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.

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!

Art for All

In my first term of junior school, I went from sitting at the back of the class to the desk directly in front of the chalk-board, and still I could not see what was written upon it. A speedy trip to the optician revealed a usually hereditary condition, which no-one else in the family was known to have had, as they all had or had had, really good eyesight. I required new spectacles every six months as my vision was deteriorating rapidly. My parents were mortified that they had just thought I was clumsy. I was apprised that I should likely be blind by twenty-one. Being a bibliophile I dreaded that I would not be able to read, so began to teach myself Braille.

As it happened, I did not go blind. My sight deterioration stabilised. My prescription is so strong that folk with good vision instantly hurt their eyes/get head pain when looking through my glasses. Even with high-density materials, my lenses look like the bottoms of bottles. Approximately eighty percent of folk with disabilities develop them during their life-times; so only about twenty percent are born already disabled. Very few have warnings of pending disability and time to prepare for it. And, per the Office for Disability Issues (ODI) around eleven million folk in the UK have some kind of disability; that's about one in six of us.

In my art classes at secondary school I developed my own personal technique to raise the images I drew so that they could be sensed via touch alone. I would start by thickly layering wax-crayon across the surface of the paper. Then I sponged colour as needed in blocks or across the whole waxed layer. Once this had dried, I used Indian-ink, most often black, and scraped silhouette images, usually of leafless trees, but also, bodies of water, people, dogs and other plants. To this day (I am now in my fifties) I still possess two or three works. Alas, in storage.

Galleries & Musea

In my late teens cum early twenties I went to work whilst most of my school-chums attended university. However, I used to spend most of my weekends visiting various university campuses. On one such trip I took myself to a museum, where I was the sole visitor. Back in the mid-1980s there were seldom security cameras. I strolled about the exhibits touching, feeling the statuary. I had not realised how cool marble is as I had not encountered it up to said point. My fingertips could feel the smoothness of skin, the curls of hair.

I understand that touching is a risk to artworks due to acidity and dirt in body oils and sweat. Nonetheless, there are millions of items that never see the light of day, I cannot see any good reason why a proportion could not be set aside for galleries where touching is permitted.

I should also like to see audio descriptions available for at least permanent items on display and their concomitant labels. This would be of assistance not simply to the blind but also those with other sight impairments.

And finally, a plea for seating that can be used for resting in every room/salon/space.

Theatres

Prior to becoming disabled I was an avid theatre-goer. There are several reasons why I very rarely attend nowadays. The main reason is the seating, especially for older theatres, which is so damned uncomfortable. I have to be having a really good spell to be willing to put up with the resulting pain. A second issue which seems to becoming more prevalent in dance and avant-garde performances is no intervals. I understand that professional performers want to keep in the zone, but many disabled, chronically sick and indeed elderly need toilet breaks, or an opportunity to rehydrate, take meds, and so forth.

I would also like to see the return of usher/ettes. At Manchester's Opera House there is now an at-seat service, by which one can order drinks &/or snacks and they are brought to one at the interval. A boon to folk who cannot stand for long and especially not in queues.

However, pluses include occasional BSL-signed performances for deaf folk, loop-systems for the hard of hearing and free or reduced tickets for assistants.

Cinemas

With the same seating and lack of interval issues as theatres, cinemas additionally have the problem of loudness. In 2011 I went to the Cornerhouse cinema in Manchester to see Pedro Almodóvar's "The Skin I Live In". The sound-system created such noise and vibrations my blood-pressure dropped and I began to faint. My companion escorted me outside into fresh air and we decided to go home. I did not return until December last year in order to see the latest Star Wars. I took with me a pair of ear-plugs. I followed the tale with no problems and did not swoon. I may have found a means to more frequently visit the flicks.

Seating can be improved. Showcase Leeds Cinema offers fully reclining seats. I have inter alia osteoarthritis in my lumber and left hip. Sitting is one of the most uncomfortable/painful positions for me. Being able to recline, as at home, would be a genuine boon. There are many conditions where folk need to keep legs/feet raised.

However, cinemas ought to be offering some screenings with lower noise levels, which might be useful to all sorts of folk including so-called fuddy-duddies, those with hyper-acuity as well as some with autistic spectrum issues.

In larger cinemas, it would be good to employ permanent BSL-communicators, so that films could be signed at different times of the day, not just one performance every now and again in an evening slot.

Accessibility

Arts venues, of course in my opinion, need to do far more than pay lip-service and nod towards access for the disabled. A few ramps, lifts, a loop-system and a push-button to open doors are simply insufficient, especially when many of us find the lift out of order, the loop-system off-line, and so on.

All ventures need to attract the largest audiences possible: disabled folk, chronically sick people, and elderly individuals make up a very large percentage of the population. Making accommodations should be designed in to all new construction programmes, from architects (who are still obsessed with using flights of steps instead of clever use of graded access), sound design, use of colour, clear and ample signage, etc.

I should like to see the various arts' councils of the UK's nations insist upon clauses relating to accessibility issues added each time grants are made. I think grants from local authorities similarly should insist upon improved access.

I am no expert on disability issues nor disability access. I observe these issues trying to come up with some common-sense, pragmatic solutions. The reader may have other suggestions or observations: feel free to add them in the comments section below.

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"And now: the Gallery…" an exhibition of art for disabled is also published today for Blogging Against Disablism Day (#BADD2016). The reader may also find of interest a post I published in March entitled "Towards a Theory of Art". 
 

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As per previous years the archive for BADD2016 is being hosted by Goldfish on Diary of a Goldfish and is being administered by her and her hubby, Mister Goldfish. There one can find previous years' full archives as well as this year's as it grows over the next few days. Please do take a look - one is bound to find something that is of interest or piques one's curiosity!

 

BBC Fails Again to Cover Disability Issues

Inter alia the Huffington Post, The Daily Mirror, The Independent and numerous bloggers have managed to put out information in respect to the mortality rates of benefit recipients. This information has been subject to freedom of information requests and a ruling by the Information Commissioner, but the notorious Department for Work & Pensions has fought the release of the data every step of the way. Today, some information was published, concealed apparently within immigration data. Odd perhaps, one might think. However, not unusual for the Ministry of Truth that is renowned for feeding so-called propaganda to the neo-liberal press and sympathetic reporters (hardly journalists!).

The national broadcaster, the BBC, (paid for my a licence fee, a de facto tax on every TV-using household in the UK) has thus far failed to publish any item thereon. Or if it has, it has hidden it from accessible sight. I could find no mention on their main news page, so I searched elsewhere. Below are the timed screen-caps.

Nothing under "UK" news:

Nothing under "Politics" news:

 Nothing under "Science" news:

Nothing under "Health" news:

Next I though I should try specific searches. Here is how I fared.

Nothing under "mortality statistics":

Nothing under "death statistics":

Nothing under "DWP statistics":

 Nothing under "ESA statistics":

Nothing under "Employment & Support Allowance":

 Nothing under "WRAG":

 Nothing under "Work Related Activity Group":

 Nothing under "Iain Duncan Smith" (Minister in charge of the DWP):

 Nothing under "Fit for Work":

 Nothing under "WCA":

Nothing under "Work Capability Assessment":

I consider this yet another Auntie Beeb failure and snub to a large demographic section of British society (about one seventh of the population per ODI figures.). We chronically sick &/or folk with impairments, aka the disabled, deserve better. We also pay for our television licences and deserve for serious news that concerns us to be covered by one of the largest news-gathering organisations in the world.


***UPDATE***

An article appeared on BBC website an hour ago: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-34074557?post_id=959487854098217_969804189733250#_=_