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.

Template Letter to Lords Re: Welfare Reform Bill

So, with the welfare reform bill about to have its second reading in the Lords, I've written this template letter to send and DarkestAngel32 blog http://darkestangel32.wordpress.com/  have produced this brilliant list of email addresses to send it to.

Obviously feel free to send your own letter about the things that matter most to you, but if you'd like to send mine, you're very welcome. Email addresses are at the end and whether you send the letter to one peer or everyone on the list, it all makes a difference.

Please do join in. The more letters and emails they receive, the more chance we have of making a difference. The bill is already facing difficulties because of the brilliant work we did while it was in the commons. Now we need to build on that and make sure that as many peers as possible know about the issues.

Finally, please share this article, tweet, link and send to friends. Thanks.


Dear ..........[insert name of peer]

On the 13th September, the welfare reform bill will have its second reading in the House of Lords.
Rather unusually, many aspects of the bill are yet to be finalised or fully detailed. This in itself will, I'm sure, make your job rather difficult as you consider the many, many details and changes proposed.

However, I'm writing to you with some very specific concerns that sick and disabled people have and I've linked to some articles and research which I hope you will find helpful.

1) Removing Disability Living Allowance mobility payments from adults in residential care.
An adult who needs to live in residential care will have extensive needs and are often amongst the most severely disabled. The mobility component of DLA afforded them their only freedom, allowing them to choose to fund a power wheelchair otherwise unavailable on the NHS, or to pay for taxis or transport to get out now and then. Taking this away would leave the most vulnerable disabled people effectively housebound. There is no support for this change anywhere - charities, independent benefit reports and even the government's own advisers have called for this to be removed from the bill.

2) Scrapping DLA entirely and replacing it with Personal Independent Payments (PIPs).
DLA is a very effective benefit with fraud rates of less than 1% (DWP own figures) It is already incredibly hard to claim and the qualification criteria are very narrow. The government have announced that DLA claimants will also soon face assessment and that the overall number of claimants will be reduced by at least 20%. The government's own advisory committee concluded that they could find no justification for this reform and have asked for clarification from the government.
If a benefit is already very efficient, yet a government announce a 20% cull before a single assessment has even taken place, we conclude it can only be a cost cutting measure that will ignore genuine need.

3) Time limiting Employment Support Allowance (ESA, previously Incapacity Benefit) to 1 Year
Many people who need to claim ESA have "long term variable" or chronic illnesses such as MS, Parkinson's, Bowel Disease, Leukaemia or severe Mental Illness. These conditions often do not go away after a year and sadly, often get worse over time. A high percentage of those with these conditions are being found "fit for work" under ESA but after 1 year, even those who have been found unfit for work will receive no state assistance whatsoever if they have a working partner. All of their benefit will be stopped, a loss of just over £5000 a year.


4) ATOS assessments are "unfit for purpose" and a better way of assessing need must be implemented. 

ATOS are the private company charged with assessing over 1.5 million sick and disabled people during this parliament.

-Up to 40% of rejected claims are going to appeal with up to 70% of those decisions being overturned with representation.
-Assessments are humiliating and degrading causing great anxiety to those genuinely in need.
-Just 7% of previous claimants are being found unfit to work on a long term basis.
-Testimony from Consultants and GPs is often ignored entirely.
-People are dying before lengthy appeals can be heard.
-Even the professor who designed the structure of ESA calls them a "complete mess"

There are other problems with the bill - capping housing benefit; re-classifying "mobility" so that those who use their wheelchairs too efficiently can be classed as "fully mobile"; removing an age related payment from ESA; scrapping the Independent Living Fund; cutting community care provision; cutting the Access to Work programme and many more - all of which will hurt sick and disabled people disproportionately, but the four points above MUST be addressed before the Welfare Reform Bill is passed.

They are causing or will cause real hardship.
They will not achieve savings as pressures will only be shifted to the NHS or social care provision.
They will increase homelessness, mental illness and poverty amongst this most vulnerable group of all
They will leave many in genuine need without support
They reduce the independence, standard of life and dignity of those we have a basic duty to protect.

I urge you to give these issues your time and consideration. Please, help us to make sure that amendments to the bill are passed ensuring that these 4 issues are addressed.

Yours sincerely,

...............[add your name]

List of contact details :

Baroness Thomas of Winchester
thomascm@parliament.uk

Baroness Morgan of Drefelin
http://www.theyworkforyou.com/peer/baroness_morgan_of_drefelin

Baroness Sherlock
http://www.theyworkforyou.com/peer/baroness_sherlock

Baroness Stowell of Beeston
stowellt@parliament.uk

Lord Bishop of Hereford
bishop@hereford.anglican.org

Countess of Mar
marm@parliament.uk

Lord Feldman of Elstree
chairman@conservatives.com

Lord Freud
freudd@parliament.uk

Lord German
germanm@parliament.uk

Lord Stoneham of Droxford
http://www.theyworkforyou.com/peer/lord_stoneham_of_droxford

Lord Addington
addingtond@parliament.uk

Lord Adebowale
adebowalev@parliament.uk

Lord Beecham
beechamj@parliament.uk

Lord Boswell of Aynho
boswellte@parliament.uk

Baroness Campbell of Surbiton
campbelljs@parliament.uk

Baroness Donaghy
http://www.theyworkforyou.com/peer/baroness_donaghy

Baroness Drake
http://www.theyworkforyou.com/peer/baroness_drake

Baroness Flather
http://www.theyworkforyou.com/peer/baroness_flather

Baroness Greengross
greengrosss@parliament.uk

Baroness Grey-Thompson
greythompsont@parliament.uk

Baroness Hayter of Kentish Town
hayterd@parliament.uk

Baroness Healy of Primrose Hill
healyab@parliament.uk

Baroness Hollins
http://www.theyworkforyou.com/peer/baroness_hollins

Baroness Hollis of Heigham
hollisp@parliament.uk

Baroness Howe of Idlicote
howee@parliament.uk

Lord Kennedy of Southwark
kennedyro@parliament.uk

Baroness King of Bow
http://www.theyworkforyou.com/peer/baroness_king_of_bow

Lord Kirkwood of Kirkhope
http://www.theyworkforyou.com/peer/lord_kirkwood_of_kirkhope

Lord Knight of Weymouth
knightja@parliament.uk

Bishop Leicester
http://www.theyworkforyou.com/peer/bishop_of_leicester

Baroness Lister of Burtersett
http://www.theyworkforyou.com/peer/baroness_lister_of_burtersett

Lord Low of Dalston
lowc@parliament.uk

Lord Mackay of Clashfern
mackayjp@parliament.uk

Lord Mckenzie of Luton
mckenziew@parliament.uk

Baroness Meacher
http://www.theyworkforyou.com/peer/baroness_meacher

Lord Morris of Handsworth
morrisw@parliament.uk

Lord Newton of Braintree
http://www.theyworkforyou.com/peer/lord_newton_of_braintree

Lord Patel
http://www.theyworkforyou.com/peer/lord_patel

Lord Ramsbotham
ramsbothamd@parliament.uk

Lord Rix
http://www.theyworkforyou.com/peer/lord_rix

Lord Touhig
touhigjd@parliament.uk

Baroness Turner of Camden
http://www.theyworkforyou.com/peer/baroness_turner_of_camden

Lord Whitty
whittyl@parliament.uk

Lord Wigley
http://www.theyworkforyou.com/peer/lord_wigley

Baroness Wilkins
wilkinsrc@parliament.uk

Enable us, Don't Disable Us

When I write about the cuts facing sick and disabled people, it's easy for that to become background noise in a society battling austerity on every front.

The Mum losing childcare, the school losing funding, the library closing, the young person who can't afford a home or a degree, the hospital shutting wards - we all know that cuts are hurting and will only hurt more over the next few years.

So why do I think that the onslaught facing sick and disabled people is so serious? Why, of all the battles, do I choose to fight this one?

Disability rights movements have fought for decades to change the way we see disability. Just 30 years ago, many sick and disabled people were locked away in institutions, excluded entirely from society. There is no doubt that we were considered second class citizens incapable of looking after our own needs. Work was a distant dream; living independently, taking part in society in any meaningful way was impossible.

With Care in the Community and the slow, painful birth of the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA), society changed the way it looked at disability. The whole emphasis shifted towards community living, personal funding and making the country a more welcoming and accessible place.

DLA (Disability Living Allowance) was introduced by the Conservatives under Margaret Thatcher to acknowledge that disability involved extra costs - accessible transport, higher utility bills, specialist aids, modified homes - and was supposed to replace and reduce the eye watering costs of institutional care, putting a little control directly into the hands of those who's lives were affected by disability.

Schemes like Access to Work provided funding to make workplaces more accessible, social care packages meant that many more people could live at home, community mental health teams helped to break down the stigma and exclusion faced by those with mental illness The Independent Living Fund helped just 21,000 of the most severely disabled people to also continue to live in their own homes whilst, in theory, the DDA meant that our rights to equality, access, dignity and employment were enshrined in law. By the mid noughties, with general employment rates high, politicians felt that sick or disabled people had all the help and support they may need to live independent lives with dignity.

As is so often the case though, the DDA sometimes proved a blunt tool. Is it discrimination for an employer to choose a non-disabled person for a job over one with a disability? You bet, but it's very hard to prove. Did every workplace and shop and public space become magically accessible? Sadly no. Did everyone get the care they needed in the community? Did healthcare become so efficient that we never had to wait for treatment? Of course not.

Nonetheless, the shift was broadly in the right direction and here's the really important bit - it saved the country billions. Every pound spent on enabling sick or disabled people to live independently, saved at least as much as it cost. Institutions closed and residents who previously cost society thousands of pounds a month were supported in the community and with modest disability benefits.

Every mobility scooter or wheelchair meant that someone previously unable to engage with society could do so, saving care costs and reducing isolation and exclusion. Every ramp or special aid funded through Access to Work meant that someone could get a job who otherwise may never have contributed financially to society. Every care package reduced the need for lengthy NHS in patient stays or residential care.

Decent disability funding is not about somehow giving people "stuff" they haven't "earned". It saves the government money. Even if we don't wish to make a moral argument for disability policy that aims to include as many people in society as possible, even if we ignore that that aim is enshrined in international human rights law, we can make a financial argument.

If a disabled person is no longer entitled to personal care, the simple fact is they cannot wash or eat. They certainly won't be getting a job or taking part in society any time soon. Cutting care further disables and excludes us.

If we can no longer access the mobility aids that allow us to get out and about, we will need more home visits and more help with shopping or appointments. Most things that we could do for ourselves then need to be done by others, costing thousands more in the long run and acting as yet another barrier to work.

If we lose benefits altogether as DLA is reduced by 20% and ESA by up to 93%, we become more dependent on others. As sick and disabled people face greater poverty and hardship, other areas of the benefit system simply find themselves taking the strain as people fall through the cracks.

But the truly sinister thing is that if you cut ALL of these things at once and combine this with the cuts faced by everyone else - cuts to childcare, to housing, to pensions, higher VAT, higher inflation - we risk turning the clock back to a time when sick or disabled people simply "disappeared." Every cut will further disable us, further exclude us and ultimately push us back into institutions. If the institutions no longer exist what then? We suffer behind four walls, trapped, excluded and invisible.

A political class who saved billions by putting our own care into our own hands have forgotten that it ever saved money in the first place. If they now take away the much lower amounts designed to enable us, they leave us with nothing. Work becomes less likely, not more likely. Friendships and relationships face more pressure, not less. Integration and enablement become unimportant. We turn the clock back to a time when out of sight meant out of mind.

The bottom line is that enabling sick or disabled people costs money. Does that mean we can't afford to do it any more? Is that REALLY what we want?  Are we really not going to consider the implications of leaving people in filth and poverty and despair, simply because they were born or became less able? Are we going to abandon the aims of a Disability Discrimination Act that hoped to create a level playing field? Are we going to drift back toward a time when sick and disabled people didn't count, when dignity relied on benevolence and philanthropy?

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

Today is the 1st September. In a few days, the welfare reform bill faces it's 2nd reading in the House of Lords. There are lots of good articles appearing today as we all come back to the battle for a life of dignity and respect before it's too late. I will add links here as the day goes on, but please do join us in tweeting, sharing and linking articles wherever you can. On twitter, please use the hashtag #septembercomeback and let's show our politicians that we will not - cannot - accept a society that goes back to excluding us. 

Let's create a social media storm. Let's refuse to be "disappeared".

http://www.leftfootforward.org/2011/09/papworth-trust-survey-disabled-people-fears/#comments

http://thepotterblogger.blogspot.com/2011/09/sick-way-britain-treats-her-sick-and.html

http://inde-woman.blogspot.com/2011/08/box-ticking-exercise.html

DAnewsflash On 22 Oct disabled ppl to protest in cities across UK saying: stop the cuts. http://www.hardesthit.org.uk/


http://www.disabledgo.com/blog/2011/09/government-sends-threatening-access-to-work-letters/

http://stream.aljazeera.com/story/uk-health-contractor-accuses-online-critics-libel

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/joepublic/2011/sep/01/cuts-targeting-disabled-people

http://www.leftfootforward.org/2011/09/how-the-disabled-took-all-the-jobs/

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/sep/01/welfare-reform-bill

http://carons-musings.blogspot.com/2011/09/signal-boost-george-potter-on-sick-way.html

**Due to great success, the #septembercomeback will now run all week :)