If you’ve realised your ambitions and done something that only a few non-disabled people have accomplished – well then you can’t really be disabled.
At least that is what Lord Freud, Welfare Reform Minister, appeared to say on Wednesday 11 May. In a debate about the new assessment for the Personal Independence Payment (‘PIP’, which will replace the DLA) he said that a person climbing Mount Kenya on prosthetic limbs should not be treated as disabled – for that person would be doing something that many of us cannot do. (http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld201011/ldhansrd/text/110511-0001.htm#11051171000240)
With this comment Lord Freud seemed to imply that this person should not be getting the PIP. Radar would be very concerned if personal achievements became a yardstick against which to measure entitlement, for it may well be because of the benefit that this person is able to make his or her dream come true.
No matter how high a person’s achievements, they may still have extra costs of living with a disability – for an amputee this would include costs of taking a taxi as transport is often inaccessible with steps or stairs; replacing clothes more often as artificial limbs cause wear and tear; buying light-weight items which tend to be more expensive. Being an amputee means that you have good and bad days, so that on some days you may need much more assistance than on other days.
The DLA has been the benefit that allowed disabled people choice and control over their lives, regardless of their income. Whether an amputee may find fulfilment in baking pies at home or in scaling the highest mountains in the world – these are personal choices that the Government shouldn’t intrude upon.
But Lord Freud’s comment goes deeper as it betrays a patronising attitude towards disabled people.
It doesn’t happen to disabled people only – we’ve heard that USA President Obama is not really black, high-powered women in the City are just like men; and “that old man is very active given his age.”
But for disabled people the impact can be much worse as their support may be withdrawn. It shows in the stories of disabled people who are reported to the benefits line because they can walk to the shop, or are being interrogated by members of the public about their entitlement to a Blue Badge. (http://www.scope.org.uk/news/attitudes-towards-disabled-people-survey)
It shows in the low expectations that disabled children and adults have to contend with, when they’re told to adjust their aspirations as their disability will stop them achieving their ambitions – and thus being denied the support to move on in the world.
We have still got a long way to go in the fight that started over 30 years ago, when disabled people stood up en masse, and said – we want full citizenship. Stop telling us we can’t. Together with Bob the Builder and President Obama we say – Yes We Can. But give us the support that we need.
What we need to hear from the Government are positive messages about disabled people conquering the world; not denying our identity or withdrawing much-needed support because we’re doing too well to be really disabled.
Marije Davidson - Radar Public Affairs Manager
5 comments:
I have a Motability car which is essential for my long distance and every day mobility (carrying shopping etc) . Whilst the scheme is fantastic, the recipient still has to contribute some or all of DLA allowance.Some amputees fail to qualify for Motability, so cost of providing your own vehicle and maintenance can be incurred.The current high price of petrol and the frequent use of a car for mobility will incur substantial costs.
The transient nature of being an amputee means that good and bad days can leave the amputee requiring crutches or a wheelchair.After my amputation i was able to hike in Cuba for the Douglas Bader Foundation , but my mobility now is different to then, due to changes in my stump. Being able to walk with a prosthetic limb is very hard work, approximately 40-70% more energy required for an above knee and greater for through hip and bilateral amputees. The idea that working hard at your mobility could end up penalising you would seem to indicate that it pays to not put any effort into your rehabilitation. As we are approaching 2012 and the paralympics a realistic view of amputees and disabled peoples mobility and how that changes is required. Ill founded comments can have a very negative effect, disabled people should feel enabled,encouraged and included.
Best Regards
Nigel Kingston
I have to echo what Nigel says. I am a below knee amputee and am also Visually Impaired. I have just been turned down again for DLA on the grounds that I can walk up to 50 Metres, slowly and in a reasonable manner! Does anybody live less than 50 Metres from their local amenities? My nearest bus stop is over 100 Metres from my house and I can no longer drive. Therefore, I have to walk more than 50 Metres, often in great pain, in order to do anything! I openly admit that I can walk but often with extreme difficulty and pain. This is surely a disability but in order to qualify for DISABILITY Living Allowance, you need to be unable or virtually unable to walk. Surely, by definition, that is an INABILITY and not a Disability!
I realise that the system may have been abused in the past and I am sure that it will continue to be abused by people who know how to play the system but I feel the wrong people are being targeted. Unfortunately the people who make the rules, have absolutely no knowledge of disability. I would like to challenge them to walk down a busy street with their leg in a splint, so that they can't use their ankle, and a patch over their right eye. Once they have tried that, do you think that they may concede the point that I am disabled?
Best Regards,
Charlie Duff
I am a disabled person and a wheelchair user and I am very fortunate in that I am able to work full time with the support of my employer. However, if I lose my DLA because I use a wheelchair that means that I will lose my Motability car and I will no longer be able to work as public transport is not fully accessible.
If I am no longer able to work then I will no longer be able to pay my mortgage. I will then have to sell my house and approach the local council and housing associations to try and find a wheelchair-accessible property, not exactly a common commodity in this country.
At the present time I contribute to the state by paying National Insurance and Income Tax and the amount I pay is roughly four times what I receive in DLA. How can this make economic sense, never mind moral sense and this situation will be common to all disabled people who are in paid employment.
Moreover, the DDA states that a disabled person who uses an aid, such as a wheelchair, to offset the effects of their impairment is still a disabled person. Does the Coalition Government now intend to have two different classifications for a 'disabled person', one for the DDA and another for the DWP. Surely there must be some grounds for a legal challenge here>
Donald
Glasgow
Let us never lose sight of the fact that Freud, then plain David, crony of James Purnell, launched this campaign of lies and disinformation against the disabled with his 100% dishonest rant in the Telegraph, a couple of years ago, claiming most IB claimants were frauds.
http://ronsrants.wordpress.com/2008/06/19/more-on-benefit-lies/
Clearly nothing has changed.
I tried to send the below to the human rights people - but their website didnt work..... I just wish somebody would teach this govt about HUMAN RIGHTS andbeing allowed to live and have dignity in disability
...
Surely the UK GOvernment are breaking the human rights laws by their continual attack against the disabled of the UK?
Lying to people about the fraud rate which they know is less than 1%
Treating disabled people like scum and villifying them in the newspapers and making disabled people MORE ill by the stress of not only the ACA and ESA but now their new attack with DLA/PIP (thats the one where the fraud rate is less than 1%)
Being disabled is NOT a lifestyle choice and it is not fun! The DLA fraud rate is so low because the form and checks WORK - So to move the goalposts making 75% of DISABLED people suddely unable to claim this help in the UK is just horrific. It doesnt make them well again! It just makes life nion impossible and people are already planning to kill themselves due to the stress!
The UK Govt are making the WCA test almost impossible to pass, so millions of disabled people are then thrown on to JSA and to be honest - these people are disabled - No employer in their right mind would employ someone who neds the toilet every 5mins and neds to lie down a few times a day and doesnt even know if they would be able to get to work daily!
The UK govt in my eyes, being a disabled person of the UK - Are attacking the disabled of the UK continually and unfairly. They are attacking them in the papers, and pretending they are going to help when it is all al ie - They just hate disabled people - I am disgusted with cameron who had a disabled som and claimed DLA (when he did not need it being a multi millionaire) yet he will now remove this VITAL benefit from millions of people who were not born in to money like cameron was!
I beg you to take the UK govt to the court of Human rights over their continual attack and make them stop - People have already died because of this! And it is inhuman to have a computer program (not fit for purpose) and a company told they MUST throw a certain amount of people off the benefit whether they pass or not - and ATOS getting paid extra for every person they deny the benefit to! This is not care! This is an attack on the UK disabled people and the Minister 'for' the disabled is someone who should be renamed the minister against the disabled as she never gets her facts right and seems to be aiding the attack.
Disabled people are not scum - This govt should get the unpaid tax back like from the company they let off 6bn in tax (mobile phone co) if there was a dfefecit how come they allow people off paying their taxes?
I am disgusted with conservative and will never vote for them again (nor will I luib dem)
And I beg you to help the disabled peple of britain
I will lose my home, my children and then my life - because of what this govt are doiing to me!!!
http://www.facebook.com/thebrokenofbritain?ref=ts
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