Posted by: Sue Marsh, on 22 April 2011:
Sick and disabled people are being particularly hard hit by this government, with one study estimating we will lose around a third of our incomes. Measures that affect us include:
Cuts to Employment Support Allowance (formerly Incapacity Benefit) and Disability Living Allowance
Social care packages being slashed
The housing benefit cap, which affects sick and disabled people disproportionately
All benefits to be “reassessed” – but that assessment has been found unfit for purpose by every major study
Vital hospices and special schools closing
Successful work programmes and independent living programmes cut or scrapped.
You can imagine how frightening this is. The sick and disabled have less control over their futures. They often can’t just go out and get a job. Even if they were capable, who would employ them over a healthy person? They often have no choice but to hope that they can survive on what they are left with.
Yesterday (as on many other days) we woke up to find national newspapers, egged on by government ministers, calling us "scroungers" and "skivers".
“SCANDAL OF 80,000 ON SICKNESS BENEFITS FOR MINOR AILMENTS… INCLUDING DIARRHOEA,” screamed the Daily Mail, listing “diarrhoea”, “depression”, “headaches”, “blisters”, “drug abuse” and even “nail disorders” as proof that most people claiming incapacity benefit were just fakers. Read more>>
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