The consultation on Disability Living Allowance closed on Friday and, to be honest, a far as mountains to climb go, this was only a minor foothill. The consultation closed on Friday the 18th of February, 4 days later than the Valentine's Day closing originally planned. On Wednesday the 16th of February, the Welfare Reform Bill was given it's First Reading in the House of Commons. This Bill contains all the major provisions for the new Personal Independence Payment, and the abolition of DLA - 2 days before the consultation ended. This means that the consultation is a sham, and that the Minister for Disabled People's promises that consultation responses would be considered ring hollow.
This much was quite predictable of course, and The Broken of Britain's submission to the consultation was as much about setting out the reasons for our opposition to reform and making the case against it. The positives to come from the consultation are that we know that we are winning attention in the media and in political circles, thanks to you, our readers. We also know that at least 10% of MPs support us after sustained lobbying by The Broken of Britain, as do 12% of Scottish MSPs - and 18% of Welsh AMs - and we're working on the others!
The Broken of Britain is now four months old, and is far stronger and better organised than when the DLA Reform Consultation was first announced. Over the past few months disabled people have managed to shout and be noticed, and The Broken of Britain has a couple of initiatives planned for the near future that will make sure that this pressure is sustained. We fully intend to ensure that the anti-disability provisions are removed from the Welfare Reform Bill. The response to the consultation has convinced us that this is more than just wishful thinking. The time is coming when they will be forced to listen.
Non-partisan UK-based Disability campaign. Advocacy for people with invisible illness and/or physical & mental health conditions. Also Carers, their Families and Friends. Our individual voices are too quiet to be heard, but collectively we can shout loud enough to drown out this tide of abuse against us. Disability Hate Crime, lack of full legal protection, people in care homes costing too much to be let out and not one political party willing to fight for us.
I am still amazed that we cannot get a single major news source to even touch the fact the consultation closed four days AFTER the bill was introduced, or that many people didn't even know there WAS a consultation - but the BBC is more than capable of finding an "anonymous scrounger named Mick" who can talk about how brilliant it is living on "free money".
ReplyDeleteWe need to be calling these nasty cuts for what they are: anti-disabled policies. This government is clearly anti-disabled people and anti-sick people as well, considering what they're also doing to our NHS.
ReplyDeleteWe are just political footballs to them. We need to show that, yes, we may be weak, but you can only kick the weak for so long until they use what little life they have to maintain some shred of dignity and independence.
Can we get Age UK on our side? I was beginning to feel less depressed but I have since discovered that PIPs, if implemented, will stop once a person who has been awarded it reaches retirement age. I am sure that even some of the disablist media might just might object to this.
ReplyDeleteIs it worth contacting that new 20p newspaper called " i" which contains just news not celeb gossip etc? Or have you done so already? Think it's run by the publishers of the Independent.
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