So here come the Paralympics. And that's good.
But look a bit carefully at who's riding the bandwagon. One of their major sponsors is ATOS. Remember the name? The company that has the DWP multi million pound contract for cutting down the number of people able to claim disability benefits. The company that loses over a third of appeals against it's recommendations. The company that Panorama exposed a few weeks ago for it's inhuman treatment of classifying disabled people as 'fit for work' when they were in fact terminally ill and definitely disabled. Whose own medical people described the assessment process as 'toxic'.
ATOS has also provided the IT systems for the Olympics, but for it's disability assessment clients - 'computer says no' is routine.
This is not just negative rhetoric. One local charity I'm involved with, conservatively estimates that 15% to 20% of the learning disabled people it currently supports will lose all their DLA mobility allowance when they are reassessed to go onto Personal Independence Payments (PIP) - £70 a week each - and all of the rest will lose some of their benefits.
Cheer on the athletes. But don't let ATOS get the PR benefit they think they're paying for. Disabled People Against Cuts (DPAC) are co-ordinating protest action against ATOS at the Paralympics and they need your support - see them at http://www.dpac.uk.net/2012/07/our-atos-games/
If you can't take part in the Paralympics, you can take part in stopping this money grubbing multinational using our Games for their PR.
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No disabled person will have any chance of independent living after cabinet approve the maximum expenditure policy for home care for the under 65s.Worcestershire council will limit the budget for 24/7 support to £411 per week and every LA in the country will follow suit.ATOS have started the cascade of misery for disabled people.
ReplyDeleteI find the games challenging as it is so hard to witness a disabled young persons struggle to have any independence in this country in 2012.The awful truth is you can find yourself at critical risk if you do not have informal support.Legal rights are being ignored and the future is shared care and disabled only communities.The Games appear to be for and of another time, not here not now.
I have to agree about the cuts road being largely downhill at present. Looks to me like many of the gains made over the last generation are in danger of being written off in cutbacks. I'd really like to ba in a position to push for more improvement but just now all our efforts seem to have to go into hanging on to what we've got.
ReplyDeleteI am all for hanging on. It is after all what everyone of us does each day. Thankyou for posting regarding the Maximum Expendicture Policy proposal,I hoped you might know someone worth telling. The ideas for how individual budgets and DPs would support the policy are horrifying.Group outings,borrowing PAs and benevolent funds.I was a Mother to two able bodied women until illness struck, I had no idea that my youngest daughter would then be treated as less than human.Her independence has been fought for every step of the way.To everyone hanging on to what you have please make a noise for those that will follow and will meet with every obstacle you did and more.
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