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You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/sep/04/lobbying-parliament-disabled-rights
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| Version 1 | Version 2 |
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| Why I'm lobbying parliament for disabled rights | Why I'm lobbying parliament for disabled rights |
| (14 days later) | |
| I arrived earlier this week to deliver a poetry workshop. I discovered that there was no obvious wheelchair access to the building as refurbishments were taking place. A bold arrow points to a door declaring alternative access. There are two large concrete steps – which amounts to a no-entry sign for me as a wheelchair user. | I arrived earlier this week to deliver a poetry workshop. I discovered that there was no obvious wheelchair access to the building as refurbishments were taking place. A bold arrow points to a door declaring alternative access. There are two large concrete steps – which amounts to a no-entry sign for me as a wheelchair user. |
| This tiny, familiar incident is not directly connected to why I'm going to lobby parliament on Wednesday to demand equality and inclusion, but it is indicative of my world where many barriers remain. And they are increasing; seasoned with the sour taste of growing numbers of hate crimes and the fallout of pervasive scapegoating of disabled citizens. Yet I believe that worst of all are the government's policies and an ideology that seems to have singled out us disabled people to carry a very heavy and disproportionate austerity burden. The hard-won paltry rights for which we have given blood and sweat, stand in fear of regression, if not a complete dismantling. Let me speak plainly: we are not losing privileges, we are losing essentials. | This tiny, familiar incident is not directly connected to why I'm going to lobby parliament on Wednesday to demand equality and inclusion, but it is indicative of my world where many barriers remain. And they are increasing; seasoned with the sour taste of growing numbers of hate crimes and the fallout of pervasive scapegoating of disabled citizens. Yet I believe that worst of all are the government's policies and an ideology that seems to have singled out us disabled people to carry a very heavy and disproportionate austerity burden. The hard-won paltry rights for which we have given blood and sweat, stand in fear of regression, if not a complete dismantling. Let me speak plainly: we are not losing privileges, we are losing essentials. |
| And so I fight with my colleagues from Disabled People Against the Cuts (DPAC) and Wednesday is the day of the Freedom Drive rally to demand equality and inclusion for disabled people. I act with deeds and words, because the government seems determined to resurrect the old Victorian approach to disabled people. We must be grateful; we must accept cuts; we must accept charity; we must be cap in hand. | And so I fight with my colleagues from Disabled People Against the Cuts (DPAC) and Wednesday is the day of the Freedom Drive rally to demand equality and inclusion for disabled people. I act with deeds and words, because the government seems determined to resurrect the old Victorian approach to disabled people. We must be grateful; we must accept cuts; we must accept charity; we must be cap in hand. |
| The personal is political; and for me this is made explicit with the government's decision to close down the independent living fund (ILF) in 2015. This fund tops up local authority money to enable those individuals, like myself, deemed "severely disabled", to hire staff or services in order to live full lives, independently at home. The word "live" is key – opposed to existing. I work with the skills I have; the reality that I need assistance to get out of bed in the morning is neither here nor there when it comes to me, the writer. But of course, it is crucial to my daily life, and I believe that this simple right to live freely with dignity should be available to everyone based on need. | The personal is political; and for me this is made explicit with the government's decision to close down the independent living fund (ILF) in 2015. This fund tops up local authority money to enable those individuals, like myself, deemed "severely disabled", to hire staff or services in order to live full lives, independently at home. The word "live" is key – opposed to existing. I work with the skills I have; the reality that I need assistance to get out of bed in the morning is neither here nor there when it comes to me, the writer. But of course, it is crucial to my daily life, and I believe that this simple right to live freely with dignity should be available to everyone based on need. |
| And so I campaign and I lobby. Last week at an ILF event I released a balloon, a metaphor for freedom. On this I wrote a message for Iain Duncan Smith: "YOU sleep in YOUR shit." Not subtle, but that is the reality many of us face. | And so I campaign and I lobby. Last week at an ILF event I released a balloon, a metaphor for freedom. On this I wrote a message for Iain Duncan Smith: "YOU sleep in YOUR shit." Not subtle, but that is the reality many of us face. |
| Simultaneously to that action, I was asked to comment on research which shows that the hopes for a marvellous lasting legacy, post-Paralympic Games, for your ordinary disabled citizen, has not materialised. I don't enjoy being smug; I expressed this a year ago in my blog. But failure was inevitable, especially set against the divisive messages and actions from the government. | Simultaneously to that action, I was asked to comment on research which shows that the hopes for a marvellous lasting legacy, post-Paralympic Games, for your ordinary disabled citizen, has not materialised. I don't enjoy being smug; I expressed this a year ago in my blog. But failure was inevitable, especially set against the divisive messages and actions from the government. |
| So, I prepare the somewhat complex operation of making the journey to parliament. I hope thousands of us make it; we have so much stacked against us. The fact that we get to demonstrate on the street at all is something approaching miraculous. | So, I prepare the somewhat complex operation of making the journey to parliament. I hope thousands of us make it; we have so much stacked against us. The fact that we get to demonstrate on the street at all is something approaching miraculous. |
| I've been in the central lobby before, for the Hardest Hit march in 2011. They took away my whistle at security but I kept my banner. My MP, Emily Thornberry, came down to meet a bunch of us from Disability Action in Islington. It felt like she had a rehearsed speech; I was not impressed. I wonder how she will do today. | I've been in the central lobby before, for the Hardest Hit march in 2011. They took away my whistle at security but I kept my banner. My MP, Emily Thornberry, came down to meet a bunch of us from Disability Action in Islington. It felt like she had a rehearsed speech; I was not impressed. I wonder how she will do today. |
| I lobby because there must be change. As part of our week, Reclaiming Our Futures, DPAC is delivering our manifesto, which is a reassertion for rights, for inclusion. I'm angry. Disabled people are not merely easy labels of vulnerability and need. We are human beings. Do I really have to keep spelling this out? | I lobby because there must be change. As part of our week, Reclaiming Our Futures, DPAC is delivering our manifesto, which is a reassertion for rights, for inclusion. I'm angry. Disabled people are not merely easy labels of vulnerability and need. We are human beings. Do I really have to keep spelling this out? |
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