A regular commenter on my blog, Robert, just reminded me that people like him have been saying the same things about ESA and Work Capability Assessments and politics for years.
(In fact, I have too, but less successfully than Robert :)
He posted this on my blog and it's definitely worth reading. People like Robert and 100s of others have been telling us all about this stuff for years.
Hopefully, we're starting to listen.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/7240982.stm
Friday, 30 September 2011
Channel 4 and Disability campaigning today
So today, after nearly killing myself at Labour Conference, I had to get to London and go to film a short piece for Channel 4 on "Welfare : Corrosive or a Vital part of Democracy"
It was one of those 3 minute segments that goes out after Channel 4 News, where someone talks at the camera and gives an "opinion". They say it'll be aired in around 6 weeks (I imagine to coincide with the 3rd reading of the Welfare Reform Bill in the Lords) so I'll keep you informed on when to watch.
Having organised the whole thing last week, during Labour conference, I didn't really have any time to think about what I would say and as every woman knows, it ought to have taken at least a week to decide what to wear. I didn't even have time to do a load of washing, so after Dave had helped me exhausted into bed, he spent an hour searching for "you know, that one with the scoop neck" and "the top I wore to Sam and Anna's wedding" "you remember the gold sparkly one". Clearly, I never get time to tidy, so he was picking clothes up from the floor for approval.
In the end, the criteria were so tight (no white, no spots or patterns) I had to wear a pair of my friends's red trousers two sizes too big for me, pinned at the back.
I whipped myself into some kind of presentable state (Note to self : No jeans if you are to defend Welfare) whipped myself to get to the station, whipped myself to survive as far as London, whipped myself into a taxi and stumbled blearily into a small TV studio near Covent Garden.
Probably the most interesting part of the day was canvassing the opinions of the two taxi drivers. Both utterly supported their tax money going to sick and disabled people. Emphatically in fact. One had a mother on DLA, the other a mother with bi-polar. (Note to politicians 1 : Everyone knows someone who is genuinely sick or disabled too!) They both independently suggested that benefits should be immediately available when a person was having a period when they were unable to work, so that they wouldn't be frightened to try. Interesting point I thought. Strange they both said it.
The interview itself went OK I think, though it passes in a blur and I can't really remember anything I said. We'll see what they present when they cut 45 minutes down to 3!!
But what I'll remember is that I "met a man." Then I "met another man" and neither of them wanted people with cancer sent to the job centre or their Mum's to be mis-understood and bullied.
We can all "meet a man" Mostly they tell us what they think we want to hear.
I told them I was a sickness and disability campaigner. They told me their personal fears for people they loved.
If I'd been asking them if they liked the idea of their "hard-earned tax money" supporting "shirkers not workers" who "could work but don't" I expect they'd have thought that was a terrible idea too.
The language we use makes that all important difference.
I came home, flopped gratefully into a sofa and turned on Channel 4 News, delighted that I'd got through the week alive, at last.
Just in time, in fact, to see Katie Razzle do a very good piece indeed on ATOS, the private company who conduct medical tests on sick and disabled people that are so controversial. The company are also sponsoring the paralympics and the piece interviewed our very own Disabled People Against Cuts (DPAC)!!! It explained how sick and disabled people are threatening to boycott the paralympics over their controversial sponsor. Great coverage for DPAC and I believe Black Triangle have also led the way on this issue, so a huge congratulations for breaking it through so successfully in the mainstream press.
With the video of Kaliya Franklin from The Broken of Britain putting Ed Miliband on the spot at Labour conference one of the most viewed online posts on Wikio today, and his promise to speak with us soon (confirmed, I believe in messages today) this has been a really, really good day for the Disability Movement.
It was one of those 3 minute segments that goes out after Channel 4 News, where someone talks at the camera and gives an "opinion". They say it'll be aired in around 6 weeks (I imagine to coincide with the 3rd reading of the Welfare Reform Bill in the Lords) so I'll keep you informed on when to watch.
Having organised the whole thing last week, during Labour conference, I didn't really have any time to think about what I would say and as every woman knows, it ought to have taken at least a week to decide what to wear. I didn't even have time to do a load of washing, so after Dave had helped me exhausted into bed, he spent an hour searching for "you know, that one with the scoop neck" and "the top I wore to Sam and Anna's wedding" "you remember the gold sparkly one". Clearly, I never get time to tidy, so he was picking clothes up from the floor for approval.
In the end, the criteria were so tight (no white, no spots or patterns) I had to wear a pair of my friends's red trousers two sizes too big for me, pinned at the back.
I whipped myself into some kind of presentable state (Note to self : No jeans if you are to defend Welfare) whipped myself to get to the station, whipped myself to survive as far as London, whipped myself into a taxi and stumbled blearily into a small TV studio near Covent Garden.
Probably the most interesting part of the day was canvassing the opinions of the two taxi drivers. Both utterly supported their tax money going to sick and disabled people. Emphatically in fact. One had a mother on DLA, the other a mother with bi-polar. (Note to politicians 1 : Everyone knows someone who is genuinely sick or disabled too!) They both independently suggested that benefits should be immediately available when a person was having a period when they were unable to work, so that they wouldn't be frightened to try. Interesting point I thought. Strange they both said it.
The interview itself went OK I think, though it passes in a blur and I can't really remember anything I said. We'll see what they present when they cut 45 minutes down to 3!!
But what I'll remember is that I "met a man." Then I "met another man" and neither of them wanted people with cancer sent to the job centre or their Mum's to be mis-understood and bullied.
We can all "meet a man" Mostly they tell us what they think we want to hear.
I told them I was a sickness and disability campaigner. They told me their personal fears for people they loved.
If I'd been asking them if they liked the idea of their "hard-earned tax money" supporting "shirkers not workers" who "could work but don't" I expect they'd have thought that was a terrible idea too.
The language we use makes that all important difference.
I came home, flopped gratefully into a sofa and turned on Channel 4 News, delighted that I'd got through the week alive, at last.
Just in time, in fact, to see Katie Razzle do a very good piece indeed on ATOS, the private company who conduct medical tests on sick and disabled people that are so controversial. The company are also sponsoring the paralympics and the piece interviewed our very own Disabled People Against Cuts (DPAC)!!! It explained how sick and disabled people are threatening to boycott the paralympics over their controversial sponsor. Great coverage for DPAC and I believe Black Triangle have also led the way on this issue, so a huge congratulations for breaking it through so successfully in the mainstream press.
With the video of Kaliya Franklin from The Broken of Britain putting Ed Miliband on the spot at Labour conference one of the most viewed online posts on Wikio today, and his promise to speak with us soon (confirmed, I believe in messages today) this has been a really, really good day for the Disability Movement.
Ed M Handbagged by Sickness & Disability campaigner at #Lab11
At last, we have a YouTube of the question we wrote to #AskEdM !!!! You have to admit, it's an awesome question!!!! And didn't she engage him well?
Th first time we get Labour top table to clearly distinguish between "scroungers" and sick/disabled. He apologises for not making it clearer in his speeches and so he should!!!
CAN I ASK YOU TO RT, SHARE AND GENERALLY HELP US TO SEND THIS VIRAL? Even when presented with a pretty, eloquent woman in a mobility scooter, providing them with most interesting moment of conference, disability was STILL too "yucky" for the media to report. We will just have to do online what they failed to do in their "reports"
Thursday, 29 September 2011
Filthy, Dirty, Politics
I will write up my experiences at Labour Conference, really I will.
Frankly the reason I haven't so far is because I haven't quite unearthed all the facts.
Currently though, take everything you suspected about politics, multiply it by an awfulness-factor of 10, dip it in something utterly stinky, stir in a good dollop of incredulity and watch this space for more information.
(I just didn't want you all to think I'd collapsed somewhere in the Mersey, never to be seen again)
Frankly the reason I haven't so far is because I haven't quite unearthed all the facts.
Currently though, take everything you suspected about politics, multiply it by an awfulness-factor of 10, dip it in something utterly stinky, stir in a good dollop of incredulity and watch this space for more information.
(I just didn't want you all to think I'd collapsed somewhere in the Mersey, never to be seen again)
Tuesday, 27 September 2011
Labour Conference, Monday
I've thought and thought about what to write, but so far, all I can really say is this. on every issue. From every debate I've been too.
I just hope it changes today with Ed's speech.
I just hope it changes today with Ed's speech.
Sunday, 25 September 2011
Labour Conference
So, here I am in that big Liverpool.
My drive was as farcical as the DWP admin department. The M6 toll road was actually closed due to an accident and after not moving at all for an hour and a half, we were diverted through Stoke and other "Northern Places" to the old M6. It took me 7 1/2 HOURS to get to the Wirral and when I did, I was good for absolutely nothing.
Kaliya Franklin, (@BendyGirl) welfare-warrior-twin had taken her life into her own hands to cook me dinner and after a pleasant few hours with her lovely neighbour, a yummy meal and a glass or two of wine I began to think that I might just make it to a few Labour-y things at conference after all.
WARNING : For the next few days, this blog will almost certainly turn into a bit of a Labour zone.
Adventures nearly always happen - Did I ever tell you about the time I found myself walking along he seafront with David Miliband? He was still Foreign Secretary, and as he made his way to the Conference Hall to make his keynote speech he spoke to me about social media campaigning as the world's media walked backwards snapping a thousand flashbulbs in our eyes. Or the time I plonked exhausted into a chair to find I was sitting next to Peter Mandleson? You can imagine that I never waste such opportunities and hope there will be more this week.
Whoever I talk to, I will be urging them to reconsider ESA. I will be urging them to oppose Personal Independent Payments as a replacement for DLA. I will be urging them to speak a little louder and oppose a little more strongly.
However, I will also tell you who I think did a good job in their speeches - and who of course I felt didn't. An education report here, an NHS speech there - I'm sure many moments will inspire me to babble at you all.
I am Labour in my bones. It's in my DNA, runs through my family like the word "fairness" through a stick of rock. When I think they are wrong, I will say, but if I think they get it right, I will say that too.
I'll tell you what I think of Ed Miliband's speech and hopefully, this conference will be the start of a more coherent plan from Labour. Time is running out. We need a strong, confident opposition that stands up for fairness loudly, and with determination.
As the Welfare Reform Bill, the NHS bill and many others lurch gaspingly into the last stages of being made law (or should I say being forced into law?) we, the Labour party, the party that created the NHS and a compassionate welfare state must decide what we stand for and shout it from the rooftops.
Millions of people need us to.
My drive was as farcical as the DWP admin department. The M6 toll road was actually closed due to an accident and after not moving at all for an hour and a half, we were diverted through Stoke and other "Northern Places" to the old M6. It took me 7 1/2 HOURS to get to the Wirral and when I did, I was good for absolutely nothing.
Kaliya Franklin, (@BendyGirl) welfare-warrior-twin had taken her life into her own hands to cook me dinner and after a pleasant few hours with her lovely neighbour, a yummy meal and a glass or two of wine I began to think that I might just make it to a few Labour-y things at conference after all.
WARNING : For the next few days, this blog will almost certainly turn into a bit of a Labour zone.
Adventures nearly always happen - Did I ever tell you about the time I found myself walking along he seafront with David Miliband? He was still Foreign Secretary, and as he made his way to the Conference Hall to make his keynote speech he spoke to me about social media campaigning as the world's media walked backwards snapping a thousand flashbulbs in our eyes. Or the time I plonked exhausted into a chair to find I was sitting next to Peter Mandleson? You can imagine that I never waste such opportunities and hope there will be more this week.
Whoever I talk to, I will be urging them to reconsider ESA. I will be urging them to oppose Personal Independent Payments as a replacement for DLA. I will be urging them to speak a little louder and oppose a little more strongly.
However, I will also tell you who I think did a good job in their speeches - and who of course I felt didn't. An education report here, an NHS speech there - I'm sure many moments will inspire me to babble at you all.
I am Labour in my bones. It's in my DNA, runs through my family like the word "fairness" through a stick of rock. When I think they are wrong, I will say, but if I think they get it right, I will say that too.
I'll tell you what I think of Ed Miliband's speech and hopefully, this conference will be the start of a more coherent plan from Labour. Time is running out. We need a strong, confident opposition that stands up for fairness loudly, and with determination.
As the Welfare Reform Bill, the NHS bill and many others lurch gaspingly into the last stages of being made law (or should I say being forced into law?) we, the Labour party, the party that created the NHS and a compassionate welfare state must decide what we stand for and shout it from the rooftops.
Millions of people need us to.
Friday, 23 September 2011
Left Thinker of the Year? Wow! Please vote!
Astonishingly, the "Disability Rights Movement" have been nominated as "Left Thinker of the Year" by Left Foot Forward readers!!
Everyone who blogs, everyone who RTs, everyone who's ever written to their MP or lobbied the Lords or told their Nan about our fight is part of this. Everyone. Without supporters, bloggers are nothing, without supporters, no-one would know what we're trying to do.
If you'd like to you can nominate us all here. Many thanks
http://www.leftfootforward.org/2011/09/left-foot-forward-most-influential-left-wing-thinker-of-the-year-2010-11-poll/
Everyone who blogs, everyone who RTs, everyone who's ever written to their MP or lobbied the Lords or told their Nan about our fight is part of this. Everyone. Without supporters, bloggers are nothing, without supporters, no-one would know what we're trying to do.
If you'd like to you can nominate us all here. Many thanks
http://www.leftfootforward.org/2011/09/left-foot-forward-most-influential-left-wing-thinker-of-the-year-2010-11-poll/
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