Am I Now To Be Punished?

I’m a high level paraplegic as a result of a spinal cord injury as a young teenager. I’m a wheelchair user in receipt of the mobility aspect of the DLA, which I use to finance my car through Motability. I’ve always aimed high and have tried to live as full a life as possible, regardless of my disability, returning to school, going to university and subsequently working full time. All this has been made possible by the face that I am in possession of an adapted, reliable car from Motability to get myself around.

Due to my disability I am unable to use public transport; I don’t have the necessary strength or balance to board buses, tubes & trains independently, nor propel my chair around London streets. Obviously I don’t only use my car to travel to and from work; I drive to the supermarket for food, the pharmacy for medical supplies, hospital appointments, physiotherapy, exercise, social events, cinema, theatre and other professional engagements throughout the country.  

The Motability scheme provides me with greater independence than anything else, without it I wouldn’t be able to afford to own a car and the costs associated with it (road tax, insurance, AA membership, MOTs and other maintenance costs). Consequently I wouldn’t have been able to attend university nor have a job so would be forced to stay at home and claim benefits. Who does that benefit exactly? If disabled people like me can’t work, the government doesn’t receive our taxes, we can’t contribute to society and we becoming an ever increasing burden. Isn’t that a huge step backwards?

I have always tried to inspire other young disabled people to have greater confidence and to strive towards their ambitions; I’ve always assumed it is better for disabled people to try and aim high and not let others place a ceiling over their aspirations. Am I now to be punished for aspiring to be successful, for trying to be as independent as possible, will it result in me losing the benefit that merely puts me closer to equal footing with my able bodied counterparts?

There are certain unavoidable costs associated with disability, I take them on board and I have always tried to make my life appear easier than it is, I don’t want to complain and constantly remind myself of things that aren’t easy, I prefer to get on and try to be resourceful and adaptable when faced with challenging situations.

I realise I’m very fortunate in my current situation, I don’t live in a care home but people who do and lose this benefit will be incredibly restricted, again it would be a massive step backwards, harking back to coach trips for disabled people to get out en masse for an hour rather than use their own DLA to make journeys with greater independence.

Disability Living Allowance is not relied upon by “scroungers”, it’s relied upon by people who really need it to improve the quality of their life; the number of fraudulent claimants is incredibly low compared to other benefit claimants. The expense of reviewing every person in receipt of DLA and rebranding it PIP will be huge, and the long term cuts really shan’t make the significant difference to the economy that the Government is forecasting.

What is most frustrating is that the people making these decisions appear to have little or no experience in living with a disability or it’s impact on one’s life, and worse still, they appear not to care.

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