The Welfare Reform Bill and You.
If you are following te Guardian Link you want this one
In my first blog for the "the Broken of Britain: Left Out In The Cold" campaign I told you some things about my life and related those to the welfare state as it once was, and then I related my current life situations to the welfare state as it will be if the Welfare Reform Bill is passed by Parliament. In this second blog I would like to talk about what the Welfare Reform Bill might mean for you. Yes, you.
If you read the first blog you will be aware that for most of my life I did not consider myself to be disabled at all. That disability had crept up on me, impairing my mobility when I was in my mid-40s, and completely disabling, (if we take that word to mean putting out of action), me in my mid-50s. What I hope this tells you is that however you feel now there is no guarantee that life and the rigours of living will not play the same trick on you or one of your loved one as it did on me. Before we carry on I would like you to click on the link beneath this paragraph which should open a web page at the top of which there is a photograph I would like you to look at for a moment and then return here when you are ready.
Welcome back, what did you see? Some might have seen a brilliant artistic image which expresses some facet (your interpretation) of living with a disability, some might have interpreted the photograph as a representation of soft porn and some might have been reminded about an old joke of Billy Connolly's in which he used to talk about finding a place to park his bicycle.
I'm with that first group, when I first saw this image I also saw a breathtaking piece of art but, unlike you, I was already aware of what the model and the photographer were wanting to convey. What you've been looking at is a woman who has exposed herself to discomfort, pain, and possibly illness to fulfil her desire of conveying to you just how it feels to be a member of the community of disabled people who inhabit Britain at this time.
You see someone who is alone, someone who is possibly distressed and who is certainly very vulnerable. Someone who requires assistance but there is no one there who can help. Although it may not have occurred to him or her at the time, the Photographer is a metaphor for the majority of our current society, the “able bodied”, who are observing the helplessness and vulnerability of the disabled community at this time but who are doing little or nothing about it because they also feel helpless, a feeling we sometimes invoke just through our presence.
If you belong in that spectator group it doesn’t mean you are automatically a bad person. Us “Bendies” and “Loonies” become very skilful at interpreting the moods of others and we realise there may be several reasons for your feelings of impotence. It might be because you simply do not know what you should do to help us, it may be because you can't think what you might say to a person whose vulnerability is so obvious, it may be because you've digested the current political ideology which implies that all people with disability could do more to help themselves, or, because of your lack of knowledge regarding persons with disabilities, it possibly hasn’t occurred to you that there is anything to be done. Finally, if you are a member of the current Tory Party you will believe that Kaliya Franklin has exercised her personal responsibility and chooses to lay down eating mud on a wet and freezing cold beach.
With one exception these are all valid points of view regarding the situation I am describing. Many of us "Bendies and Nutcases" would have felt the same way when we were you. We know that now we, through stubbornly refusing every offer of help we receive even when we need it, can leave people wary of offering assistance even when the need for it is obvious. However, I promise you that you would view a scenario like the one above very differently if you were to become one of us.
Right now we do need your help. The reason this government, and the previous one, have targeted disabled people instead of their historic victims, single parents and immigrants, is because those groups now account for a large proportion of eligible voters. They consider we do not. Just as the mentally disabled have been the impoverished, money starved, portion of the disabled Social Services and NHS provision since 1948 because they are comparatively small in number, so the whole disabled community is now considered fair game for institutional abuse and financial disregard by a government who do not consider us to be a significant voting force. They have a point if they are just counting us, but they are forgetting that we all have friends and relatives who also have friends and relatives and that among those people is YOU and you are interested in US or you wouldn’t be reading this, so if you come and join us, and bring your friends and family with you, suddenly WE will become, in voting terms, a significant number.
Whether you are joining us because you have seen the light and now realise that you, or a loved one might become one of us one day, or you are joining us for purely altruistic reasons, WE think we all should have some knowledge of the decimation the Welfare Rights Amendment Bill will bring down on OUR social care and health services which we and our parents paid for with our taxes and National Insurance contributions.
Cleverer people than I have analysed and summarised the bill so I will not try to outdo them because I couldn’t. What I can do is point you to some of the information the politicians are ignoring so that you can form an informed opinion. Okay? Lets go.
Regarding Housing Benefit
In Sept 2010 Citizens Advice Said:
“Proposed cuts to housing benefit will result in higher levels of poverty, debt, rent arrears and homelessness and should be delayed, national charity Citizens Advice says today.”
And much more HERE: http://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/press_20100910
And in December 2010 The Guardian said:
“Housing benefit cut could double homeless numbers, charities warn
Coalition of 17 charities warn government that cut announced in spending review could put 8,000 more people on streets”
And much more HERE: http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2010/dec/29/housing-benefit-cut-homeless
And on March 7th 2011 The Daily Mail Said:
‘Welfare payments cuts 'will force 200,000 benefits claimants out of London and into the suburbs'
Mind you it was an article warning the suburbs that the scroungers are coming. Still, there’s truth in the headline. You can read more here: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1323327/Welfare-payments-cuts-force-200k-benefits-claimants-London.html#ixzz1FvX8KgSL
Regarding Homelessness
On Monday March 7th The Daily Mirror said:
“Feeding homeless to be banned by Tory-run Westminster council”
Read more: http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/2011/03/01/heartless-tory-council-plans-to-ban-charities-from-feeding-the-homeless-with-soup-runs-115875-22957295/#ixzz1FvZ4LAeI
Regarding Unemployment Benefit
On 23rd Oct 2010 The Welsh “Public and Commercial Services Union” said
“Nine jobseekers for every job in Duncan Smith's Cardiff”
And much more at: http://www.pcs.org.uk/en/news_and_events/news_centre/index.cfm/id/805C3E5F-1FBC-4647-8542B4A1D9A439F6
Regarding Incapacity Benefits
On March 6th 2011 The (Scottish) Daily Recorder said:
“Sickness benefit clawback firm tells GP people are 'claimants, not patients”
And much more at: http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/2011/03/06/sickness-benefit-clawback-firm-tells-gp-people-are-claimants-not-patients-86908-22970435/
And
On 26th Jan 2011 Full Fact.org said:
“The latest welfare figures have again been subject to misinterpretation among certain newspapers. Yet the Daily Mail has gone further than most - suggesting 94 per cent on incapacity benefit can work. However the figure did not stand up to much scrutiny.”
And more Here: http://fullfact.org/factchecks/incapacity_benefit_94_per_cent_can_work-2458
Regarding “The Cuts”
On 5th March 2011 “The Guardian” said:
“Benefit cuts will leave a third of UK 'too costly for low-income households'”
And more Here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2011/mar/05/benefit-low-income-households
Because there is a great deal of info on DLA on the tBofB site I have not included that here
PS: If you are still wondering, the comment in paragraph 4 that wouldn’t be acceptable in paragraph 5 was:
“if you are a member of the current Tory Party you will believe that Kaliya Franklin has exercised her personal responsibility and chooses to lay down eating mud on a wet and freezing cold beach.”
Did you get that? Good, you’re learning fast.
Broken Brian
2 comments:
Keep writing...some very sound points made. http:\\onmybiketoo.blogspot.com
Keep Writing...some sound statements made. A blog Worth reading
www.onmybiketoo.blogspot.com
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