I was interviewed by the BBC for the Breakfast show on DLA linked to the Disability Alliance initiating legal action re the consultation on DLA.
The crew came to me and did a long interview and filmed aspects of my home that indicated extra costs I had as a disabled person.
All well and good a great interview and interested journalist.
Then late in the day a man phoned from the BBC asking if they could use some of the interview on the BBC news, he asked me questions about my impairments which I declined to share publicly as I have multiple health issues as well as a spinal condition.
He asked how much I received in DLA so I explained about the two components and that my Mobility fund was spent on a wheelchair adapted car leased via Motability and that half my high rate care component was taken in charges for Independent Living Fund support for care so in reality I receive only £125 per month.
So I was shocked and surprised to hear him state I received this per week!
Also my surname was not pronounced properly , it became ‘Nevis’ not ‘Novis’ and the MBE I received this year was not noted on my name as it was in the morning.
Although he stated I had a spinal condition he did not state I had multiple health issues too.
It seemed to me the stance of the piece shown was different from the Breakfast show piece and so much was left out of my interview.
I had explained about the multiple impact of all the cuts on disabled people, the closure of the Independent living Fund, the anxiety caused to so many due to lack of appropriate consideration of our views on the proposed changes to DLA.
It seemed in the morning the genuine concerns of disabled people were to be heard but by the evening I became a burden too far as Maria Miller and the tax alliance focused on misuse and how ‘unsustainable’ DLA is, also the ignorance of disabled people not understanding the government stance which is oh so clear these days was also the focus by Maria Miller.
We have to ask why the approach to this information changed from the morning sharing real concerns and anxieties to the evening where the focus seemed to be more on disabled people expecting too much.
Anne Novis, MBE
