An OMBH Contribution from Peter Lockhart

Social care in the UK has been under the cosh for many years including
under the last Labour government. However we got by, a combination of
DLA, council services, free bus travel, Incapacity benefit, housing
benefit etc saw us get by. We were never well off, it was always a
struggle but we coped. We couldn't go on holidays, often even with DDA
holidays were more expensive for disabled people, we didn't have the
same choice and this meant we couldn't shop around, going abroad was a
struggle especially outwith the EU as medical insurance was
prohibitive for people with long term conditions. Many hotels and
guest houses are still inaccessible or don't have disabled toilets.
Not just hotels. A night out for a disabled person in the UK has to be
planned like a military operation. Pubs, restaurants, bingo halls,
music venues even some theatres are still not accessible or don't have
toilets. Before going out a disabled person has to make sure that the
venue of their choice will be accessible or have toilets. It means
phoning ahead, checking parking, trying to find out what the
conditions are outside for instance if there are hills, high kerbs or
other obstacles that will need to be negotiated. I've been doing a
survey in Fife for venues suitable for disabled people, I turn up in
my wheelchair and check for access, manoeuvrability and facilities
such as toilets. Of the 50 places i';ve checked at present only 14 are
places I would recommend to a disabled person. In my home town of 13
pubs only 2 are accessible and with facilities. So nights out in my
home town are not really feasible. Not for me a pub crawl with the
lads. So its not just poverty that affects disabled people, there are
still so many restrictions to our lives.

Another problem we are now facing is the attacks coming our way from
the press, we;'re branded scroungers, hand out junkies, lazy,
feckless. Yes people will say but its not the 'genuine disabled' were
attacking. Really? What is a genuine disabled person. How do you know
what a genuinely disabled person or not. Its nasty, its viscous, you
have government ministers saying that we cant afford the level of
disability benefits. When they say that what do they mean, that we're
a drain on society? So, with all the other difficulties we face we now
have to contend with attacks from the press. We do feel it, where a
couple of years ago I was confident going out i'm now beginning to
feel less so. i wonder what people are thinking, I worry that people
will be looking at me with suspicion in short I'm starting to feel
worthless compared to how I used to be.

The whole point of the attacks has been to soften society up for cuts
in disability benefit. Stories in the papers on a regular basis about
people claiming benefit who are entitled to it, stories of people who
have run a marathon while claiming DLA. But the fact remains that
those cases are rare. What you don't read in the press are th stories
of the mistakes, the stories of desperately ill people being turned
down for DLA. Even more common are the numbers of people being refused
the new sickness benefit, Employment support allowance or ESA. Labour
introduced ESA as a replacement to Incapacity benefit. Incapacity was
a benefit which was in fact very difficult to get, there was a huge
form, then you had to allow the DWP to investigate your health, they
had access to your GP, hospital consultant your medical records. Even
with all that they then asked to to attend an examination from one of
their own doctors. The last Labour government decided that sick and
disabled people should be working. Of course many just aren't fit and
that the many workplaces just aren't suitable. Add to that the
prejudice that still exists. But the government brought in ESA anyway.
Most failed the test and were told they were fit for work. however 40%
of appeals were successful. Imagine if in the criminal justice system
40% of all convictions were overturned on appeal, there would be an
outcry. Part of the problem is the government has handed the system
over to a private company. ATOS origin.

Its going to get worse, the Tories have decided to scrap DLA
altogether and replace it with a new but much harder to get benefit,
this benefit won't be available to many disabled people. For instance
many people who use wheelchairs will be excluded because the
coalitions says that a wheelchair gives people mobility and that
should be taken into account when accessing the new benefit which is
to be called the Personal Independent Payment or PIP. Wheelchairs they
argue gives a disabled person independence and so they no longer need
disability payment. They argue that with discrimination laws,
improvements to transport and access to building the need for benefits
has lessened. They are wrong. Without DLA people like me will be come
housebound. We won't be able to afford cars, buses are still largely
inaccessible,as i;ve already mentioned many places of entertainment
and work are