In the last Parliament, people with disabilities who challenged government cuts were labelled extremists. Political opposition was weakened by a fear of being seen as on the side of ‘scroungers’.
In the last Parliament, people with disabilities who challenged government cuts were labelled extremists. Political opposition was weakened by a fear of being seen as on the side of ‘scroungers’. But with more cuts coming, perhaps that is about to change. As more and more lives are affected, awareness of just how bad these policies are is growing.
Jane Hawking, ex-wife of Stephen Hawking, now fears for the future of her autistic grandson. She has said, “Being Stephen’s carer was such a struggle…Thinking back, I honestly wonder how I got through it. But what you hope is that the years since have brought improvements to the lives of disabled people and their carers, and I think for a while it was like that. But now the clock is turning back, and we can’t let that happen.”
The way the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) treats sick and disabled people is increasingly cruel, perverse, and contradictory. It talks about getting disabled people into work. Even people who are currently deemed too ill or disabled to work face benefit sanctions if the DWP deems they are not trying hard enough to get themselves closer to the jobs market.
And yet, on the other hand we have cases like that of Drew Budai. Drew is profoundly deaf. For seven years he has worked for Merseyside Society for Deaf People, with support from the Access to Work fund. He recently asked the DWP for an extra two hours support. The Department replied that it was removing all his support, leaving Drew unable to do his job properly. Not only does Drew now face being unable to do his job, his deaf and deaf-blind clients face losing his expertise, empathy, and experience.
Drew’s is just one of many cases reported recently where disabled workers have either lost their support or had it cut, meaning they cannot do their jobs. Jenny Sealey, co-director of the 2012 Paralympics opening ceremony, has had her support halved, putting her career under threat.
Meanwhile, the government’s replacement of Disability Living Allowance (DLA) with Personal Independence Payments (PIPs) is subject to severe delays, with people waiting up to a year to receive the help they need. This has meant some disabled people have faced eviction, or relied on foodbanks, even loan sharks, while they wait.
In a case currently being heard at the High Court, judges are being asked to declare that Work and Pensions Secretary Iain Duncan Smith has breached his common law and human rights duties to make payments within a reasonable time.
Despite these major delays, the DWP says it is coming to “the difficult period” when it will move 1.75 million people currently receiving DLA over to PiPs, and is determined to go ahead, despite calls for this to be reconsidered. There is seemingly no understanding of the stress and hardship being caused to disabled claimants, who are already more likely than the general population to be living in poverty.
Dame Anne Begg, former Chair of the Work and Pensions Select Committee says of the cuts to come in the emergency budget, “I think we haven’t seen anything yet….I don’t see how it cannot disproportionately affect disabled people….If they won’t touch pensioners, the big bill left is working-age disabled people. I think people will need to be afraid.”
In a pre-election television debate, Iain Duncan Smith said it was ‘cheap’ to suggest that the suicides of benefit claimants could be linked to changes and cuts to benefits. A simple Google search would reveal to him many cases where Coroners at inquests have made just such a link.
Today (17 May) on social media a woman who had to give up work because of multiple sclerosis wrote of her difficulty in getting Employment Support Allowance, and stated that she had stockpiled medication in case the whole experience became too much. Fortunately, people responded with support and advice, but really, how low have we sunk?
When a person feels they may be driven to end their life, not because of their progressive disease but because of fears that their illness may be accompanied by destitution, we really need to call a halt.
There is something radically wrong at the DWP. An obsession with getting people off benefits and saving money has turned it into an inhuman machine, and an inefficient one at that. It simply processes people as if they were widgets in a factory, with no regard for their wellbeing.
For disabled people, it feels like we are entering the worst of times. But we may also be reaching a watershed, where the inhumanity and unfairness becomes too obvious for society to ignore. And, politically, there may be new opportunities.
Politicians may be wary of branding people like Jane Hawking an extremist. The government has a small majority, so a rebellion by a just a few MPs could mean defeat. All MPs have four or five years before they have to worry about getting re-elected, so some may be persuaded to vote with their conscience and defend disabled people. There are opportunities here, and we need to make full use of them.
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© Bernadette Meaden has written about political, religious and social issues for some years, and is strongly influenced by Christian Socialism, liberation theology and the Catholic Worker movement. She is an Ekklesia associate and regular contributor. You can follow her on Twitter: @BernaMeaden