Thoughts on the Coronation

Charles has his work cut out for him if he wishes to ameliorate the reputation of the royals amongst UK citizens.

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According to the US newscaster CNN’s article from 5th May, the day prior to the coronation:

“Britons’ support for the monarchy is in long-term decline”

“More than one-third of UK adults (36%) say their opinion of the family has become more negative than it was 10 years ago…”

“… 37% of those age 35-54 and just 31% of those younger than 35 say they intend to watch the event, as an increasing number of young Britons express their indifference to or dislike for an institution they say has no relevance in their lives.”

“More than half (55%) of UK adults younger than 25 say that they don’t consider the royal family a good source of leadership and guidance, a view shared by just 36% of those aged 55 or older.”

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“A member of Operation Golden Orb organising committee told The Sun that the ceremony may have cost £100 million. But separate unverified sources have suggested an even higher bill, of up to £250 million, partly because of the vast security costs.”

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Today the Manchester Evening News, known as the M.E.N., writes:

“Taking place amid the cost-of-living crisis facing the UK and against a backdrop of strikes by doctors, teachers and other public servants over pay, the King’s coronation has been branded a waste of taxpayers’ money by critics. More than half of Brits do not think it should be funded by the government, a poll has suggested. The YouGov survey found 51 per cent of adults questioned believe the ceremony should not be funded by the government, almost a third – 32 per cent – said it should, while around 18 per cent did not know.”

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Per the Wikipedia item on coronation:

Most European monarchs do not have public coronations. They simply swear an oath.

They thus save their countries £/€ millions which can be spent elsewhere as needs be.

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Looking at the last published accounts of Trussell Trust, the largest food-bank provider, it would appear that the monies spent on the coronation would have fed the UK’s food-poor for a year or so. Of course, that is simply a comparison. UKgov chooses not to feed the hungry (despite being a signatory to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights). At any time it could ensure food to every UK citizen & resident. Instead the government spent the monies on adorning one single man!

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Continuing Failures to Care

Whilst this blog-post can be read without reading my previous post, “Crime, Death or Asylum”, the reader may wish to read it for background. This previous posting details some of my health conditions and the ramifications of the change in care-provider including loss of weight, severe dehydration, some quite severe reäctions to change in medication and care, and the over-all deterioration in my health since the council-owned care-agency took over in April 2021 and changed my care-regimen in August 2021.

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For some nine weeks I have been resident in my home’s guest-room. It is by far the snuggest room in the house, for some reason we have never quite figured out.

Normally I work my way through at least one whole box of mansize-tissues per week; but since the change of room I have only used up two boxes. I am allergic to dust - something which is rather difficult to avoid. My usual bedroom must have been extremely dusty and hence my constant sneezing and running-nose!

Normally we clear me out of the bedroom once per year so that it can be deep-cleaned. Alas, last year I was just not well enough to leave my room for any useful length of time. Indeed, this year, simply moving to the guest-room caused me to be almost totally bedridden for some three weeks, excepting using the lavatory for defecating and the occasional urination.

When I was finally able to rise from my bed to attend to practical chores in my usual bedroom, I discovered as I picked up objects, books, etc. just how dusty the room had become. Dust-balls rolled across the hard floor-surface like tumbleweed! The tops of books had the finest dust-coatings I have probably ever seen. However, when one reälises that there were five tubs-worth of books in my room, that adds up to a heck of a lot of contaminants!

My housemate has nearly completed the deep-cleansing. Most of the room plus its en suite have been vacuum-cleaned, mopped and hard-surfaces disinfected. There are just a couple of chores remaining. Then I may start moving some of my things back into my personal bed-cell.

[Image description: the writer in his usual bedroom]

Carer Duties

I have to say that the standard of care since my move, some nine weeks ago, has probably deteriorated. Remember: whilst mostly my long-term memory is fine, my active-memory is shockingly poor (and this is typical of someone with my chronic-illnesses); I have to be prompted with precise, closed-questions (to which a yes/no response can be given).

Personal Hygiene:

Number of times carers prompted me to shower - ZERO

Number of times carers prompted me to brush my teeth - ZERO

Number of times carers prompted me to mouthwash - ZERO

Number of times carers prompted a change of bedding - ONCE (M)

Number of times carers prompted to use a face-wipe - ONLY J1

Number of times carers prompted a change of clothing - ONLY J1, J3 & M

Food & Drink:

Number of times carers enquired as to what, if anything, I had eaten - ZERO

Number of times carers enquired as to what, if anything, I had drunk - ZERO

Number of times carers checked on water-consumption (water-cup & hydration-system) - DAILY

Number of times carers failed to fill water-cup - J2, J3 & J4 usually forget

Number of times carers failed to replace snacks - J3 & J4 usually forget

Number of times carers failed to enquire whether I wanted something to eat - most of the time, all carers forget.

Medication & Support:

Number of times carers failed to provide medication - ONCE.

Number of times carers enquired whether I needed a heat-bag - ONCE (M)

Trafford Adult Social Services (Trafford ASS) have been over the years repeatedly provided with detailed lists of carer duties, as has the Trafford Council-owned care-agency (or previous care-agencies) and as has my social-worker (and previous social-workers - yes, they are constantly changed). None of these agencies has ensured these lists are actually used, despite reminders and complaints from myself.

After more than a year of being under this selfsame care-agency I only recently discovered that nothing is provided in my file as to what duties are required of carers. Carers have been relying on my housemate (not always at home and anyways gets really annoyed at being constantly asked for the same information over and over) or myself - a person with appalling active-memory.

One carer advised me that due to the care-agency usually only retaining clients for circa three weeks, they have never bothered with duty-lists. However, I have been with this council-owned provider for some fourteen months. This is indicative of a failing to ensure continuity of care and appropriate care. How many other Trafford residents are being failed or have been failed by this deliberate recklessness?

Over a ten-day period I had six visits from a new carer. Trafford ASS etc are well aware that I will not undress with newbie carers until I have developed trust. Put yourself in my position by asking yourself how comfortable or not would you be with undressing or being undressed by a total stranger? Apart from the fact this newbie (J4) had not been mentored through what is needed here, her unwillingness to read through the file to find out her duties and thus her consequent failures in care, there was her lying in the notes after her very first visit. This really does not help me trust someone.

On J4’s first visit the care-agency did not notify me that a new carer would be attending, so I could not ensure housemate was at home. On this occasion he was out. J4 arrived extremely late for a 16.00 first call of the day at 18.09. Apparently she had been training. This meant I had not been fed, watered or medicated for twenty-two hours. There was also a knock-on effect: one of my medications has to have a minimum four hours between doses. Taking this medication at 18.26 would have meant the next dose could not have been taken prior to 22.26. The carers official finish-time is 21.00. One can immediately see the issue. J4 tried to press me to take the medication earlier, but I quite correctly refused as the minimum elapsed time had not passed. J4 noted that this was an outright refusal to take medication. J1 the next day, added an addendum to confirm the facts.

Effectively this was a failure by the care-agency to medicate me. Furthermore, this has not been the first time this year. There have been at least three other occasions in 2022 when the agency has failed to give me my medications. This is a repeated failure to medicate and thus fulfil their contract. Recall this is the council-owned care-agency not some penny-pinching private-enterprise. Imagine how those with private companies are fairing!

Update on my previous blog-post

Despite sending the link to the blog-post to various bodies and organisations, including Nicola Sturgeon in Scotland, I did not receive one single response. I could have committed suïcide. I could be dead from dehydration.

As I commented on Twitter, once one becomes disabled &/or chronically ill in the UK, one become to all intents and purposes invisible and uncared for. The United Nations (they also failed to respond) has repeatedly condemned the UK’s treatment of its disabled population - some eleven million individuals. However, the ultra-right-wing ruling-party and indeed the neoliberal alleged Opposition, do absolutely nothing to ameliorate the on-going situation. Nor will they.

No-one actually genuinely cares…

International Day of Persons with Disabilities 2018

Today is International Day for People with Disabilities (#IDPD2018).

[Image description: the writer in wheelchair sporting WoWPetition paraphernalia]

Here in the UK, matters are deteriorating for disabled folk. Despite treaty obligations, the UK has reduced support for individuals with disabilities. For example, Legal Aid to take action to enforce one’s rights when one has been discriminated against, has been so severely restricted, that is now almost impossible to access one’s rights. Social Security benefits have been reduced or even taken away from individuals. This has then resulted in people having their Motability vehicles, their mobility-scooters and even electric wheelchairs taken from them. Multiple reports, including several by UN agencies, have castigated the UK Government, but they pay no heed. Instead the Conservative Executive continue with dogmatic policies with no evidence base and ignoring the great harms they have caused and still do. The Tories even ignore the evidence that some of their policy changes cost more than the policies they replaced. The UK Parliament also issues reports evidencing the damage done, but has proved impotent when it comes to taking any actions to counter the heinous actions of the Government and its agency the notorious Department for Work and Pensions (aka DWP - which is found to be constantly in breach of the Law but it considers itself above the Law) nor rein them in. The UN itself has also shown it is powerless to enact change for the better in the United Kingdom.

Between 1:5 and 1:6 UK citizens have a disability. WE deserve to be able to work, shop, travel, have relationships, enjoy entertainment, participate in sport, gain an education, just like the majority of Brits. We very often cannot.

Even when we have the ability and the relevant qualifications, we struggle to access the world of work due to the built environment and prejudice, having a much lower employment-rate than non-disabled folk.

The Government has come up with Purple Tuesday, one day a year when disabled people will be treated fairly and assisted at the shops. Imagine if you were limited to a single day per year when you might access all shops!

Around half of all train-stations are inaccessible to many disabled, and for that matter elderly folk, because they are not step-free.

Social services, G.P.s, carer agencies and even charities fail to support people with disabilities who want to explore relationships. As far as I am aware there is not a single English social services department that enquires after a disabled person’s sexual needs. Nor are there any who offer support in pursuing a relationship.

Many places of entertainment are inaccessible to all kinds of disabled folk. Wheelchair-users are frequently barred from entering night-clubs, bars, restaurants, pubs, cinemas and theatres. But they are not the only kind of disabled to be so treated. Folk with learning disabilities are also frequently refused permission to enter such establishments.

Many swimming-pools are inaccessible to folk who become less disabled once they can actually enter the water. Many Premier League stadia do not provide the mandatory number of places for disabled folk.

Statistics consistently and continuously show that folk with disabilities do not achieve as well as their non-disabled peers, due to lack of opportunities, discrimination by schools, failure by local education authorities to provide adequate home-teaching, and so on.

Only UK voters can ensure the position ameliorates. Alas, too many refuse to vote (abstain) or choose to vote wilfully blindly, without considering the consequences to people with disabilities let alone the effects of their vote on the rest of British society.

Please, when next you vote, consider the ramifications on others of that x!

#DisabilityRights #DisabilityDiscrimination #DisabilityHate #DisabilityDeath

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You can support the current WoWCampaign on Twitter or go to wowpetition.co.uk

Another Office for Disability Issues Fail

It has emerged that the UK Government refused to spend £125 + V.A.T. to obtain a statistical anaysis from the UK’s Office for National Statistics (ONS) into employment rates in respect to disabled individuals finding work. It was left to a disability people’s organisation (DPO), Inclusion London, to pay for the research. The Disability News Service (DNS) article can be found here. The item quotes Ellen Clifford of the DPO:

“Studies have confirmed that unsuitable employment is worse for people’s health than no employment.”

And it should be borne in mind that much self-employed work does not earn sufficient for most workers to have a decent standard of living. In other words the self-employed tend to be less wealthy than those in full-time equivalent employed positions.

Ellen Clifford ‘urged the government to “look at the types of jobs and work that disabled people are moving or potentially being pushed into and to address issues of quality instead of making the aim to get people off out-of-work benefits at any cost”.’

I should suggest that there are other issues that also need to be investigated: 

*   the appropriateness of the work to the individual, taking into consideration the nature of impediments, health & well-being;

*   whether the work creates sufficient income from effort expounded, bearing in mind that those with impairments &/or serious health issues have a much higher cost of living than non-disabled/healthy workers;

*   and, does the work have long-term or even medium-term potential.

Surely these are issues that the Office for Disability Issues (#ODI) - a fiefdom of the notorious Department for Work & Pensions (DWP) - ought to have been investigating as a matter of course. The fact they would not spent £125 + V.A.T., against a budget of £millions, to even do the initial investigation is outrageous. It also further demonstrates the UK Government’s continuing systematic failures to adequately and appropriately support disabled folk.

This is further evidence of the department’s, and of course thus the Government’s, ongoing disability discrimination. Given this has been continuing  since 2010, despite the United Nation’s (UN) reports of grave and catastrophic violations towards British disabled folk, one can only infer that the Conservative Party (the current ruling group) is riddled with hate for disabled folk.

Vote Tory To Kill Your Disabled Neighbours…

It's been a hard few months for me. Nearly six months down the road, and I still have NO care plan due to the national social care crisis. However, even if my toilette is not regularly seen to, I am now eating more regularly and taking the vast majority of my meds and at the appropriate times. Still awaiting after nearly two months to hear from DWP about PIP decision, after taking me six weeks to complete the claim-form (forty-plus page booklet!). My state of health remains poor and my cognitive abilities weak. There has thus been a dearth of blog-posts. My apologies therefor.

[Image description: white background, black triangle to the left; to the right the slogan -

I will be voting

Against the

Tories

In Support Of

Disabled People

(sic) courtesy of Black Triangle]

This morning I was sent a link to a blog-post by Fiona Robertson aka @knittingquark on Twitter on the Commonspace website.

Fiona has very kindly given me permission to reblog the post in full. Please read and share either the original or my reblog, but please share it as widely as possible on any social media platform the reader happens to use. Fiona's writing is concise and lucid and makes the arguments way better than I could.

If a state "nudges" folk to suicide, then that state is guilty of murder. This IS what has been happening in the UK since 2010 due to deliberate policies of our elected government, policies that have been criticised by the United Nations.

We disablies and our carers & supporters need to let the British populace know that if they vote for the Conservatives they will be complicit in, depending on numbers, democide or genocide.

 

[Image description: blue background, EU ring of stars to the right; to the left the slogan -

Let's make June

the end of May

© n/k]

The article is entitled: 

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Voting Tory in #GE17 is a vote to kill people like me, and you need to know why

 

Disability activist and writer Fiona Robertson says the UK's most vulnerable are screaming for help

IT IS to their credit, and to our collective doom, that the Conservative Party are masters of controlling narrative. 

Although, much of the groundwork was done during Tony Blair’s days of rhetorical tricks and language manipulation to sow doubt about the veracity of a person’s disability, to seed suspicion and harden attitudes. It is these linguistic and narrative tricks which have been used to make people think of the tens of thousands of deaths under austerity as a sad but necessary evil, or to make people ignore them completely.

They speak as if what they say is reality, and we usually just go along with it until it is.

Theresa May’s General Election announcement included a lot of these narrative devices, accusing anyone who doesn’t agree with her of treating politics as a game, and framing the vote as entirely a vote regarding Brexit and the mandate she needs in order to negotiate from a place of strength.
We cannot, under any circumstances, allow the Tories to reframe the concept of a General Election.

This is not just a vote on Brexit, it is a vote on their entire manifesto and a judgement on their policies on everything from crime to social care to housing to international relations. Voting for the Tories may well be a vote for Brexit, but it is also unquestionably a vote for certain death for some, and permanent damage to the health of tens of thousands of disabled people.

Never, ever forget that.

When I and my fellow disability activists woke up on the morning after the last General Election, we spent an unrelenting few days tag teaming as we tried to keep people in our community alive. We were not always successful. Over and over, hour after hour, we saw iterations of the same message: "I do not think I will survive this government."

The day of the election, we had all taken a few moments to remember the people who were not there to vote because of the actions of the coalition government. We took a moment to think of the people who would not make it to the next election if we lost. 

Amid the elation so many in Scotland felt at the sweep of SNP seats, we disabled people also felt utterly betrayed and hopeless, because the population of the UK had voted to enforce extreme, frequently lethal, damage to our health.

If you do it again, if you do this to us again, we will never forgive you. You can't pretend you don't know, you can't pretend that other things are more important, that it’s not the killing of disabled people you’re voting for really; it’s the other stuff. 
 
The point of civic nationalism is that we have to take responsibility for the choices we make as part of a society. We cannot tick a box and say 'I didn’t know', or 'I care about this bit but not the other bits'. 

We have to weigh our decisions, weigh our actions and inactions, and live with the results. We have to accept responsibility, and we have to ensure that others accept their responsibility. We have to not look away.

There were 30,000 extra deaths in England and Wales in 2015 as a result of cuts to health and social care, according to research by Oxford University. There were hundreds of suicides by the very lowest estimates, though we who spend our days working with people who are struggling to survive this government know there are more which aren’t counted; that there are many, many deaths because the stress and fear and pain and malnutrition and isolation exacerbated a person’s condition to the point of lethality. 

More than 50,000 people have lost their motability vehicles and become chronically isolated. Every one of those is someone who was considered disabled enough to require high mobility care until the Tories changed the narrative of who deserved assistance, against all the evidence from expert organisations who responded to the consultation. 

There has been "almost universal" deterioration in and frequently permanent damage to the mental health of people going through the Work Capability Assessment.

We have to be completely clear to the people we speak to. We can no longer afford to mince words or be neutral because, again, the narrative is that neutrality is rationality. In situations like this, anger and bluntness are the only rational responses.

We need to tell them, with no platitudes or appeasement: "You will be voting to allow the government to kill us. We will not forget, and we will not forgive."

Nothing else is more important than this.

Do not let them change the conversation.

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BREXIT is not as yet a fait accompli: it can still be stopped. The rights of disabled family members, friends, neighbours and disabled folk in the wider community can only be safe-guarded for the long-term within the EU and under the Council of Europe. At the moment the UK government blithely ignores international laws and treaties. Outside Europe it will be at liberty to do as it wishes with disabled and chronically sick folk. Please support us.

 

I have lost the credit for the above poster, however the creator stated that she was happy for it to be used and shared.

International Day of Persons with Disabilities 2016

This year, as part of the events for the International Day of Persons with Disabilities 2016, the United Nations (UN) wants to look, amongst other areas, at the success or otherwise of the Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities (CRPD, which I shall abbreviate to UNCRPD).

If you have been following my blog, you are probably aware that the UN decided to investigate the United Kingdom for "grave and systematic violations" of UNCRPD, which they upheld.

According to the BBC:

UK welfare reforms have led to "grave and systematic violations" of disabled people's rights, a UN inquiry has said. [Link is to 22-page report from the UN's Committee in pdf format]

Changes to benefits "disproportionately affected" disabled people, the UN Committee on the Rights of Disabled Persons (CRPD) found. [7th November 2016]

The UK is the only country to have been investigated thus far, as the threshold for investigation is set very high and huge amounts of data and reports have to be amassed prior to any investigation even being considered. UK charities, think-tanks and disabled persons' organisations (DPOs), inter alia, submitted the required information, and continue to submit same for matters continue to pejorate for those of us with disabilities here in the UK. The UN's CRPD committee made several recommendations to the UK government. Lamentably, the Conservative, often referred to as Tory, government refused point-blank to accept a single one of them. The committee apparently will be reviewing the UK government's response in March 2017 at a meeting in Geneva.

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 [Image description: © AltrinchamHQ's own image of the cobbles]

Another area the UN wants to look at this year is the accessibility or otherwise of the built environment, specifically in towns and cities. In the past couple of years my lovely hometown of Altrincham has undergone many changes to the built environment. Prior to commencing the works, residents and users of the town's facilities were asked to comment on planned changes. As a disabled person I put my concerns to the researchers and to the councillor-in-charge and enquired as to what account had been taken of disabled and/or elderly folks' needs, etc. The councillor failed to see any need to look into how all this might effect disabled folk (thus completely ignoring the requirements of UK disability legislation). I can no longer frequent one of my favourite eateries, The House Restaurant & Wine Bar as the ability to park close by has been removed (a loss of amenity). Despite making two freedom of information (FOI) requests, I never heard a dicky-bird. Alas I have long bouts of illness, which means I could not and cannot currently pursue this failure.

One of Altrincham's major stores is Marks & Spencer (M&S). The Council decided to remove the paving in front of the shop and along much of the main pedestrianised street and replace with a cobbled surface. Whilst not the traditional smooth-stoned cobbles, which can be lethal to traverse, they are small, rough-textured oblongs (see image above). I had to wait until this past Summer to try to walk on them, as much of the year I have to use my wheelchair. I find it very difficult to raise my legs when I "walk", rather I shuffle like many an elderly person. Alas, it is impossible to shuffle across the new cobbles. I can now no longer enter M&S under my own steam and independently. I actually moved from my former home in Sale to Altrincham to get away from a cobbled street upon which I kept falling. I wonder how many other disabled or elderly folk have reduced or stopped visiting the town?

 [Image description: screen-shot from AltrinchamHQ's faceboo page]

The organisation in charge of Altrincham's town-centre PR, AltrinchamHQ, could not even be bothered to respond to my comments (see above), despite replying to many others. This is the same town-centre with a multi-storey car-park with allocated disabled bays (fantastic) close by to the lifts (elevators) that transport one to the shopping level. Fabulous one might think? Except, between the parking-bays and the lifts are manually operated doors - not electric with a push-button to open them. So, one has to await an able-bodied person to come along to let one in. In short, tokenism towards those with impairments.

A further example of poor planning are pedestrian islands in the centre of roads built to such a stupid design that a person in a wheelchair or mobility-scooter cannot safely pass someone with a pram and similar.

In a nearby town, Knutsford, a recently constructed café was built without a lift to enable disabled or infirm or elderly folk to access the actual facilities, despite the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) having been passed in 1995! (This was replaced in 2010 by the Equality Act.)

No-one seems to ever bother to check real-world usage.

The UK planning system does not in fact expect local authorities to consider the needs and requirements of disabled folk. Rather, it is expected that disabled folk will take legal action once any building has been constructed. This to any sensible-minded person is farcical. However, the authorities rely on folk not taking legal action/s. Such has become much more difficult due to Legal Aid changes introduced by the former Conservative-led and current Conservative governments.

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From my perspective, as a disabled person born and residing in England, the United Kingdom as a whole, is not currently a great place to be a person with disability. Great strides were taken in opening access to society prior to 2010, but since then the deterioration has been shockingly rapid.

The Centre for Welfare Reform attempted to do a cumulative impact assessment (cia) using all available data. They discovered:

For political reasons, the costs of this debt is primarily being paid by people in poverty, by disabled people and by other vulnerable groups. As we have explained:

People in poverty are targeted 5 times more than most other citizens

Disabled people are targeted 9 times more

 

People with the severest needs are targeted 19 times more

In other words the attacks by government on disabled folk are deliberate. And they continue…

UNCRPD Survey for DRUK

 

Disability Rights UK are running aseries of meetings around the countries to obtain feed-back from people with disabilities and their carers about the issues that concern us in order to feed into the United Nations's review of the application here of UNCRPD (which we ratified in June 2009).

 

Naturally many if not most of us cannot attend these sessions, so DRUK (logo below) have set up a two page survey: the first page is contact details; the second the issues each of us considers to be important. The answers here can be as short or as long as you require.

 

 

I have detailed my responses below, as this might prompt your own responses.

 

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What are the priority issues that you believe should be included in our report to the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities?

i) financial support issues, especially removal of benefits from those with disabilities;
ii) accessibility issues (transport, buildings, websites, new products);
iii) onerous re-assessments (WCA/ESA/PIP) for those who are not going to ameliorate (based on dogma, not efficiency savings);
iv) excessive bureaucracy - need one system that can be used by NHS, social services & DWP;
v) countering anti-disability rhetoric & polemic - law to prevent MSM & politicos from inciting hatred; law to ensure balance of views on MSM, so that free speech is protected but not to the detriment of disabled & other minority groupings; jurisprudence system must take issues seriously & rigourously use appropriate laws for prosecustions & sentencing;
vi) independent ODI at arms-length from Govt., but given appropriate powers and funding to investigate disability issues both for the individuals concerned & whole of society;
vii) separation of disability issues from EHRC and re-establishment of a truly independent DRC (if indy ODI not poss), as the former has failed (as predicted) to rigorously pursue disability issues, but given appropriate powers and funding to investigate disability issues both for the individuals concerned & whole of society.

Only since approximately 2010 have I felt fearful of my own government & fellow countrymen. I used to regularly go out & about in my mobility-scooter, but after the co-alition govt. took power the politicos & MSM launched frequent attacks against disabled folk, with much press being given to "scroungers" and defrauders. I stopped going out in my scooter and sold it last year, as I received abuse every time I went out, from students at the local college and from traffic passing me on the main road. I am now on anti-anxiety medication. Strangers now (contrary to previous British reservedness) approach one and believe it their right to question one about one's condition, disabilities and right to receive social security payments.
 

Evidence:
i) Plenty of examples of hardship and even death due to DWP's sanctions régime have appeared in press, websites and via activist groups.
ii) The DDA was introduced in 1995, but still inaccessible buildings, road-crossings, & other structures are built. Local Authorities ought to be obliged to factor in access issues at the planning-approval stage, rather than the onus being on disabled folk to sue once a structure has been constructed.
iii) I have severe ME as defined by NICE and my NHS consultant. There is NO scientific evidence that folk in said category ameliorate. Yet DWP still re-assesses periodically. This is detrimental to my & many others' health, as stress pejorates our illness. The assessment régime is thus making us worse. This also wastes public money. There is already a clause that every benefit-recipient has to sign confirming that we will notify DWP of any amelioration/pejoration. A sytem based on trust would be much more cost-effective. Therefore one has to conclude that the system is deliberately antagonistic for dogmatic reasons.
iv) Forms have to be completed for every single agency, much of the information requested is the same. So the booklets (c. 40 pages so not mere forms) for ESA and PIP have much overlap; as do the ones for social services; then the care agencies want the same info again. I imagine that much of this info would also be useful for the NHS - reducing bed-blocking, ensuring continuity of care, etc.
v) There was some research done into bias in MSM - sure you know of it. However some mainstream TV channels still produce voyeuristic programming into the lives of folk dependent on social security.
There has been some evidence that the CPS and the courts are failing to use current laws, although the former recently announced an increase in the past year of prosecutions. Judges appear unwilling to use the law that permits extra sentencing where a disability hate aspect occurred.
vi) The ODI is a vassal of the DWP. I have covered on my own blog the annual failure of this department to support UN Enable's "International Day of Persons with Disabilities" and the pertinent issues raised each year (http://crippledqueeranglo-europeanranter.blogspot.co.uk/2015/12/international-day-of-persons-with.html ; http://crippledqueeranglo-europeanranter.blogspot.co.uk/2014/12/international-day-of-persons-with.html ; http://crippledqueeranglo-europeanranter.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/international-day-of-persons-with.html).
vii) The EHRC published a list of questions it wanted answered by the Govt. in 2014, nearly five-and-a-half years after UNCRPD was ratified by UK - in the meantime disabled folk were starving, commiting suicide and dying due to UK govt. policies (http://crippledqueeranglo-europeanranter.blogspot.co.uk/2014/12/monitoring-uncrpd-in-uk.html). I feel certain a dedicated DRC would have acted much faster seeing the toll of suffering my fellow disablies were experiencing.

 

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Please do respond if you are able, as the more of us that do so, the better DRUK's response to the UN. Cheers!

Is this the beginning of the end…?

I try to be a reasonable, rational and liberal (note lower-case ell) person. I am and always have been non-partisan when it comes to politics, having never agreed with the party-political system using whips that we have in the United Kingdom. It cannot be viewed by any sensible person as democratic, for it is essentially oligarchic. My parents held opposing political views and my siblings and I were raised to try to see the other's perspective. My personality - and that of very many ordinary Brits - is one that cares about one's neighbours and neighbourhood.

 The slogan reads:

I'm voting

REMAIN

FOR

OUR NHS

For most Brits social justice is, or used to be, at the very core of our values; the quintessence of Britishness. Just look at all the folk who raise money for charities &/or who volunteer, or the folk - not just relatives - who take on caring duties. Most are happy to support our NHS in any way we can - despite the on-going privatisation by successive governments. And just look at the out-pouring of care whenever there is an international disaster! We are not, however much the likes of UKIP and other extremist parties might like to believe, little Englanders. We have always been outward looking (- not always necessarily for the best as huge mistakes were made in relation to empire). Nonetheless, to this very day, millions of Brits reside in countries outside the UK and are spread right around the globe.

With the exception of a rather hateful era when Jews were exiled from England, we have welcomed workers from abroad whether refugees, merchants, traders or artists and artisans. Not only has this contributed to our rich history and culture, but this stand-point has substantially benefitted our economy.

A vote for Brexit will not mean that these folk will be forced to go back to Europe. Many have set up businesses and employ folk - who will certainly fight to retain their jobs. Most have grown networks of friends, neighbours & colleagues within communities - who will certainly fight to retain their valued members. Such folk should surely vote Bremain.

A vote for Brexit may very well mean that many of the few million Brits residing in Europe will be forced to return to the UK. The pressures on housing, other infrastructure and the NHS will remain at least the same or heighten - for many of the folk who will return will be pensioners who will need healthcare and social care due to being removed from their support networks and inclement climate here. So, if one is concerned, even worried, about immigration then one should surely vote Bremain.

A vote for Brexit will permit this and any future government to do pretty much as they please with no international oversight. The previous and current governments have acted as they please, ignoring judicial orders to obey the law of the land. Cameron has even repeatedly stated that he wants to abolish the House of Lords, which, whilst archaic and in many ways undemocratic, nevertheless is often the only check & balance on the power of the Executive (thus paradoxically acting democratically!). There is a democratic deficit within the European Union. The Executive, in this case the European Commission, has usurped too much power (rather as has the United Kingdom Executive). I agree wholeheartedly that the democratic systems within the EU have to be changed and improved so that European citizens believe and know that they are heard and responded to. However, the only way to change a system is from within. If Britain votes out, then we are immediately locked out of any kind of influence. So anyone that wants to change the EU for the better should surely vote Bremain.

Today and tomorrow one of the United Nations' committees is quizzing the UK over its treatment of disabled people, having collected a wealth of data and documentary evidence to demonstrate that we are being abused, mistreated, scapegoated, demonised and starved of funds & access due to social security (welfare) cuts, propaganda and mainstream-media misrepresentation. (See for example this article for a more in-depth analysis.) The EU has and continues to draw up laws and rules for pan-European access to goods, services and support. Here in England & Wales, the government is only now, after a couple of decades, going to try to enforce the law which is supposed to prevent taxi-drivers from refusing to take disabled passengers - yes, this has and continues to occur to hundreds of individuals each and every day. Without European oversight, I very much doubt that a laissez-faire - let alone an overtly disablist - government will pursue expanding disability access rights. If you know someone who is disabled or chronically sick, and you care about them, you should surely vote Bremain.

The slogan reads:

I'm voting

REMAIN

FOR

WORKERS'

RIGHTS

I could write about many, many other areas that the EU improves for each and every one of us - such as environmental laws that ensure clean water or the labelling of clean/dirty beaches; or laws that protect workers rights to pay, conditions, holidays; or laws that ensure our human rights§ (like not to be arrested and detained without trial, and so on). However, I have limited energy and resources. If  the reader is interested, please do your own research. Once you have done, you will surely vote Bremain.

The EU has much that is wrong with it, just like our very own political system here in the UK. Whilst one has the opportunity to vote to leave the former, one cannot exit the latter. Tomorrow I shall be voting Bremain.

*

§ Technically this is due to human rights laws (based on British submissions & jurisprudence) via the European Council; but it is the intention, I understand, of the Conservatives with UKIP support to withdraw from both the EC and the EU if the Brexiters win.

*

The images I have used were sent to me by the Labour Party. Their use here does not imply any kind of support on my part for Labour, other than the stances contained within the slogans.