Screenwriter, trying to be me, music lover, film enthusiast, fighter for those who can't, eternal optomist, disability advocate, permanently exhausted ♿️
It's actually quite genius: set up a system to gradually force people to migrate from legacy disability benefits to newer disability benefits, then point at the numbers every year and scream about the fact that the number of people on the newer disability benefits is going up.
People vehemently believe that there are safety nets in place if you become disabled. That no matter what, you have all your needs met. If you believe this, you’re in for a rude awakening if you ever become disabled.
What sort of society have we become where there’s even a debate about whether disabled people are ‘allowed’ benefits to cope with the act of living. Just ashamed to be British at this point.
Disability hatred, discrimination and Helen Whately.
And make no mistake, it is hatred. It is discrimination. It is targeting vulnerable people.
Absolutely disgraceful behaviour.
Most disabled people were not born disabled. Around 80% acquire disability through illness, injury or accident. Disability can happen to your child, partner, parent, friend or you.
Demonising disabled people is ultimately demonising all people.
The Tories made everyone on UC, the sick, the disabled & pensioners live in a constant state of fear. They felt a sigh of relief for a whole 2 MONTHS into a Labour Govt and they have been terrified every single day since.
LEAVE WELFARE ALONE.
Politicians obsess over the cost of supporting disabled people.
Far fewer ask what happens when disabled people can't afford care, transport, equipment, heating or treatment.
The bill doesn't disappear. It simply turns up elsewhere.
A disabled person doesn't need a higher standard of living than everyone else. They need a higher income just to achieve the same standard of living. That's one of the most overlooked economic realities in Britain today.
People talk about the cost of welfare.
They rarely talk about the cost of disability.
Scope's Disability Price Tag found disabled households face average extra costs of over £1,000 a month.
That's the reality many politicians and commentators ignore.
One of the grimmest political tricks of the last 15 years has been convincing the public that disabled people are a bigger economic threat than tax avoidance, private outsourcing failures, or housing costs.
"Mencap, Mind & National Autistic Society warn could lead to “the biggest rollback of disability rights in a generation”."
All deeply worrying especially in context of so much care now provided by private profit companies rather than safe, appropriate & compassion driven care.
Doctors like this are the reason so many of us hide our disabilities
It took me years to publicly identify as disabled, and the reason I became an advocate was to try and give voice to those who don’t have a platform
I’m outspoken about my illnesses because of people like this
As each day passes I get slightly more bored of being disabled. Not because of my impairments, but because I cannot imagine anymore a time where I am not disabled by the way society treats me because of them.
To be able to live without it being a hassle because of crap access?
#PMQs@KemiBadenoch why are you not asking why 55% of the welfare bill goes to state pensioners?
Why are you not asking why 40% of people in work are claiming welfare?
Not everyone claiming welfare is unemployed.
I'll tell you what's 'unsustainable', and it's not state pensions, NHS funding or disability benefits. It's a society in which the majority works longer hours for lower wages so the 1% becomes richer still.
Cut welfare to the bone and you do not create a stronger economy. You create unpaid bills, empty tills, worsening health, deeper poverty, and more pressure on councils, the NHS, charities, schools, and families. Poverty is expensive. Extreme poverty is even worse.
The debate is always about getting people into work.
Millions are already working.
The real question is why so many people can do everything society asks of them and still find themselves trapped in debt, insecurity and constant financial anxiety.
Just saw another bloody politician spouting crap about PIP being an out of work benefit without being challenged by the journalist. Do your job you dicks. We need a law making it a crime for politicians to lie & journalists need to be sacked if they don't do their job.