Why I’m scared for our future

You may say what future and you may have a point… Today we saw another government take office this time a fully Tory Tory one and lets be honest not many expected them to gain a outright majority how they managed it is open for debate but they have done and we must face facts. The labour party shouldn’t go without comment in their disgraceful backing of tory austerity they have been a hammered in the polls and rightly rejected yet we are left with the proper tories at least we know what this lot stand for and that is outright destruction of the working class if they get their way. As a disabled person I have been worrying all day what will happen to us come the next 5 years. Chills of dread have flooded me and the horrors of the last 5 years tell me with Tories on their own they can get away with so much more not that the Lib Dems stopped them with any of their brutal cuts but this time it feels we are facing the abyss in terms of our welfare state, our NHS and our public sector services. A total of 12 billion pounds is to be slashed from the welfare bill and this will I tell you now directly will hit the poorest the most vunrable in our society I fear for many of us I really do. A leak last week suggested the following cuts have already been drawn up by the Tories The proposed cuts included: • Limiting support to 2 children in child benefit and child tax credit, so cutting up to £3,500 from a family with three children. • Removing the higher rate child benefit from the first child, an average cut of over £360 for every family with children. • Means testing child benefit – cutting £1,750 for a two child middle income family • Removing child benefit from 16 to 19 year olds – a cut of over £1,000 for parents of a single child. The Conservatives have been under sustained pressure to detail how they will cut £12bn from the welfare budget by 2017-2018, and the Institute for Fiscal Studies think-tank confirmed this week the Tories have so far disclosed only 10% of these cut in the form of a two-year freeze in working age benefits. With further cuts to benefits surely on its way the DWP have wasted no time in outlining plans to slash the access to work scheme a benefit which is close to my heart and helps me every time I go to work. The attacks on this particular benefit already destroy the lie that the Tories are there to help the disabled in to work and in work they just do not care and are taking the axe to this next benefit. How it will affect me long term we will have to see but be sure I will not let any attacks on me working go unheard. In a piece in the independent tonight it is said. http://fw.to/EMNy4cK The DWP has moved further to examine cutting a scheme that helps disabled people into work – just hours after the Conservatives won the election. The fund helps people and employers cover costs of disabilities that might be a barrier to work. The biggest single users of the fund are people who have difficulty seeing and people who have difficulty hearing. A policy document originally quietly announced in March suggests capping the £108m Access to Work fund. An impact assessment of the policy was released on the day the general election results. “[Spending] has risen significantly over the past five years … One of the significant strategic questions we face is how to establish the right balance between the need to support as many disabled people as possible and what it is reasonable to offer individual users,” the assessment says. The first option outlined by civil servants in the document is “to set a cap on the maximum value of support per user”. The party's manifesto boats that "last year alone, 140,000 disabled people found work" but says that "the jobless rate for this group remains too high. "As part of our objective to achieve full employment, we will aim to halve the disability employment gap: we will transform policy, practice and public attitudes, so that hundreds of thousands more disabled people who can and want to be in work find employment," it pledges. The overall spend on Access to Work in 2013/14 was £108m, covering 35,540 people. • An earlier version of this story indicated that the policy had been announced in the hours after the general election result. In fact the impact assessment for the policy was issued in the hours after the general election result, while the policy itself was issued in the run up to the general election in March This is just a glimpse of the tories aims in this next 5 years. Be under no illusion they are coming for you and they will not give a stuff about who you voted for or anything. Its time to organise ourselvesin our communities find common allies and fightback in whichever way we can using any means at our desposable. We may never see the welfare state ever a gain if we do not fightback now. The last 5 years was justa warm up for what is coming next …..

Benefit scrounger rhetoric has gone too far now

Reading in the Telegraph today about a blind man who arranged a charity darts event to raise money for Guide Dogs for the blind has now been investigated by the DWP for frauding the system. This idea of scroungers has gone too far now and is causing unnecessary stress and unease on many innocent disabled people. This has got to end. The fact someone would report someone to the DWP for attempting to do normal things as a blind person so thinking they can’t be blind is a disgrace and brings real shame on us as a society. I know people who have been refused disabled benefits as they can walk to their local pub all be it in great pain but they do it because they wish to get out and socialize. If we are going to start going down this route of if you are not at home all the time practically bed ridden you are not disabled in the DWP's eyes. This incident roubles me greatly on many levels. It will send out the message that trying to live independent and be active in your community is not to be encouraged as you may be suspected as being on the take in terms of your benefits. What a ridiculous situation we are in. "A blind man who held a charity marathon darts event was investigated over benefit fraud because he was too good. Visually-impaired Robert Boon, 50, organised a ten-hour "arrow" throw to raise £500 to buy two guide dogs. Mr Boon is registered blind as he is completely blind in one eye and only able to see shadows in the other. He scored an impressive 61,000 points on the night by standing and playing darts on his own for ten hours. Mr Boon said due to the repetitive action of dart throwing he was able to maintain some degree of accuracy. But shortly after the event he was called to a meeting by the Department for Work and Pensions to assess his eligibility to claim benefits. He was stunned to discover a member of the public had reported him - claiming someone that good at darts could not possibly be blind. Robert Boon, of Paignton, Devon, said: "I got a letter saying I had to attend a meeting. "I felt humiliated because I don't think it is right to report me when I have tried to do something good. "I rang the hospital to get my medical records on my eye condition. I don't see why people should put me down. "I feel really intimidated now. I am registered blind and can't see virtually anything out of one eye and shadows in the other. "To be fair when I spoke to the DWP they said they would not be taking the benefits away. "I have other things lined up now including a comedy night and don't intend to stop." "It's only right that we investigate a person's benefit claim when we receive information that suggests they may not be entitled." Mr Boon held the charity event at Pond Coffee Shop in Paignton as part of a larger fundraising drive to raise £10,000 so he can buy two guide dogs. " For me this is deeply worrying and something which we should all be aware of. The deep suspicion in this country now that all disabled people if they show near normal signs of living are to be suspected as fraud is a troubling development. This links into disability hate crime where many more disabled people are being targeted due to the scroungers rhetoric coming from our dear media and politicians With extracts from the Daily Telegraph piece http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/11503598/Blind-darts-player-targeted-in-benefit-fraud-probe-for-being-too-good.html. Peoples uncaring and untrusting attitudes worry me in this day and age, Where is this all leading, I dread to think.

Is Access to work helping disabled people or not ?

I myself use Access to work for my part time job as a office worker and find it a key part to my working life. I use it mainly for transport costs to get a taxi to work and back due to the bus's being infrequent and unreliable at best. The last time i reapplied for Access to work i was given a really tough line of questioning from one of the advisors really asking quite personal and almost hostile questions to find out if anyway i can reduce the costs for them. I have found it to be a very good service on the whole and am so keen for it to be continued and even extended as it needs to be if the government are really serious about helping disabled people back to work as they claim. Of course the tories are not about helping disabled people in fact they have made it harder for disabled people who do want to work if anything. A brilliant blog post over at DPAC - Disabled people against cuts a group i'm very close to and support wherever i can takes a look at the mess taht is the Access to work scheme. You can read this in full over at http://dpac.uk.net/2014/10/what-the-f-is-going-on-with-access-to-work-join-the-stopchanges2atw-campaign/ For me as a blind worker Access to work is a god sent but alot in this blog post rings true with me too. In this piece which i'm quoting from the author uses's the term deaf in their piece this as the author is deaf but the message being put is much the same for any disabled people who have experience of Access to work. "More and more people are asking what is happening with Access to Work, the programme that supports Deaf and disabled people to get into and stay in employment, as changes are making it harder and harder to use. Despite the government’s well publicised extra investment in the scheme Access to Work’s clear direction of travel is to cut individual packages, with the result that the employability of Deaf and disabled people is being seriously undermined. When the Tories closed the Remploy factories in 2011-2012 they said there was no place for segregated workplaces in modern society and the money used to fund the factories would be better spent supporting Deaf and disabled people to get into and stay in mainstream employment through the Access to Work programme. Over the past year, with the factory closures out of the way, changes introduced to the AtW programme have decreased eligibility, brought considerable distress and uncertainty to customers who had previously and successfully used the programme for many years, pushed Deaf and disabled people out of jobs and left others fearing for their futures. It is difficult to summarise all the changes: AtW is awarded on a discretionary ‘case by case’ basis and the programme has always denied the existence of any blanket rules for particular impairment groups. What we have seen emerging are some clear patterns around the cutting of packages, lack of information and hostility to AtW customers alongside growing inefficiency and cuts to AtW service delivery. The first clear pattern emerged with respect to Deaf customers who suddenly found themselves labelled as ‘fraudsters’. Individuals contacting AtW advisers, in some cases advisers they had had for many years were greeted with a completely different and hostile attitude. They were told ‘there are high levels of Access to Work fraud in the Deaf community’. Changes brought in including the notorious ’30 hour rule’, requiring Deaf customers using more than 30 hours of BSL interpreters per week to employ a salaried interpreter, have literally left Deaf people unable to continue in their jobs. The government has sought to justify what it is doing by pointing the finger at interpreters, blaming them for ‘costing too much’, meanwhile undermining what is a highly skilled and important profession. A particularly nasty move has been the introduction of retrospective decision making experienced by both Deaf and disabled people who have had their packages cut with the cuts being backdated after support costs have already been incurred. This situation has been compounded by the fact that has review notices are no longer sent out warning AtW customers when their packages are due for renewal which easily leads to people not realising their packages have ended. Deaf and disabled people have been left owing thousands of pounds and has left interpreters and support workers owed thousands of pounds, causing considerable hardship and distress. Successful appeals against changes to packages have been made but many people do not realise they have a right to appeal or how they would go about making a complaint. Others are too worried about losing the rest of their package to make a fuss. This is where the website DeafAtW has been invaluable, providing information and support on how to challenge decisions. There is a growing level of misinformation, confusion and chaos coming from AtW itself as a result of a restructuring that has seen a dramatic reduction in the numbers of contact centres and outsourcing. AtW invoices remain unpaid from months and months ago because the addresses of the payment centres changed but customers weren’t told. Meanwhile application backlogs have amassed. Given that Deaf and disabled people often cannot start a job until their AtW package is in place, yet can only make an application after an employment start date has been confirmed, this has presumably Deaf and disabled people unable to take up job offers. Money pledged by this government for the Access to Work budget has yet to appear. This was highlighted at the Work and Pension Select Committee oral evidence session when Remploy confirmed that the £80million per year “saved” from the closure of the factories hadn’t materialised in AtW support. There was also an additional £17million that hasn’t appeared. These two amounts would mean the AtW budget should have doubled in the past four years, yet cuts are being made. For a government that claims its welfare reform measures are all about supporting more people into employment, the changes to Access to Work appear counter-productive. Moreover, in a time of austerity, changes to the programme represent a cutting back of a scheme that actually makes money for the state: the Sayce report found that for every pound invested in Access to Work, £1.48 is recouped by the Treasury. But for anyone familiar with Tory welfare policies none of this comes as a surprise. Ill-thought through ideologically driven policies are seeking to reduce ‘dependency’ and dismantle the welfare state, removing social security from those that need it and creating situations that will end up costing more. While the Tories describe AtW as a ‘benefit’ and a dependency and fail to understand it as an investment, campaigners have beaten back some of the attacks. AtW eventually conceded that it was not realistic to expect employers to contribute the on costs for salaried interpreters under the 30 hour rule. In May the Minster for Disabled People announced a review into the 30 hour rule and the DWP Select Committee Inquiry agreed not only to take evidence on how changes were impacting on Deaf people but also extended the deadline for submissions whereas originally the inquiry had been intended to focus on employment support for people with mental health support needs and learning difficulties. Individual decisions have also been revised in the face of continued campaigning and challenges. More is needed though. We have yet to hear the outcome of the Minister’s review. Meanwhile we are hearing of cuts to AtW packages impacting ever wider, putting jobs at risk and pushing Deaf and disabled people out of employment. We need to step up our campaign to make sure information is available and accessible and people know what to do if they are impacted by the changes, to fight for the employment rights of Deaf and disabled people and to protect the terms and conditions of BSL interpreters and ensure we are not divided. StopChanges2ATW campaign open meeting – Thursday 23rd October 2014, 6 – 7.30pm, 336 Brixton Road, London, SW9 7AA. For more information read StopChanges2ATW and Inclusion London’s submissions to the DWP select committee inquiry: http://www.inclusionlondon.co.uk/ATW-ILs-%20and%20stop-changes2atw-respond-to-call-for-evidence

Disabled people feeling the pain from workfare, the misery must end !

The number of claimants on sickness and disability benefits facing sanctions looks set to have doubled since December last year. 11,400 claims were slashed for failure to participate in work related activity or missing a meeting with the Jobcentre in the seven months between December 2012 and June 2013. This compares to 10,130 sanctions inflicted on claimant's of sickness or disability benefits in the previous 12 months. Sanctions have also soared for people on the mainstream unemployment benefit Jobseeker's Allowance, with the DWP boasting today that over half a million claims have been sanctioned between November 2012 and June 2013. Benefit sanctions lead to desperate poverty and are often handed out for the most trivial of reasons. A recent report by Citizens Advice warned that sanctions have led to people to attempting suicide, becoming homeless or resorting to begging or going through bins for food. This is all wonderful news according to Employment Minister Esther McVey who today proclaimed: "We always make the rules very clear – it’s only right that there is a penalty if people fail to play by them." The trouble is many do play by the rules as they are known but still find themselves sanctioned and in deprivation as a result including many disabled people. There are many reports of people being sanctioned for some incredible reasons and many are quite farcicle if we are honest. At the fantastic Johnny Void blog who i follow closely now on a recent post Johnny writes "Astonishingly many of those who have faced sanctions will have been plunged into poverty by charities who have been only too happy to sell out their service users for free workers and lucrative Work Programme contracts. Household names including the Salvation Army (@salvationarmyuk), YMCA (@YMCA_England) and The Conservation Volunteers (@tcvtweets) have all defended these vicious measures whilst employing countless unpaid workers under threat of sanctions on mandatory workfare schemes. Members of the Disability Works coalition have also got their snouts in the trough. Some of those on sickness or disability benefits who were sanctioned will have had benefits slashed due to 'compliance doubts' raised by charities such as SCOPE (@scope), Mencap (@mencap_charity) and MIND (@mindcharity). These so-called charities are Work Programme sub-contractors and have agreed to report back to the Jobcentre if a claimant misses a meeting or fails to attend 'work related activity'. Charities claiming to support disabled people are now complicit in destroying people's lives by snitching to the DWP that they aren't trying hard enough to find a job. This is despite these claimants having undergone a notorious Atos assessment which has agreed that they are unable to work at present. Appalling however sick and disabled claimants can still be sent to work unpaid on the Work Programme or face sanctions. They may be unfit for work, but they are fit for workfare in the eyes of the DWP. With yet more workfare planned, alongside ludicrous new 'conditionality' for unemployment benefits which expects people to spend 35 hours a week looking for non-existent jobs, the number of sanctions is likely to rise even further. The poverty now being socially engineered by the DWP is unprecedented in living memory in the UK. In one of the richest countries in the world people are now being left to go hungry or homeless with the collusion of charities - whilst the Labour Party boasts they will be even tougher on unemployed or disabled claimants than the Tories. It is down to claimants themselves - and all those who support a welfare state that does not abandon people to destitution for any reason - to fight back against this callous war on the poor. A good place to start is the Week of Action Against Workfare beginning on 2nd December, please spread the word, tweet and share: http://www.boycottworkfare.org/?p=3060 There is also a petition (I know) on 38 Degrees calling for all sanctions to be scrapped. Please sign/share etc: http://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/benefit-sanctions-must-be-stopped-without-exceptions-in-uk (It's not all doom and gloom. Disabled people fighting the closure of the Independent Living Fund today had a major victory in the courts.) Above pic via the Benefit Claimants Fightback group on facebook. Follow me on twitter @johnnyvoid For quotes and extracts with thanks to Johnny over at http://johnnyvoid.wordpress.com/2013/11/06/benefit-sanction-rate-doubles-for-sick-and-disabled-claimantss/

Do we support ATOS workers on strike ?

Normally i support all workers in struggle when up against the boss's but this latest strike has caused me difficulty and i'm not sure i can fully support the ATOS workers strike today. Being disabled and knowing many who have already been through assessments at the hands of ATOS i am just sickened by them the whole lot. People may say oh well its not the workers fault but that they have to do these assessments on some of the most in need people out there but i'd counter that by saying well they choose to work for ATOS and well what kind of person if you knew what ATOS were like and their reputation out there with disabled people and beyond would in their right mind take a job with them ? This dispute appears to be over pay this time though and Mark Serwotka the general secretary of the PCS union as i have published below claims these ATOS workers are hard working. This they may be but they are also inflicting pain and misery on many disabled people. The PCS again does not come out of this looking great i'm afraid. In a Union News Uk article "Around 2,000 PCS members working for ATOS are today on strike over a 2% pay rise at a time when their boss received a 14% rise and took home £2.3m. The French multinational company runs a number of privatised government contracts, including DWP medical examinations, National Savings, the Equitable Life compensation scheme and delivering IT support for customers such as the BBC. Staff working in healthcare have been offered a 2% rise; those working in IT services have been offered 2.8% in return for signing new terms and conditions that affect their annual leave. Last year Atos chief executive and chairman Thierry Breton was awarded a near 14% rise of £279,992, taking his total wage and reward package to £2,329,250. PCS general secretary Mark Serwotka said : ‘PCS members will take action unless they get a fair pay deal. If the company can afford a 14% pay rise for its chief executive it can afford to reward its low paid hard working staff fairly. “Our members are angry and determined. Like workers elsewhere they have seen the money in their pockets and purses reduce, whilst food costs, energy costs, transport costs soar. This must end. Our members are being asked to suffer austerity whilst the cream from the £1.6 billion government contracts that Atos hold is skimmed off for the bosses and shareholders of this multinational company” Today’s action is likely to be the first in a series of walkouts that will seriously affect the company’s ability to meet government service level agreements on all of the contracts where PCS organise. The union will also embark on a “work to rule” from the 6th November that will impact on the company’s performance. * In Derbyshire, Atos, which assesses the capability of disabled people for work, will this morning be the focus of a demonstration by Unite members over the way it treats its clients. Unite’s local community group will be staging a ‘United Nations’ stunt at the Atos Healthcare Chesterfield Assessment Centre at Lordsmill Street, Chesterfield S41 7RW at 10.30am when a UN land rover with lights flashing will arrive to start ‘the probe’. Investigators, flanked by men and women in the trademark blue berets, will conduct ‘an investigation into alleged human rights abuses’. Unite community activist Colin Hampton, who is organising the demo, said “Many citizens in north Derbyshire have complained about their treatment at the hands of Atos which carries out the work capability assessments (WCAs). “A number of people, who have stories to tell of their treatment at the Lordsmill offices, will be there to give their testimony. The ‘investigators’ will attempt to question management and staff to ascertain the extent of the alleged abuses due to the implementation of government policy.” The Unite community group is also calling for a conference to be held in Chesterfield, early in the New Year to gather further evidence and propose changes to the current policy and systems, with the aim of restoring dignity to the sick, the disabled, and those that are out of work. " with thanks to http://union-news.co.uk/2013/11/atos-workers-living-wage-turn-heat-boss-claiming-2-3m/

solidarity with disabled people protesting at the BBC today

Disabled activists from grassroots campaigns Disabled People Against Cuts (DPAC), Black Triangle and Mental Health Resistance Network have occupied the BBC building in London to protest against the role the media are playing in worsening attitudes towards disabled people and a complete failure to give space to the realities of what this government are doing to disabled people. Ironically just last week the BBC reported on a research report by Scope which highlighted how things have got worse for disabled people since the Paralympics, but the BBC themselves have contributed to this situation by a lack of balanced or accurate reporting. In fact their coverage of the research angered disabled people by spectacularly failing to draw any links between the worsening conditions disabled people are facing and government policy. Despite the fact that Iain Duncan Smith has been pulled up before the Work and Pensions Select Committee for misrepresentation and manipulation of figures and statistics, the BBC continues to report information released by the DWP as fact. This resulted in a situation over Easter weekend where disabled people, about to face an austerity armageddon with benefits and income essential for their survival brutally slashed away, also had to contend with national media coverage that encouraged a view of us as benefit scroungers and cheats. It has since been proven that information released by the DWP ahead of the changes in April such as the figures for all of those who had supposedly stopped ineligible claims for incapacity benefit due to the tightening up of the benefit system, were misrepresentations with no basis in evidence. Just the smallest amount of research would have revealed to the BBC that they were about to report lies as objective fact. In addition to the misrepresented figures and statistics which the BBC promoted, further weight was given to the government’s propaganda by the succession of government ministers who were then given air time to continue to peddle their falsheoods. Where people were invited on to present an alternative view, they were non-disabled people from national charities. Firstly these people do not represent us, and secondly there are many more informed disabled campaigners who could have exposed the lies and misrepresentations. Time and again the government and front bench Ministers have lied to justify policies which are causing the deaths of disabled people. Only last week the Disability News Service has had to raise formal complaints against the DWP press office for deliberately presenting false information about the level of spending on disability in the UK. Meanwhile the situation in the UK has gained international notoriety. The UN are currently in the UK to investigate and report on what the UK is doing through its housing policies. Solidarity protests outside the British Embassy have been organised by supporters in Canada. Yet time and again the BBC have not only failed to report on what is happening but to contribute to public ignorance of what is going and to inflame hostility with questions such as “Why can’t disabled people take their fair share?” It is well evidenced that disabled people are bearing the brunt of austerity measures with those with the highest level of support need being hit nineteen times harder than the average citizen. To even put the question why can’t we take our fair share is damaging and in contempt of disabled people’s basic rights to be treated with respect and free from hostility. For more information please contact Rosa Wilkinson on 07505144371. Notes for editors: 1) Disabled People Against Cuts was set up in October 2010 to oppose the government attacks on disabled people. Our week of action last year highlighted the hypocrisy of Atos’ sponsorship of the Paralympic Games and culminated in a protest of 700 people outside Atos headquarters and the occupation of the DWP building by disabled activists and a guide dog for 2 1/2 hours. We are now in the middle of our week of action for 2013: Reclaiming Our Futures, which is focused on the wide range of attacks that are pushing back disabled people’s rights be decades. 2) DPAC report on DWP abuse of statistics: http://www.scribd.com/doc/149776210/DPAC-Report-on-DWP-Abuse-of-Statistics-Final-22-June-2013 3) http://disabilitynewsservice.com/2013/08/ministers-silent-after-being-caught-pulling-lies-out-of-thin-air/ 4) Campaign for a Fair Society: how the cuts are targeting disabled people revealed the extent to which austerity is disproportionately impacting on disabled people with thanks to DPAC for the press release

For disabled students to have a choice in their education

I have been reading the 'Reclaiming Our Futures: Draft UK Disabled People’s Manifesto' consultation And whilst it’s mostly a good piece with many of the areas covered I would just like to point out one omission and where my views differ in terms of policy for disabled people. I am myself registered blind but haven’t always been. I lost my sight aged 16 through ha rare genetic disease which affected my optic nerve. I did attend mainstream school for most of my schooling life when I could still see and spent the last year of 6th form struggling by and trying to complete my education whilst trying to cope with a fairly quick sight loss. I am With Ben Golightly http://m.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.inclusionlondon.co.uk%2FAnnouncing-Reclaiming-Our-Futures-Manifesto&h=kAQHDVMdO&s=1 Also a member of the socialist party who is finding the demand for a fully inclusive mainstream system of education problematic on various levels. For myself who attended both mainstream for a time and specialist education at the Royal National College for the Blind in Hereford for a few years. I experienced both sides of the coin if you like and I personally found being in a specialist environment really beneficial to myself in terms of independence and progression in life too. There are skills I have learnt away at Hereford I would not have been able to get in mainstream education. I personally feel as a socialist and a disabled rights campaigner that there should always be the choice for people if you felt mainstream was where you would be better suited then all necessary adjustments and provisions should be made available to you to complete your education fully to the best of your ability. Likewise if you feel mainstream education which can be very full on and intense for many with big class's and a heavy work load with all the pressures it comes with isn’t for you then specialist education is a must and is something that should be continued to be being funded. During my time at RNCB there were cuts going on all over the place with the Learning and Skills Council effectively disappearing in place your local authority would have to decide if to fund you to travel out of county to a residential specialist school. This as we well know was becoming harder and harder with budget cuts meaning colleges like mine were facing a very uncertain future. I think this is desperate and much awareness needs to be raised on this. Hereford College for the blind for example taught me many things and was I stand by a vital part of what I am today. The people I met the experiences I had the skills I learnt are all hugely important to the person I am today. I am lucky I had the chance to learn away from home in a relaxed atmosphere the education but also the daily living skills including basic cooking, washing and personal hygiene etc. I also received much needed mobility training to gain confidence to use public transport and navigate using a white cane which I was not so familiar with before attending college. The consultation is a good one I may submit this piece but Ben has already covered a lot of what I put I would just be coming from a blind persons perspective. As a disabled person choice matters and having the option to choose what meets your needs the best is something we should promote and encourage. Labeling and boxing people into categories and education systems which may not suit them is a sad state of affairs. The choice to be supported in mainstream with the necessary funding is as important as maintaining and up keeping specialist education for disabled people today and in the years to come.

Disability benefit cuts be aware of what’s going on

Today changes are being rolled out in disability benefits. The change from DLA to PIP enters another phase being rolled out in other parts of the country. • Concern? A new system of disability benefits has begun to take effect across England, Scotland and Wales. Personal Independence Payments (PIPs) are replacing Disability Living Allowance (DLA) as part of the government's welfare reforms. The government claims PIPs will target resources more effectively towards those who need it most. But a charity warns that almost a fifth of claimants - 600,000 people - could eventually lose their benefits. Since April, thousands of new claimants in the north of England have already applied for PIPs. Now, new claimants of working age in the rest of Britain will also have to apply for a PIP, rather than DLA. Northern Ireland will join the system later. From October, PIPs will be extended further, when the government will start to re-assess existing claimants, but only those who circumstances have changed. The vast majority of the 3.2 million people who currently claim DLA will not be re-assessed until 2015 or later. Many disabled people fear having to be put through the new in-person tests to test their eligibility. Phil Sumner, a former postman who has multiple sclerosis, told the BBC that the prospect of an interview is "quite intimidating". "It's like being judged again. Filling out forms is bad enough. Face-to-face, I don't like anyway," he said. Savings Figures from the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) suggest that 450,000 will no longer be able to claim the benefit by 2018. But the disability charity Scope said that - including those who would have been new claimants between now to 2018 - some 607,000 people will miss out in total. The government claims the new system will better target those who need help. Under DLA, most people filled in their own application forms, and did not have to re-apply, even if their health improved. "Seventy-one percent would have indefinite awards, without regular checks," the disabilities minister, Esther McVeigh, told the BBC. "So this is about targeting billions of pounds a year at the people who n So we are told. I am currently on DLA and am not being reassessed just yet I don’t expect to be for sometime but it is a worry at the back of your mind. My eyesight is unlikely to ever improve so how is my situation ever likely to change? I was awarded my DLA for life when I got it and don’t see why this has to change. I will have to see what happens but I don’t see why I should be targeted while the rich laugh all the way to the banks evading billions in tax. Quite clearly this is an attack on disabled people who as we know can’t fight back so easily so are an easy target for this vicious and cruel government. All benefit cuts must be fought as best we can. Keep a watch on my blog for further updates on benefit cuts and disability news and views.

Concessions show bedroom tax can be defeated!

Today we’ve seen chinks in the armour of the coalition government over the so called bedroom tax. A truly vicious attack on some of the poorest in society. The coalition has made some concessions with the bedroom tax to take some of the non-spare rooms out of the new charge. Changes mean that foster careers will not be charged for rooms, as long as they have had a foster child or become an approved foster carer in the past 12 months and army personnel living at home will be allowed to keep their room even if they are away for over a year. Yesterday, it was announced that seriously disabled children would be considered to need their own bedroom but that will be a decision to be made by individual councils and no real definition has emerged as to what will be exempted and what won’t. These concessions show that the government is worried about the backlash over this charge and are recognising that there are far more “exceptional” cases where people need their “spare” room, than cases where they don’t and could move. Over 50 demonstrations are being held on Saturday, with anger growing to this tax. These exemptions remove some people but there are still many disabled people who will be charged for their “spare” room which is used for an adaptation or for equipment storage or for a partner/family member who is also a carer to sleep in. There are still separated parents with visiting children who will have to pay to keep a room for their child to stay in – and grandparents in the same situation with grandchildren. There are also people who have lived, worked and raised a family in a community that will be forced to move because there are no smaller properties available on their estate. No mention has been made as to whether the Discretionary Housing Payment fund will be reduced, as £5m was intended for Foster Carers. This fund is supposed to cover all the exceptional cases of people who clearly do need extra rooms or those who should be allowed to remain living in their community, but was never likely to be enough. Join the protests in your area on Saturday and help to ensure that it is not needed at all. This can be defeated lets show the government we have the spirit of the poll tax still. Can’t pay won’t pay!

Scrap the unfair bedroom tax!

On 1 April David Cameron's government of the rich will unveil their vicious 'bedroom tax'. Council house and housing association (HA) tenants over 21 and under pension age that is judged to be 'under-occupying' their premises will lose much of their housing benefit (HB). They will lose14% for one 'spare bedroom' and 25% for two or more. There are already press stories about the effects on disabled people and families with disabled children, the sick, unemployed people, etc. Many people on housing benefit today are in work but on low pay and they too will suffer. This is a blatant class attack! Will bailiffs be sent into the stately homes of the super-rich to evict surplus millionaires? No. On the same day as the bedroom tax arrives the Con-Dems are cutting millionaires' taxes yet again, saving them over £100,000 a year! There are nowhere near enough one-bedroom homes to offer decent accommodation to the hundreds of thousands who the Con-Dems reckon are under-occupying their homes. House-building figures have crashed - fewer than 100,000 new homes were started in 2012 - the second lowest figure since 1946! Cash-hungry councils has practically stopped building new properties. The private rented sector has now reached 8.5 million, one in six households, who are paying more and more rent, often to a small number of giant greedy landlords. Cameron's regime hopes to force more tenants to follow suit by making social housing (i.e. council and HA) unaffordable - evictions and homelessness will follow. We cannot let this government force people out of their homes! Around the country, rage at this cruel new tax is exploding. In Scotland, where the heroic, organised and successful opposition to Thatcher's poll tax started over 20 years ago, Socialist Party Scotland members have started setting up anti-bedroom tax campaigns. Scrap the bedroom tax • Build support for anyone who cannot or will not pay this unfair, unjust tax • Councils and Housing Associations must refuse to evict any tenants who fall into rent arrears as a result of the tax • Stop the attacks on benefits and wages. Make the rich and big business pay for the economic mess - not ordinary people • For a major programme of council house-building to provide affordable homes for all. Nationalise the house-building companies and banks • Build a 24-hour general strike to bring down the Con-Dem government that is slashing jobs and services In this issue Socialist Party news and analysis Scrap the bedro With extracts taken from http://www.socialistparty.org.uk/issue/755/16268/07-03-2013/scrap-the-bedroom-tax

Bin the bedroom tax can’t pay won’t pay!

This year many people across the country will be affected by the bedroom tax. A tax on empty rooms in a house. [Mike Daily is the Principal Solicitor of Glasgow’s Govan Law Centre and is a member of the Financial Services Authority’s Financial Services Consumer Panel. He writes in a personal capacity.] One of the worst aspects of the 2012 Welfare Reform Act is the so called ‘bedroom tax’, although it might equally be called a ‘disability tax’ because two-thirds of the 95,000 households affected in Scotland contain someone with a disability.1 The rationale for housing benefit cuts for ‘under-occupied homes’ in the social rented sector is the UK Government’s desire to reduce the overall cost of housing benefit by £1bn over two years – so the bedroom tax is another tentacle of the austerity agenda. 2 A strategy that almost all respected political economists around the world will tell you is fundamentally flawed.3 If everyone does something at the same time, like implement cuts and reduce spending, the economy will go on a downwards spiral and UK debt will actually grow. This is what has happened in the UK. This is known as a ‘fallacy of composition’.4 The Chancellor has got it wrong, GDP has gone down, and our economic growth is flat lining.5 Besides the obvious human misery and indignity of forcing people out of their homes, there are other powerful reasons why implementing a bedroom tax is wrong and not in the public interest. Two immediate problems are created: first, you create a dynamic to force people to downsize. The DWP estimate that 660,000 people across the UK will be affected by these changes. The changes apply to claimants under the age of 61.6 Some 81% of those affected are ‘under occupying’ by just one bedroom. This means most people affected will be liable to a 14% cut in their existing housing benefit from April 2013 – the equivalent of £624 per annum or £12 per week. The DWP already accept there will be many communities where there is insufficient smaller homes to downsize to. This added to cuts in other benefits and the universal credit coming in in April will have a devastating effect on local communities and some of the poorest in society. This tax must be fought as widely and as tactically as we can. This is not going to be something the trade unions are likely to get involved in although their support for direct action struggles is always welcome. This may take local tenants groups with militant mass non payment to force this tax into the dustbin of history. What is clear though is that non implementation is a option and labour councils should be using all legal powers they have to try and delay disrupt and ultimately make this tax unworkable. Disabled people will of course be hardest hit, along with those on low pay or benefits. The exemption for tenants who need an overnight career is of limited application. ITV News has given some common real life examples of where disabled tenants will be penalized by the bedroom tax.8 The example of a tenant who uses her second bedroom as sterile room to receive nutrition from a machine, made necessary after she had surgery for bowel cancer. Or a couple where the husband had a stroke and cannot share the same bedroom with his wife. Both of these tenants will lose over £48 per month from their housing benefit from April. While the cost to a social landlord in evicting a tenant is on average £6,000. Local councils will not want to be seen to be shelling out thousands in evicting lots of people this could become unworkable if many simply refuse to pay or in many people’s case cannot pay so won’t pay. It’s a disgrace while rich millionaires have spare rooms in their houses are not taxed yet those of us who need a spare room are taxed for the right to have one. It smack’s a little of a nanny state dictating what you can and cannot have now. There are sure to be many legal cases against this unfair tax on the basis of discrimination and I do hope those who are affected search out any route to fight back and are supported when they do so. Occupations must be supported if families are under threat of losing their homes and our solidarity will be needed at all times. People facing this tax are not alone and must not be made to feel so. An attack on one is an attack on us all.

Socialism will be accessible for all

As a disabled person a person who has been registered blind now for a number of years I know how difficult life can be. Life is not accessible to us and is a constant struggle. This post isn’t meant as a blind person rant or an I cant cope an I need help kind of post but I would like to say that we as disabled people face incredible challenges day in day out. Many disabled people do not work as either they can’t or work is simply not practical for them. It’s not as the right wing media would have you believe we can live an easier life on benefits as I can tell you right now living on benefits is no life at all. Even as a disabled person with incapacity benefit as it used to be known its no walk in the park ok I used to get £210 every two weeks but that for me just got me by the price of living now would mean that would just about cover my expenses to get to the shops, buy my weekly shop, pay for taxi’s, pay for any doctors or hospital appointments which disabled people often have to attend to receive treatment or medicine and your looking at the bulk of that money being spent. Not just spent but reinvested into the wider economy we use taxi’s we are contributing to a hard working taxi drivers living, we attend a hospital we are providing in a round about way a doctor or nurse a job and a living if not a great one. So in a way life is not a breeze for us I work 2 days a week part time but many do not and this is through no fault of their own it can be for many many different reasons which I cant go into here but each person has their own difficulties and challenges they overcome everyday. Just getting out of bed each day is an achievement for some and that should be recognised. I think personally and many socialists share this view that capitalism has no time for disabled people as the reemploy factory situation showed if disabled members of society can’t work like other workers, i.e. for awful wages with poor conditions being driven into the ground they are no good to them. They have no problem with throwing disabled workers on to the scrap heap if it means their profit margins are looking healthy. You may think I’m giving the rich, the capitalists a hard time and in a way you’d be right, but it’s not without reason. Pushing disabled people and the poorest in society some of the most vunerable people in society into harsh conditions and poverty type conditions is not something to be proud of. If this is all in the name of the pursuit for profit I wish to be counted out. I feel under capitalism we will never achieve equality why do we still have to fight for a living wage, why do we have to fight for our dignity as disabled people? Under socialism there will be choice, more choice but not for the price of exploitation but of the bettering of society, Choice under capitalism means the driving down of workers wages and conditions and the choice of the gutter under socialism people will be free to decide if they wish to work and help better society or help in other ways. Apples I phone is a big step forward under capitalism for the first time blind people can buy a phone with a screen reader which helps us use a mainstream phone with no extra cost or software for the first time. This is ground breaking but this is all too rare under capitalism and the price is huge. In a socialist society this will be standard when products for society are produced the thought that blind or disabled people may be using them will not be a after thought but fundamental in the production process of all products, transportation, housing, living conditions and everything you can possibly think of. The fact that the drive for profit will be gone for good will allow society to plan production and the economy to meet the true needs of the people not just the few but for everyone, disabled or not.

My difficulties with access to work

I recently found out I had to reapply for Access to work a scheme designed to aid disabled people in work and to enable them to complete tasks to achieve work tasks as any other able bodied person would do. All was going reasonably fine until today when I received a rather stern phone call from one of their advisors. Clearly they re checking up on every single case now and going through your case with a fine toothed comb to see you’re not cheating the system or getting any money you shouldn’t. I must stress now my situation has not changed at all in the 3 years I have been working and my support has remained the same. On the governments own website they state Access to Work - practical help at work Access to Work can help you if your health or disability affects the way you do your job. It gives you and your employer advice and support with extra costs which may arise because of your needs. Check if you qualify for Access to Work. Today I was interviewed over the phone about my claimant I was asked all sorts of probing questions in attempts for the government to save money it didn’t have to pay out to support me in work. I was asked could I get a bus instead of a taxi each week now the taxi I get is only 4 journey’s a week as I only work two days at present and gets me door to door taking a bus which are very infrequent and highly unreliable I’d have to get to work 2 hours early and not get home till 2 hours after I finished work. All for a 3 mile trip. More questions were fired at me could I change my working hours to fit? umm no I’m employed for a certain amount of hours I cant change it I told them they wanted to know every last detail it felt and I came off the phone feeling very shaky and highly intimidated by the whole interview. It felt like I was being accused of claiming for things I shouldn’t or I shouldn’t be claiming for support I should support myself. Now I don’t earn much at work and I only get DLA and working tax credits to make my income up to something near liveable on I certainly can’t contribute anymore than I already am. I pay 50p in every mile for my journey to work and am allowed to claim back the rest and I don’t think this is too unreasonable. I am working at the end of the day part time maybe and it’s not the greatest job in the world but I’m working. If this government want disabled people to work they need to get their finger out and support the properly making the necessary adjustments however much they cost as how else can they expect us to work ? All this rhetoric about scroungers and benefit cheats about the disabled makes us out to be on the fiddle all the time when we’re not the vast majority of people disabled or not just wish to earn a living and live comfortably if that means we need extra support the government or the employer should make the funding available to meet our needs in my view. I thought about it after but didn’t say so on the phone to this advisor that we are not a poor country there is 750 billion pounds of money stashed in the banks of big business not being invested don’t tell me we are a poor country as we are not these companies just refuse to invest this as they see no profit to be made in investing at this time. As socialists we would say there needs to be an immediate 50% levee on that figure to invest in public works, s new schools, the NHS and a programme of council housing building on a mass scale could start to get people back to work and start to meet people’s needs. This incident today reminded me of the ATOS exposure on panorama where they would try any tactic to get your off benefits back into work, I’ve not been through that ordeal and never wish too but this felt similar but ridiculously I’m in work and trying to gain support. The Tories, labour and their dems all talk of getting disabled people back to work and yes to a extent I agree with them where there is a job and a job is needing doing pay people a decent wage for it and employ people on proper terms but and this is the crucial point if you are disabled like myself we do need that little bit more support than others. No sham in that but the money is there and can be used to support us they often just choose not to. Both the government and big business would rather take money back off you or not spend it in the first place. Its hugely hypocritical that they claim to want to get disabled people into work yet when they make it as difficult as possible for them to gain thnecessary support they need to complete work related tasks. I just think the system is wrong and instead of intimidation and threats to cut your support they should be looking to go the extra mile to support disabled people who wish to work. Of course there are those who can’t work and accept that and they shouldn’t be bullied or discriminated because of that fact instead should be allowed to live their lives comfortably and contribute in other ways to society. At the end of the day we work to live not live to work. Perhaps the government who are hell bent on austerity ought to take note of this. A society which put peoples needs before anything else is what we strive for as socialists if people wished to work they should be a ble to and no barriers in front of them. A socialist society would support everybody’s needs not just a few rich individuals who call the shots at present.

ATOS and the Paralympics, a marriage of sick proportion

Below I republish a short article I have submitted to our party’s paper the Socialist they will no doubt change it about to fit the paper but I’m posting it here for the unedited piece of my own words. Disabled people should be able to enjoy sport too. I’ve watched closely the news and reports and reaction of the Olympic Games over the last few weeks but now attention Turns to the Paralympics. Disgracefully private vultures ATOS are one of the games main sponsors. Only a government and a system happy to make disabled people pay the price for the failures of a capitalist system can think having a sponsor such as ATOS is ok. The company who are paid and make big profits out of removing disabled people from benefits and finding them fit for work. Having this company as one of the main sponsors is sick in my opinion and rubs those who have been on the raw end of ATOS and their techniques nose’s in it somewhat. Only the other week on a BBC Panorama episode the rigid rules to which ATOS work and apply a system which’s designed against disabled people lead to tremendous strain and stress on the person being assessed. Constant assessing and appeals only makes peoples worries and lives worse with the unknown factor not knowing if they’ll be able to keep their benefits to live or not. In one horrific case one man with a heart condition who struggled to breath was unbelievably found fit for work by ATOS and several weeks later sadly died due to heart failure. ATOS are paid h are given huge contracts by this con-dem government who like the last government see fit to punish the most vunrable in society for the failings of a capitalist system in one of its deepest crisis’s ever. I’m registered blind myself and attend a gym once a week I’d love to go more often and engage in a lot more sports but the costs are astronomical . British Blind Sport to be fair do do a fair bit in promoting blind people taking part in sport and I am really pleased to hear my old college the Royal National college for the bind in Hereford will be hosting the blind football. But this is all very well but for many disabled people the chance to take part in sports on a regular basis or to simply exercise to some extent is becoming increasingly difficult with less and less funding from local government and central government alike during these times of austerity.

Why I’m lobbying the TUC with the NSSN on 9th sept

Some may ask why am I of all people bothering to lobby the TUC in Brighton in September and what exactly do we hope to achieve. Well let’s just look at the situation we find ourselves in. We are an estimated 15% into the planned austerity measures with permanent austerity a very real possibility. With little to no opposition in this country with a Labour party who think the cuts are too far and too fast- not that the cuts are wrong full stop or completely unnecessary. I believe that cuts are not needed with an estimated £120 billion of tax evaded every year from the rich and big corporations their money is clearly there. In September with the Olympics still in people’s minds austerity will again be very real for many people having just witnessed a big glorified sports day for the super rich and the dignitaries of various countries not to mention some very suspect regimes including Sri Lanka and others. I myself am in a part time job with poor pay relying on working tax credits to top up my poor wages. I will be marching and lobbying the TUC to call a 24 hour public and private sector general strike. This should immediately follow their day of action and March on the 20th of October this year. Anything less will be a betrayal and a march from A to B will be for nothing. We do not wish to come on October 20th just to hear Ed Miliband we all have to vote labour and things will be ok and then see every labour council up and down the land pass on Tory cuts. It just won’t do. We need action now, today for workers who are losing their jobs today, not tomorrow, today! I’ll also be lobbying as a worker myself the vicious attacks on the disabled who work in Remploy and are also seeing their benefits cut and stopped in many cases’ by the private companies who wish to profit from a crisis not of our making who profit from disabled people being passed fit wrongly for work. It’s a disgrace and something must be done. I am also a young person myself and with currently over a million young people out of work its time young people stepped up their anger and demand a future. Decent jobs, free education, good pay and a future of hope. Many will ask well is a 24 hour strike enough. Probably not but it’s got to be the first step uniting public and private sector workers and others communities to join in to strike against austerity. Marching, talking and railing against the cuts is no longer enough. Bigger larger more militant action is required and if the TUC won’t lead it the NSSN is waiting in the wings to launch the fight back with rank-and-file pressure from below. So please join us as the TUC bureaucrats meet in Brighton to discuss platitudes and talk about how bad things are let them know with the NSSN that time for talking is over we want to see action and action on a mass scale. Let’s harness the latent power of the labour movement and let’s see workers finding their power once again. To change society for the many to find a life in.

Supporting striking disabled Remploy workers

Today thousands of hard working disabled workers who work at the Remploy factories across the UK are taking strike action to defend their jobs. They face loosing all of their jobs and being thrown on to the scrap heap. The socialist party and the NSSN stand shoulder to shoulder with all taking action today.

None of the Con-Dem cuts are necessary but this cut is particularly vicious. For a paltry saving, the government is prepared to throw hundreds of disabled people onto the scrap heap.
Any claims that this is to stop segregation make your blood boil - where are the jobs, where is the support, for these workers to make a transition to a "normal" workplace?
One GMB member explained: "I worked in a different factory for seven and a half years before coming here.
I hated it - I was constantly bullied. Coming here has been great for me. I've worked here for 21 years. I'm much more comfortable here, I've made friends."
A lot of the people working at Barking have family members who are also disabled or in need have support. What was worrying them was that if Remploy factories close, it's not only themselves who suffer, but what future will there be for their families?
One said: "Just because we have a learning disability we're treated like second class citizens - we can be kicked out and shouldn't be seen and shouldn't be heard".
Paul said: "I've been on eight or ten protests to fight for our jobs here. We marched to parliament. But this is the first time I've had to go on strike. We've got no choice."
At lunchtime today the press are meant to be coming and workers from some of the other Remploy factories also under threat in London are coming over for a rally.

By Paula Mitchell



Barking GMB steward condemns Remploy closure plans
Barking Remploy GMB shop steward Mark Holloway spoke to The Socialist:
"This dispute is about the closure of the Remploy factories. The government has made a decision that Remploy will close.
"There are 54 Remploy factories nationwide. They produce a good standard of goods. It will cost thousands of disabled people the opportunity to work and condemn them to a life on social security.
"Remploy provides an opportunity for disabled people to work in an environment that is safe and which understands their special needs, and gives them an opportunity to contribute to the local and national economy.
"It is far better than a life on benefits. Remploy factories are like small communities. A lot of people have leaning difficulties and are challenged but they feel safe and they make friends and do a day's work.
"Remploy work also gives respite to the parents, carers and social workers that have to look after them."

On Thursday 19 July Remploy Unite members in Portsmouth joined the picket lines to show their opposition to the threat to jobs.
Rosemary has worked at Remploy for 35 years: "This is my life. If this place closes, would we get other work? This was a job for life. It it closes it will effect everything, including our pensions."
Gary added: "Can't remember the last person they took on. People want dignity, a wage; people have a right to work.
Cameron says we sit around drinking tea. That's not true. If we haven't got work here we do maintenance and cleaning duties. What Remploy needs is investment in new machinery and new contracts."
The Unite steward in Portsmouth Remploy said: "Our members want security and to know their future. We need to get people back into work.
"We have young people here on eight week work experience; they should be offered jobs here. I've worked here 34 years.
"Whoever takes over here wants to reduce disabled people to 51% of the workforce. I've been amazed at the support here today."



This fight is not going away the cuts will continue we are only 15% in to the cuts project. Its time we all stand up and fight. The socialist party needs your support and so do these workers who are some of the most vunrable in society. We send our solidarity and support to all workers taking action today.

The nothing for something culture

We are constantly told of the something for nothing culture which apparently infests our country with many people scrounging benefits and feeling a sense of entitlement. This is completely untrue of course and is a rhetoric driven by the ruling class with the capitalist controlled media aiding their assault on disabled people as one section of the society feeling the attacks hardest.

But I thought I’d twist this on its head and re name it the nothing for something culture where we are being asked to work for nothing in workfare schemes where big companies get cheap labour well for nothing.

The government of millionaires are quite happy for this society to carry on as many of them have financial benefits with such companies involved in the workfare scheme. Workfare is meant to help people find work but ultimately it is unpaid labour where the workers only get their benefits and if they refuse they may not even get that.

The battle to defeat workfare hasn’t gone away and a concerted effort to highlight the programme and how we can create real jobs with real wages needs to be addressed.

Many will ask so you oppose workfare so what is your alternative?

Well how about using some of that 750 billion big business is sitting on either tax it or say we’d nationalise them to run for need not profit providing socially useful jobs perhaps in the construction industry for a start. Rolling out a mass affordable house building project.

Other areas could be investing in our railways, a fully nationalised railway and public transport system run for the need of people not just the profits of a few fat cats at the tops of these private organisations.

The nothing for something culture has to end with the bankers laughing all the way to the bank with their bonus’s all be them not as large as before we do need to get organised to change society to benefit everybody on this planet.

Disabled people this week have been attacked in the news this week with the news that Iain Duncan Smith the work and pensions secretary for the government declaring half a million S DLA claimants are to be re assessed and those in least need will be losing their disability benefits. Even amputees who have lost limbs in illegal wars could see their benefits cut or removed entirely. Only the most genuine cases will be granted support and this will be constantly monitored I don’t imagine any life time indefinite claims will be granted. Forcing more disabled people into misery and poverty I wouldn’t be surprised if many feel it is too much to carry on with the cost of living and the challenges they already face feeling far too great. Life is a struggle to many disabled people myself included as a blind man we are not a drain on society and certainly don’t fester on long term benefits. I work two days a week on part time employment but I still don’t earn much but I try my best. IDS want us all to work harder and get less as a result. Its time this government was gone in my view.

Welfare bill spells difficulty for many

This is a piece i have submitted to go in our paper the socialist this coming week. It may not appear as this may be jigged around here and there to fit in the paper but i thought i'd post my original version here for all to read if they wished.


So as the Welfare bill makes its course through the houses of
parliament going backwards and forwards between the commons and the
lord's disabled people such as me reflect on what will make our lives
harder than they already are.

For me the proposed changes are yet to be spelled out to me but I
understand the DLA is likely to be replaced with Pip which will surely
cost more in the long run to introduce and make the transition across.
I was granted DLA indefinably after I was told I may not see ever
again following the traumatic loss of my sight in 2004. From what I
understand PIP will be harder to claim and more and more strict tests
will have to be performed before you are granted help and support.

No doubt such profiteers such as ATOS will be there carrying out the
tests on disabled people with tough rigorous tests to carry out to
prove if you are fit for work or not.

With DLA this was not means tested so you could still claim it while
working which has been a great help to me as I only work part time and
receive working tax credits as a top up due to such poor level of
wages.

I know many cases of people who have already been through tough
screening and have lost out with attempts to get benefits to help them
live independently. Missing out and still not being able to find work
is extremely tough. I was unemployed a few years back after leaving
blind college in Here ford the RNCB which again receives local
authority funding for students to go there to study and receive
support in a residential environment.

I fear for others and myself who will have to face tough questions in
the coming months and years in terms of what we can and cannot afford.

Disabled activists may have been heartened by the role the house of
lords has played so far but we would air on the side of caution and
say the lords only oppose part of the welfare bill. As socialists we
would oppose the whole bill as it is a vicious attack on ordinary
working class disabled people.

With all 3 main capitalist parties Tories, lib dems and labour all
agreeing with the principle of the bill it is time disabled people
along with others in society say enough is enough and put our efforts
in to fighting for a new workers party fighting for the interests of
all not just the 1%.