Category Archives: disability

The Paralympics And A Legacy For The Disabled

August 29, 2013   Carers, disability

| General News, Politics | By:

The Paralympics And A Legacy For The Disabled

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A year after the ‘breakthrough moment’ of the Paralympics, attitudes towards the disabled have been slow to change, according to disability groups.Cuts to disability benefits and the government’s ill-judged ‘shirkers vs skivers’ campaign have thrown something of a spanner into the works of public perception of the disabled, with 81% of those surveyed saying they felt attitudes hadn’t improved. 22% felt attitudes had actually got worse.According to a survey by disability charity Scope, negative perceptions have been driven by the government and media:

84% of those that say attitudes have got worse saying the ‘benefit scrounger’ rhetoric from politicians and the media has had a negative effect on views of disabled people. The poll by Opinium found that nearly one in five (17%) of disabled people report they have either experienced hostile or threatening behaviour or even been attacked.

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) say they ‘very consciously do not use the language of ‘scroungers’ and ‘workshy’, but when even the likes of Iain Duncan Smith aren’t above misusing statistics to imply that claimants are fraudulent, it’s hardly reassuring. A further division between those with visible disabilities compared to those without has been highlighted by campaigners — leading to a climate of disbelief and hostility.

Despite the huge public enthusiasm for the Paralympics, its success has proved a bit of a double-edged sword with athletes being held up as aspirational examples for disabled people. But as Paralympic dressage rider Sophie Christiansen says:

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Written off by Atos – I might as well die

August 28, 2013   Carers, disability

 The desperate letters from benefit cuts victims

There has been an astonishing response from readers, a deluge of personal horror stories about the Work ­Capability Assessment

 
A protester demonstrates against IT company Atos’s involvement in tests for incapacity benefits

A week ago, in this column, I told the story of Dr Greg Wood, the whistle-blower who resigned from Atos – the controversial French company paid £110 million a year to test British benefits claimants.

Dr Wood left the company after his bosses asked him to declare a person he felt was severely ill “fit for work”.

There has been an astonishing response from readers, a deluge of personal horror stories about the Work ­Capability Assessment.

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MP’s concern over lack of wheelchair access at Norwich assessment centre

August 27, 2013   Carers, disability, Norfolk

Adam Gretton Health correspondent adam.gretton@archant.co.uk
Monday, August 26, 2013

A Norfolk MP has called on the government to ensure that all medical assessment centres are disability friendly after highlighting the accessibility problems at a Norwich facility.

ATOS disability protestors in Norwich. Photo: Bill Smith ATOS disability protestors in Norwich. Photo: Bill Smith

Protesters gathered outside a Norwich disability centre last year to demonstrate about the lack of wheelchair access at St Mary’s House, which is run by private contractor Atos Healthcare.

The centre in Duke Street, where people undergo medicals for disability benefits, can not be visited by wheelchair users, has no parking and is a not near a bus or train station.

MP Richard Bacon urged the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) to ensure that Atos Healthcare’s centres are accessible to wheelchair users and people with limited mobility.

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