and conquer? Each man for himself. The image of a Victorian gent throwing a handful of pennies on the floor and leaving the cripples to fight it out amongst themselves comes to mind.

And remember, this is no longer theory.

I've been writing about these issues for 18 months now, sadly my blogs have often contained doom and gloom predictions of horrors to come. Well last night they started to come in a first blaze of in-glory. The Welfare Reform Bill is now at Report Stage in the Lords. These votes will almost certainly decide what becomes law and what doesn't. For disabled children, now it's too late.

Shame on us.

There is one more session before Xmas. Then 4 sessions after Xmas, then the final no-going-back vote to pass the bill. There is still time to lobby peers. There is still time to stop the time limiting of ESA. http://diaryofabenefitscrounger.blogspot.com/2011/12/time-limiting-esa-template-letter-to.html There is still time to oppose PiP and abolishing Disability Allowance. http://onemonthbeforeheartbreak.blogspot.com/ There is still time to fight Clause 52 http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/dec/08/conservative-compassion-disabled-sick and housing benefit changes that will leave thousands of sick and disabled people at risk of homelessness.

In a week where the government suggested all cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy ought to be assessed to see if they can work or not, I can only wonder where this will all lead. I can only hope history is no guide  the future

If I can find any tiny silver lining, it is that we only lost by 2 votes. That is the closest vote I have seen so far.

2 votes. 2 Lords. 2 letters, 2 emails, 2 tweets.

There is still all to play for, but sadly disabled children just fought the last stage of their fight. And lost.

Time Limiting ESA - Template Letter to Lords

Yesterday, I asked you all to write to a Lib Dem peer and plead with them to vote against time limiting ESA to just one year.

Template letters are certainly less effective - many parliamentarians won't open  more than one or two of them. However, they are better than not writing at all. For every peer who receives 5, 10, 50 template letters, at least they get to see the strength of feeling people have over an issue.

If you don't have the confidence to write your own, please use this one. Peers might also remember that I write for disabled people. Many cannot write a letter themselves. Due to physical or mental disabilities, I have often had comments from those so very grateful that a template letter I have provided allowed them to engage democratically.

*************

"Dear .........................

I am writing to you in the hope that you will vote against time limiting ESA to just one year in the coming welfare reform bill Report Stage and Third Reading.

-700,000 people with serious illnesses and impairments will be affected by this policy, many losing any right to an independent income. http://www.dwp.gov.uk/docs/esa-time-limit-wr2011-ia.pdf

-The means test is set at just £7,500 per year, meaning that a partner must support an unwell or disabled loved one if they earn more than this.

-Families already overwhelmingly living in poverty will lose £4661 per year. This is three times as much as higher rate taxpayers will lose in child benefit.

-This policy only affects working families and savers as it only applies to those who have contributed NI or have savings over £6000.

-It is a disincentive to work  and will only encourage families to break down http://www.dwp.gov.uk/docs/esa-time-limit-wr2011-ia.pdf


-The only justification ministers have given for this policy is that "We can't afford it" Sick and disabled people with limited capability for work are conflated with jobseekers as ministers claim ESA must be brought into line with JSA

-Ministers admit that 94% of those affected will not have found work by the end of the year. They also insist that it is irrelevant whether or not they have recovered. http://www.dwp.gov.uk/docs/esa-time-limit-wr2011-ia.pdf


-People with serious, lifelong, and degenerative conditions will all be affected by this. People with MS, Cancer, Parkinsons, Bowel Disease, Kidney Failure, Heart Disease, Lung Disease, Schizophrenia, Bi-Polar and many many more conditions will lose benefits, left in limbo until they are judged unable to do any kind of work at all,. http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201012/cmselect/cmworpen/1015/1015vw44.htm

At your annual conference this year, Liberal Democrat members voted overwhelmingly to oppose an "arbitrary time limit" on ESA. http://carons-musings.blogspot.com/2011/09/please-support-glasgow-norths-brilliant.html Please, please, stand by the wishes of your grassroots and of your party and oppose this cruellest of measures.

We are relying on you to help us. Only Liberal Democrat peers can provide a majority and ensure that a one year time limit on sickness benefits is not made law. Please, you promised to protect the most vulnerable and if ever a policy hit the most vulnerable the hardest, then it is time limiting ESA.

Many thanks

........................

************

Here is a link to Lib Dem Peers. Simply click on it, pick a letter of the alphabet at random, and copy and paste in the letter. http://www.libdems.org.uk/peers.aspx 

The more you can do, the more we can persuade. Thank you.

Finally, please keep up the pressure and RT, share on Facbook, email to friends and feel free to cross post this. 

Did Freud "Mis-Speak"? Hansard think so. Do you?

On Tuesday 8th November, the welfare reform bill Grand Committee debated Time Limiting ESA to one year.

Bns Hollis (Lab leader) pushed Lord Freud (Gov sponsor of the bill) to provide a financial breakdown of how much the measure would cost.

In reply, Lord Freud seemed to say, quite clearly,

"Well my Lords, you can see the process here clearly as you move through the bulge of effectively, stock, taking on the transfer from IB to ESA....."

As you might imagine, twitter (we were live tweeting the debate to a wider audience) immediately exploded with indignation. "Did he just call us STOCK?" one person asked and many tweets followed, astounded to hear us referred to in such inhumane terms.

Stock - what does it make you think of? Cattle? Commodities? Perhaps when discussing human beings there are worse connotations.

Well, it would appear that the Hansard report has this transcript,

"My Lords, one can clearly see the process here, as you move through the bulge, of stopping as you take on the transfer from IB to ESA."

This now makes no sense at all. I am assured that the job of those transcribing for Hansard is to make sense where they believe someone has spoken in error or where the grammar is not clear. With this in mind, perhaps they simply could not discern Freud's meaning and changed it to this garbled phrase.

However, it seems rather coincidental that a word that caused such offence, such fear and shock, should be the very word unavailable for posterity.

I'll leave you to judge. You can watch from 17.43 and decide for yourselves.

http://www.parliamentlive.tv/main/Player.aspx?meetingId=9328

Care in the Community

Nothing politicised me more in the 80s than Care in the Community.

My brother was a rising mental health nurse star at the time and talked of little else for years. My family heard in graphic detail how Institutions up and down the country were closed and residents placed in the community with little or even no transitional support.

The idea was important and progressive, but as with so many policies, the implementation was often shocking.

DLA - Disability Living allowance was the scheme put in place to provide for the daily living costs disabled people faced to allow them to live "in the community" at all.

The Independent Living Fund provided extra support on top of DLA to just 21,000 of the most profoundly disabled people in the country. It amounted to an extra £300 on average, per month to allow someone to live in their own home,  saving the state many thousands more on care they would otherwise have had to provide in residential centres.

Today, this government are scrapping DLA and the Independent Living Fund (ILF). DLA will be replaced with Personal Independence Payments (PIP) and the numbers claiming will be reduced by 20%. They are cutting the lower rate of DLA care payments altogether. It is not yet clear whether or not the ILF will be replaced at all.

Under Universal Credit, Iain Duncan-Smith's new flagship welfare reform policy, seriously disabled children will only receive half the amount they do now.

Children disabled from birth will no longer receive contributory entitlement when they reach adulthood. This will seriously limit their ability to live independently from their families.


Sickness benefits for those who have paid into the system will be limited to just one year for most, limiting the ability of those with long term conditions to live independently, making them utterly dependent on family or a partner to survive.

All of these cuts are proposed by Mr Duncan-Smith's department.

Today I read that Mr Duncan Smith admits that Care in the Community was a "£100 Billion Failure"

Those with mental health problems, he says, did not get the community support they should have done.

Well, Mr Duncan-Smith this is horribly true, and nor did the physically disabled. Your proposals, when taken together, represent the single biggest attack on independent living to them in recent memory.

I haven't even mentioned the cuts to social care happening up and down the country. The single biggest threat to dignity and support the disabled have faced.

Mr Duncan-Smith your weasel words on Care in the Community belie your actions. Cutting almost every vital aid to independent living will only send us back to the 50s. You acknowledge the problem. Now address it.

Dear UN : SOS!!!

The quite excellent John Pring at Disability News Service dug up this murky little nugget of breathtaking cheek from our delightful coalition. http://www.aboutaccess.co.uk/article.php?id=254&item=Government+rewrites+history+for+UN+report+

It seems that the government had to prepare a report for the UN disability convention. Apparently, the report was meant to describe


"measures that are being taken to implement each of the articles of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities."


However, in a dazzling piece of collective amnesia, our very own UK government didn't seem to think it necessary to mention the eye-watering level of cuts to disability benefits, services and support. 


Despite an "Initial Report" running into a zzzzzzzzzingly epic 126 pages and an even more lengthily off-putting "Annexe" of 167 pages, there appears to be nothing at all discussing the impact £9.2 billion of cuts will have on disabled people's "rights"


One might think that up to 600,000 people losing Disability Living Allowance, for instance, might, you know, impact on how Disabled people erm, Live? That abolishing the Independent Living Fund might, well, have some impact on how Independently we can Live? That cutting Access to Work might make it, erm, harder to, well, Access Work? Cutting Social Care might make the care we receive a little less Social? Capping housing might, well, lead to some people losing trifling little things like, THEIR HOME??? Never mind the astonishingly sinister Disability Denial of ESA, where nearly 2 million people will miraculously be found "Fit to Work" after all, simply by pressing a few buttons on a LIMA computer screen? 


I can only hope that whereas misinformation, distortion, omission and double-think seem to be perfectly acceptable in the UK, the UN will take a rather more "Real-Life" view of our rights. 


SOS UN : UK disabled people here! You can skip the 293 pages of fantasy our government just sent you if you like. Send food packages!! Send tents! Send Peacekeepers! 

Adults in Need

This year's Children in Need was the most successful ever. Raising £26 Million it showed the very best of the UK. Even in these times of austerity - perhaps especially so - people emphatically and unstintingly showed that they will always protect the most vulnerable.

I felt the same sense of pride when the UK was by far the biggest donor to the Pakistan flood appeal and the famine in Somalia. I feel the same sense of pride when I remember that the UK is still the biggest donor of foreign aid, despite our own difficulties.

But at what point do all those brave, terribly sick and damaged children become scroungers? Is there a cut off point where our sympathy runs dry? Where a cute, worthy child becomes a lazy, feckless adult? There must be. When does the abused child become an adult statistic of alcohol or drug dependency? - The lowest of the low in the benefit system according to Maria Miller. When does a disabled child become a drain on the welfare system? When does a terribly unwell little boy become a man facing persecution and abuse by his neighbour? When do we decide that a little girl with learning difficulties becomes worth nothing more than a 12 mile round trip to a soup kitchen every week just to stay alive?

If politicians are now united on anything, it is that the "scrounger" rhetoric, so beloved by the Daily Mail, Express, BBC and other outlets must stop. It harms the case for welfare reform, disability hate crime is rising and society is becoming more and more polarised over the issue of sickness and disability support and care.

Chris Grayling says that he is "bemused" by the stories that appear in the paper, yet time and again, the DWP have been warned not to use their press releases in a way that leads to inflammatory, "scrounger" articles. They have been warned repeatedly not to use misleading statistics. Lord Freud says that it concerns him, the Work and Pensions Select Committee has repeatedly called for it to stop and even Iain Duncan-Smith has renounced attempts to paint the sick and disabled as workshy.

This week a report by Dame Carol Black suggested ways that people on long term sick leave might be encouraged and supported to stay in work. The report was heavily leaked to the newspapers days before it was released with accompanying quotes from welfare ministers and peers.

Dame Black said that said that she "travelled round the country" speaking to sick and disabled people and found that they wished they had "A sense of self worth" and that they had a job.

Well, I have a sense of "self worth" Dame Black. Self worth does not come from a paycheck. It comes from family and love and achievement, It comes from within, it is not dependent on the zeros on my salary.

Lord Freud went further. He seemed to imply that those signed off work sick for more than 4 weeks drifted into some kind of no man's land of despair, he claimed that politicians were therefore creating "An incubator for idleness" by not addressing the problem.

An incubator for idleness!! So now if you should become unable to go to work for a few weeks, for almost any reason you are "idle". Not unfortunate, not unwell, not disabled, but "idle"

In perhaps his most offensive faux-pas yet,**  recently, during a committee debate, Lord Freud referred to sick and disabled people as "stock". Not claimants, not customers, not even the highly impersonal "flow rates", but "stock"


Can one hear that description and fail to think of cattle, herded against their will? What else does it make you think of?

So really, how mystified can our politicians be? Is it really so hard to see that language like this reinforces a general perception of worthlessness, failure and anonymity? How dare they, with their paternalistic, patronising, assumptions pass judgement on 1 in 5 of the population so flippantly?

In my experience, if nothing else, politicians choose their words incredibly carefully. Words win elections. One brilliant sound-bite can bring down a government. One killer slogan can topple heads of state.

It is inconceivable that our politicians do not know exactly what they are doing when they refer to idleness and worthlessness and "stock"

When Children in Need become Adults in Need it seems politicians will stop at nothing to ensure that your sympathy runs dry.


** Though telling Jane Campbell, a peer in a wheelchair, that his department was "leaning over backwards" to make committee stage accessible came pretty close

If you want to help, please sign Pat's Petition here :

http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/20968

Latest Disability News Roundup

• A disabled woman and her husband who have been found dead in their house had spoken publicly of their struggle to obtain the benefits they needed to survive.
• MPs have accused the government of “pandering to the Daily Mail” over the issue of incapacity benefit reform, after it published a misleading press release about the results of its “fitness for work” tests.
• A disabled peer has accused her own government of behaving like a dishonest insurance company over its treatment of hundreds of thousands of people currently claiming out-of-work disability benefits.
• An investigation by young disabled campaigners has raised new fears of a shortage of accessible hotel rooms when thousands of disabled visitors descend on London for the 2012 Paralympics.
• A disabled film-maker’s award-winning video installation about the killing of hundreds of thousands of disabled people in Nazi Germany has had to end its run in Gloucester Cathedral, after a vital piece of equipment was stolen.
• Reform of incapacity benefits is set to “impoverish vast numbers of households” and “cause untold distress in countless more”, a new research report has warned.
• Police, prosecutors and magistrates have won praise for using hate crime legislation to increase the sentence imposed on a hairdresser who shaved an offensive word into the hair of a man with learning difficulties.

For links to the full stories, please visit Disability News Service

Show them we Exist!!

As most of you will know, I am moving and have no broadband. This however, is vitally important. After months of work, Carer Watch have built an alliance of charities, campaigners and supporters AND managed to get the following petition agreed for the government website. 

SIGN HERE : http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/20968

You probably know that there are lots of petitions trying to be heard, many just get a few hundred signatures. Ours however MUST get the 100,000 required for a debate in parliament. We are invisible and unheard, but there are millions of us. Once you have signed it, send it to your families, friends, carers and colleagues. Ask that when they sign it, they send it on too. 

At the bottom of this post, you will see Twitter and Facebook buttons, please, please use them. 

The media ignore us, politicians ignore us, but this is a real chance to be heard. 


SIGN HERE : http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/20968

Pat’s Petition

Pat Onions has submitted an e-petition to the government website. Pat is blind and Pat is also a carer. When we asked her why she submitted this petition she said -

We were determined to attend theHardest Hit rally in Edinburgh. Determined, in spite of disability, to stand with the others who had made the long and difficult journey. Determined to show we were united as one voice against the vicious cuts we are all enduring. We knew there were many thousands who couldn’t make it. Disability, ill health, providing care, or cost would prevent them coming. We made it.
To the many there and those who came in spirit……….this petition is for us all.

Pat’s petition reads –

Stop and review the cuts to benefits and services which are falling disproportionately on disabled people, their carers and families.
You can see the full petition on the Government website here
CarerWatch are supporting Pat’s petition.  If Pat gets 100,000 signatures it could generate a debate in Parliament.

There is massive concern over the huge extent of both the welfare reforms and the cuts. Too often when people speak up, their voice is fragmented and discounted. This is an opportunity to get everyone together to speak with one voice, and to register in one place, how many people are asking the government to listen.

Firstly – obviously – we ask you to sign this petition and persuade all your family and friends to do the same. The name of the game is numbers ; so please ask friends, family and any organisations you belong to to sign and get others to sign.


When you sign the petition you will see buttons for twitter and facebook; so please share it with others on Twitter and Facebook.  Let Pat know she has your support by leaving a comment here too.
The first signatures will be the hardest to get, while we get this juggernaut rolling, so please help now and make sure that this petition really takes off.

This petition will only succeed if everyone joins together to support it and CW are delighted that  organisations are joining our ranks and offering support.
Organisations on board so far that have agreed to help raise awareness of Pat’s Petition are :

RADAR
Disability Alliance
CarerWatch
The Broken of Britain
CarersUK
DPAC
Benefits and Work
Pain Concern
Diary of a Benefit Scrounger

SIGN HERE : http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/20968

Complaint to BBC

So at a time of the worst recession for a generation, the BBC make another programme about benefit cheats?

With Sickness benefit fraud at just 0.5%, the BBC make another programme about benefit cheats?

With Disability benefit fraud at just 0.3% the BBC make another programme about benefit cheats?

With government overpayments actually costing the country more than sickness/disability benefit fraud, the BBC make another programme about benefit cheats?

At a time of rising disability hate crime, stigmatisation and abuse, the BBC make another programme about benefit cheats?

At a time of the biggest erosion of welfare provision in our lifetimes, the BBC make another programme about benefit cheats?

At a time of corruption of MPs, corruption of our media, corruption of our police force, the BBC make another programme about benefit cheats?

Do you make any attempt to point these things out in your programme?  Indeed, do you point out that the cases you use are extreme and very, very rare? Do you mention that before the recession Britain had one of the highest work participation rates in the OECD? Do you explain that until the credit crunch UK benefit levels were amongst the lowest in Western Europe? Do you balance your programme by mentioning that our number of claims are on a par with other countries, not higher? Do you explain to your viewers that benefits in the UK are some of the toughest to get in the world? That we have the toughest sanctions in place? Do you point out that benefit claims have not been rising for a long time and that in fact between 1997 to 2007 they fell consistently?

No. I'm sure you don't

This is a very dangerous game the BBC are playing. I'm sure the coalition are delighted, but perhaps you have some duty to the 5 million sick and disabled people who watch your programmes and pay your licence fee? Or those who have lost their jobs through no fault of their own? Or those single parents with very young children.

Shame on you.

Sent to panorama.reply@bbc.co.uk
Re : Britain on the Fiddle, 8pm, BBC1 tonight. 

The Hardest Hit Protest, Leeds

Last Saturday thousands of ill and disabled people, their carers and supporters took to the streets in cities across the UK to protest against the cuts that are unfairly targeting them. This unprecedented event was The Hardest Hit October Action.

It takes a lot to make the disabled community take to the streets, mainly because its so difficult for us. If you had eavesdropped my twitter feed last week you would have seen my conversations and musings dominated by The Hardest Hit as we all shared protest survival strategies. We knew there would be a price to pay in our health for attending but as one of my friends put it, "protesting will hurt me but not protesting will hurt me more".

For every one of us attending an event there were hundreds who were unable to go because they were too ill or disabled, too poor, too busy caring for someone or just couldn't use our inaccessible public transport. They sent messages of support, they were with us in spirit.

I'm not an activist or a disability campaigner, I'm just an ordinary person struggling with some pretty serious mental health problems. I am, like most other ill and disabled people, one of the hardest hit by the cuts.
I travelled to Leeds to join the Hardest Hit protest because this Government wants to stop my benefits, remove my services, call me a scrounger and force me from my home. For many of us this protest is personal, we're not just fighting for fairness - we're fighting for survival.

Over two hundred of us gathered in the sun in Leeds. We marched along The Headrow bringing the city centre to a standstill. Shoppers stood and watched as we marched with our wheelchairs, our Assistance Dogs, our mobility scooters, our carers, our children, our friends and our banners. Speeches were made by disability activists, charity sector workers, trade union members, NUS members, a local MP and ordinary people facing huge challenges. The message from all of them and the people listening was clear - these cuts are unfair, we are afraid and we are angry.

There is a 'perfect storm' facing ill and disabled people. We are already struggling to survive from day to day. Our NHS services are being cut and the voluntary sector agencies who would offer us support are losing their funding. The benefits of those of us who cannot work are being cut or removed and those of us who do work are losing the practical and financial support necessary to make working possible. The additional cuts proposed in the Welfare Reform Bill will leave us and our carers more impoverished, isolated and vulnerable. On top of this, ill and disabled people are being labelled as scroungers and benefit cheats, vilefied by the media and treated with suspicion by the public. Disability hate crime is increasing, people are facing abuse and harassment on a daily basis and many are afraid to leave their homes.

This Government has promised to support disabled people who are in genuine need - but only if THEY can define 'support', 'disabled', 'genuine' and 'need'. This is a cynical disability denying ploy to remove support from the people who need it. This Government is merely transferring funds from ill and disabled people and carers to private companies making millions from 'welfare reform'.

One of the most disturbing things is how badly informed most people still are about this. The public still think that disability benefits are a 'lifestyle choice' and believe we are all driving around in BMWs. Sadly many disabled people and their carers are still unaware of quite how badly the cuts will affect them. The media is not listening to the disabled community, some of the Hardest Hit events attracted over a thousand protesters but there was barely any BBC television or radio coverage. The future for society's most vulnerable is bleak. We are 'all in it together' its just that some of us are deeper in it than others.

Attending the protest left me with mixed feelings. I was proud to stand in solidarity with the hundreds on the streets of Leeds, the thousands in cities across the UK and the tens of thousands who were there in spirit.

But I was also sad and angry that this country should need an event like The Hardest Hit at all

Guest Post by Vanessa Teal.

Here's an irony....

All my life I wanted to work. I wanted to do something important.

I did everything society told me I should. I worked hard, I went to college despite being told I'd never pass due to sickness absence. I went to uni despite being told by concerned doctors not to go. I worked. For years, despite well meaning loved ones telling me I should stop.

When I became unable to "work" (in the traditional sense) I tried everything from classsy-bar-singer to teacher to saleswoman to trader. I tried self employed, part time and late shifts.

I worked. I got sick, I had surgery, I went back to work. I nearly died. Repeat.

In the end, family and friends launched "Campaign Save Suey" and nagged me at every dinner or party or wedding to STOP WORKING.

Eventually, I had to. It was without doubt, the very worst thing I ever had to come to terms with about being ill. "There's no such word as Can't" was the mantra in my house as I was growing up and realising that in fact, there WAS was very nearly impossible.

I wrote a book (no-one would publish) about NHS reform. I fed the homeless and took in waifs. I bought and sold properties, keeping us afloat for around ten years longer than we would have managed by sitting around feeling sorry for ourselves.

Through that whole period, my country accepted I was so unwell, that I needed support. I didn't feel like a "Scrounger" I felt very, very sad that my ambitions and dreams had been taken away. I marvelled at just how I'd managed to stay alive and blessed with a loving family. I thanked the NHS every day for saving me and I thanked the welfare state for giving me a little dignity.

Sometimes I thought "Well, my husband works, why should I get this money?"

Then when I spent £60 on petrol to get to the specialist bowel disease centre 130 miles from my home, or bought food that meant I wouldn't make myself more ill, I was grateful.

I claimed DLA, but in good periods, when my "fluctuating condition" allowed me a little respite, I would cancel it, secure in the knowledge that the next time I needed it, I would simply re-apply.

I didn't look at the ground every time I parked my car using a disabled badge. The nice lady at county hall had explained to me that "mobility" meant different things to every disabled person. I'd felt reassured and privileged.

All of that is now under threat. I feel like a burden on society. I feel that my voluntary contributions to many people in society are worth nothing. I feel that my life has been useless. Not to me or the people I cared for, but to "society"

I feel weak and pathetic, where I used to feel accepted and lucky. I cannot earn even a little money from the writing I do or my family will lose everything - much more than I could earn from the few articles I might be able to publish when I am (unreliably) able to write.

It really isn't about what I'll "lose" if welfare reform is steam-rollered through. It isn't about how I will survive - I would rather work myself to death than see my family suffer.

It's about how I feel now. Every day. It's about the articles full of lies I read every week in the Daily Mail. It's about the distortions and mis-truths I hear from politicians now. It's a society that is so convinced that a "something for something" society is fair, they never ask what becomes of those who need your support for nothing. Just because you care.

This is what you're doing. Not "taking away" or "sanctioning" or "getting tough".

You are making me feel invisible, unworthy and frightened. It's THAT that I despise you for.

Weekly Disability News Roundup

This weeks news roundup from the tireless John Pring. The first story is particularly good ;)

• The minister for disabled people and London’s mayor faced repeated, angry heckling from activists when they addressed a conference held to discuss disability issues in the capital.
• Disabled people have reacted angrily after they were told they will no longer be able to drive vehicles worth over £25,000 through the Motability car scheme.
• Comedian Ricky Gervais has sparked a storm of protest from disabled people and other campaigners after repeatedly using an offensive and disablist word in messages on the social media network Twitter.
• There has been a “significant increase” in the number of negative stories about disabled people in national newspapers over the last six years, according to new research.
• The announcement of a long-awaited strategy for promoting independent living in Wales has been welcomed by disabled campaigners.
• Labour’s new shadow minister for disabled people has accused the government of “talking up” the issue of disability benefit fraud as it attempts to push through its sweeping welfare reforms.
• A disability charity’s decision to close down a national advice organisation, just two years after they merged, has provoked anger among disabled people’s organisations (DPOs).
• The UK’s leading disabled people’s organisation (DPO) has raised serious concerns over the new name chosen by a trio of national disability charities that are set to merge.
• More than 100 disabled people have raised campaigning issues around disability rights and equality in face-to-face meetings with their local MP, thanks to a scheme that aims to build relationships between politicians and their disabled constituents.
• A disabled MP is attempting to introduce new legislation that would extend free travel concessions in England to disabled people who use community transport services.
• Campaigners have highlighted the dangers of controversial “shared space” street developments by blocking buses outside a railway station, as part of an international day of action.
• A disabled people’s organisation has secured £300,000 of National Lottery funding to support disabled young people into volunteer placements.

For links to the full stories, please visit Disability News Service

New Shadow Minister for Disabled

Yesterday, Kaliya Franklin spoke to Ed Miliband while I suffered through a birthday party for my just-turned-7 year old. All morning, we rehearsed lines as I baked cocktail sausages and planned strategy while I stuffed plastic party bags with plastic rubbish.

I'm sure Kaliya will be writing up an article later today, so I won't go into details, but the conversation went very well and Ed did a lot of listening and asked a lot of questions.

Late yesterday evening, John Pring from the excellent http://www.disabilitynewsservice.com/ ** heard from the new Shadow Minister for Disabled People. Anne McGuire was confirmed in the role and sent him this statement  :

“I’m delighted to have been appointed as Shadow Minister for Disabled People. There is a responsibility on all of us to care for those in need. However, many disabled people feel that they are unfairly being portrayed as scroungers and are feeling very vulnerable"

“Labour will be the voice for those in genuine need, who need extra help to live a full life. The introduction of the Universal Credit will see support for disabled children halved, while the Severe Disability Premium is to be scrapped with nothing appropriate put in its place. We believe there can be reforms made to the system, but this is the wrong way to do it, and we will do all we can to stop these changes.”

I'm sure sick and disabled people will be encouraged by this comment and very pleased that Labour appear to finally be listening to campaigners and most importantly, to them, the people affected by this government's eye-watering cuts to disability support.

** If you haven't bookmarked John's site, please do. He is the only investigative journalist focused solely on reporting disability issues and his weekly updates are invaluable.

Happy Birthday to Me!!

So today it is exactly one year since I started to write this blog.

Just over a year since George Osborne accused benefit claimants of "Mugging the state" and a few dark days more than a year since his thoughtless, short-sighted Comprehensive Spending Review.

A year since it became clear we had nothing to lose and everything to gain from opposing a government out of control, out of touch and all out of compassion.

And what a year it's been!!

In that year there have been high points, low points, despair, exhaustion and exhilaration. I've made wonderful friends, met fellow campaigners, written for the Guardian, Left Foot Forward, Labour List, Liberal Conspiracy, the BBC and I've filmed a short documentary for Channel 4.

At around the same time, The Broken Of Britain was also born, groups like Black Triangle and DPAC have gone from strength to strength and other bloggers have risen to prominence exposing the lies, mis-information and terror behind a campaign to ostracise and abandon sick and disabled people.

The little "15" on the right hand side of this article trumpets the astonishing fact that my blog is the 15th most popular political blog in the UK. It is the the number one political blog written by a woman. According to Total Politics, enough of you voted to make my blog the 7th most popular left wing blog.

Well, thank goodness you did, because despite tens of thousands of supporters, over 300,000 articles read and our articles regularly making into the top ten most read in the UK, most of the mainstream media still ignore us entirely. Politicians aren't interested in evidence or research, so without your support, without your tweets and shares and emails, we would still be unknown and unheard.

So what have I learnt?

I've learnt that democracy is dead. Policies and governments are for sale to the highest bidder. Elections are bought by those with the deepest pockets and lobby groups and vested interests control the direction of our country more successfully than ministers ever will.

Every vote has a loophole, every committee has a whipped majority to make sure that dissension and opposition goes unheard and no matter how wrong, cruel or pointless a policy might be, if politicians choose to stick doggedly to it, it will go through. No matter how many lives  are ruined, no matter how many people die, no matter how many people suffer, if a politician thinks he is right, you may as well whistle in the wind, you will never change his mind.

But I've also learnt that people can come together, fight, share information and oh-so-slowly start to turn the tide of ignorance. In the end, the only thing that will shift stubborn politicians is shame. In the end, it is people who make a difference.

When George Potter found my blog, he decided to act. After months of agony, false starts and hoops to jump through, he changed Liberal Democrat policy. By standing up for what is right, he found a platform in which he could show grassroots LibDems a little evidence, break down a few of the negative stereotypes and prove that good people will listen, even when politicians won't.

When the Hardest Hit march took to the streets of London, more sick and disabled people than ever before made the Herculean effort to get to the protest and make their voices heard.

When charities came together, the Disability Alliance threatened legal action against the government on behalf of 272 different groups. Since the challenge was mounted, many, many more charities have joined.

Over the course of this year, we have come together, worked together and battled great personal difficulties to oppose the 9.2 Billion of cuts sick and disabled people are facing.

As the welfare reform bill is debated in the Lords, there is now a real chance that we can win some changes. With the LibDems pledged to oppose a one year time limit for ESA and the indignities of Work Capability Assessments, we may just be able to break the whipped majority both in the Lords and in Parliament. With campaigners, supporters and charities lobbying both houses, sending information, evidence and testimonials almost daily, the Lords are well informed and articulate and there is cross-party opposition to the worst elements of the bill. We are now able to provide a counter argument, challenge lies and put our views across.

Researchers work daily to expose the futility of scrapping DLA, proving that the arguments used in defence of reform are wrong. We produce our own evidence, present our own facts and every time, we show that reform that ignores reality will only ever be fancy-dress for cuts.

Thank you to everyone who reads my blog. Thank you for supporting me, believing in me and listening when others choose to turn away. Every day there are more of you and every day we win a few more hearts and minds.

Keep fighting, keep tweeting, but most of all keep believing. When I started writing, the Gandhi quote at the bottom of  my blog seemed as overwhelming as it was inspirational.

"First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win."

Well now, they are forced to fight us and if we keep fighting, together, we will win.

Lord Fraud - A Freud-ian Slip

We hereby give notice that the Lord previously known as "Freud" shall henceforth be known as "Fraud"

A million thanks to Doc Hackenbush (@DocHackenbush on twitter) for this wonderful image
**For blind supporters, it is a mosaic image of Lord Freud made entirely of the word "Fraud"