Well the Government will likely turn around and say "they would say that
wouldn't they, it would be like Turkeys voting for Christmas if they agreed
with it" :)
Larry
> -----Original Message-----
> From: The Disability-Research Discussion List
> [mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of Colin Barnes
> Sent: 24 July 2006 15:26
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Claimants oppose Welfare Reform Bill
>
>
> Dear All
>
>
>
> See below
>
>
>
> Colin
>
>
>
> Claimants oppose Welfare Reform Bill
>
>
>
> Dear sisters and friends
>
>
>
> Here is our joint statement from a number of groups, sent today to some
> MPs and the press. You are welcome to contact your own MP to ask them
> to raise these issues.
>
>
>
> The Welfare Reform Bill, which has its second reading in Parliament
> today, brings in a new Employment and Support Allowance with increased
> penalties against those who don't comply. It gives new powers to
> private agencies in the benefits system, opening the way for more
> disability discrimination, bullying, racism and other prejudices.
> Doctors are enlisted to get patients back to work - a breach of doctors'
> independence and focus on healthcare. Housing Benefit will be severely
> cut, impoverishing people on benefits and in low-waged jobs.
>
>
>
> * Women and men with disabilities and long-term ill-health,
> single mothers on benefit, pensioners and other claimants are opposed to
> the Bill, aimed at forcing people "back to work" whether we can manage
> it or not.
>
>
>
> * We are already working. Having to cope with our disability,
> getting around, communicating, surviving in an inaccessible and
> prejudiced world is hard work. In addition, many disabled women are
> also carers - for children, family and friends, in the community,
> meeting other people's needs while needing help ourselves. When wives
> become disabled, or focus on the needs of disabled children with little
> State help, we are often deserted by partners. One quarter of single
> parents (mostly mothers) have some kind of disability*.
>
>
>
> * The Disability Rights Commission (DRC -- funded by the DWP)
> and charities meant to represent low-income people are largely to blame
> for promoting jobs as the answer to poverty and discrimination. DRC
> Chair Bert Massie complained that 84% of mothers of disabled children
> are "not working" (Guardian, 13 March 2006). He dismisses the demanding
> unwaged caring work of looking after children and other people, also
> done on top of waged work. What is supposed to happen to those who need
> our care if we are all out at work, then exhausted and short of time
> when we get home?
>
>
>
> * Since the point of the Bill is to cut our entitlement rather
> than meet our needs, and given what has happened with previous
> legislation, we know that most disabled people will be labelled as able
> to work regardless of ill-health, job stresses, discrimination by
> employers and inaccessible workplaces. Those of us who are immigrant
> will face increased racism. People seeking asylum are already excluded
> from the welfare system. JobCentres press us to take unsuitable jobs.
> The government barely funds practical support in employment, and is
> closing Remploy factories, leaving many disabled workers without
> alternative jobs.
>
>
>
> * Disabled adults are getting poorer at the same time as more go
> into waged work. For the jobs most of us can get, like supermarket
> work, we receive very low pay.** We want jobs of our choice, with
> access, when we are ready.
>
>
>
> * People with mental health problems or addictions, people in
> our 50s with industrial injuries from jobs which already have destroyed
> our health, are particularly targeted. We face benefit cuts if we don't
> take up training, therapy or medical treatment which the DWP - and the
> private companies and voluntary organisations acting for them - say we
> must have. Pressuring us to take medication or undergo risky or
> damaging procedures takes away our basic right to consent to treatment.
>
>
>
>
> * Mothers and children's benefits are also threatened if mothers
> don't attend the more-frequent work-focused interviews.
>
>
>
> * If our benefits are cut or taken away, suicides, destitution,
> rape and exploitation of women forced to depend on violent men will
> increase. People will be forced into shoplifting or prostitution to
> survive, leading to Anti-Social Behaviour Orders and prison.
>
>
>
> People with disabilities, single mothers and others in vulnerable
> situations need financial support not benefit penalties. Our
> contribution is not acknowledged and we are treated as if society and
> the economy could not afford us - a burden. At the same time, the
> military budget continues to go up, bringing death and disability to
> thousands of people, with little or no discussion about whether we can
> afford it. Those of us with least are increasingly paying with our
> benefits for a war we do not want. We refuse to be used in that way.
> We refuse any further impoverishment and erosion of our rights and
> entitlements.
>
>
>
> WinVisible (women with visible and invisible disabilities)
>
> Single Mothers' Self-Defence
>
> Bolton TUC Unemployed Advice Centre
>
> Save Our Day Centres
>
> Sheffield Mental Health User Representatives
>
> Brighton and Hove Unemployed Workers Centre
>
> Legal Action for Women
>
> Women of Colour in the Global Women's Strike
>
> Payday men's network
>
>
>
> Contact 020 7482 2496.
>
>
>
>
>
> *Source: Child Poverty Action Group response to the Green Paper on
> Welfare Reform, 2006.
>
> **Three out of 10 disabled adults of working age live in poverty, and
> the proportion is increasing despite more disabled adults taking on
> waged work. See Joseph Rowntree Foundation Findings Dec. 2005, ref:
> 0665.
>
>
>
> ........................................................................
> ..............
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> ________________End of message______________________
> This Disability-Research Discussion list is managed by the Centre
> for Disability Studies at the University of Leeds
(www.leeds.ac.uk/disability-studies). Enquiries about the list
administratione should be sent to [log in to unmask]
Archives and tools are located at:
www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/disability-research.html
You can JOIN or LEAVE the list from this web page.
________________End of message______________________
This Disability-Research Discussion list is managed by the Centre for Disability Studies at the University of Leeds (www.leeds.ac.uk/disability-studies). Enquiries about the list administratione should be sent to [log in to unmask]
Archives and tools are located at:
www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/disability-research.html
You can JOIN or LEAVE the list from this web page.
|