Monday 4 April 2011

The criminalisation of the disabled

Something which angers me every day is the way this tory government gives the impression it is a crime to be disabled and we must pay for the mistakes of the bankers. Why should we feel like we have always done something wrong and made to feel we shouldnt be supported financially if we struggle for support.


All we hear in the media and the papers is that we are a country who are work shy and rely too heavily on benifits. We are a country of people who feel it is better to live a life on benifits rather than working. This is so wrong. I really dont think the tories get it at all. Many i know who are disabled would love to work and pay their way if they could. Fact is many of them cant due to severe disabilities and struggles to work. The second fact is that even once these disabled people are passed somehow for work the jobs are frankly not there for them. There is still much discrimination out theer when it comes to employing disabled people. I am blind myself and have found it very hard to come by a job that are willing to support your every need. It is far worse in the private sector where money is everything and any cost they dont have to pay for they wont. This goes for any nessesary adjustments that are needed to adapt the working environment for a disabled people to carry out the work as to the best of their ability.

If we were all garunteed a job and paid a fair wage as i'd love to see happen the disabled would be able to work and not feel victimised for their struggle into work.

I think the drive by the right wing media in this country to alienate the disabled and the people who find it hard to get into work by claiming they are all hooked on benifits and wont attempt to work at all is a false assumtion. What angers me most about this is that our benifit payment as part of our annual public payout is minimal not even 1 % of our national outgoings. What is wrong is how the media fail to see that we loose far more money in tax evasion to the tune of 120 billion pounds plus. This leaves a greater hole in the public purse so why not focus on the bigger picture rather than a group of vunrable people who are only trying to make the best of a life for themselves.

How ridiculous is it that we can afford illegal wars in Iraq and western interventions in Libya now yet we say we cant afford to properly look after our disabled and the elderly too. It is a disgrace in my opinion. What kind of society do we live in really ?

3 comments:

  1. Great post Mark. An you can bet that these same people will moan merry hell when they are forced to spend money on adaptations to employ people with disabilities. And even worse if they are forced to employ people who can't be reliable because of their conditions

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  2. yep you know it, thanksf or the comment helen, it is disgusting the way we are treated in the way of employment, waht the government dont seem to get is that many want to work but face difficulities getting into it and also people can contribute towards society in other ways not just in work. its all money money money to them.

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  3. Good post Mark. It's good that we get angry about such discrimination, else apathy would rule.

    Our fight is not just against the Tories but all those who would buy into a system that puts profit before people.

    We can spend money bombing Libyans because the payback is maintaining control of the oil. We can't fund welfare and benefits because there's not such a good return. Unless of course those being screwed make it more costly to leave them out of the system...

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