Disabled people don’t matter to politicians. To change that we must vote

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/nov/27/operation-disabled-vote-politicians

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Today marks the launch of Operation Disabled Vote, a campaign to encourage the 11 million people living with a disability or long-term health condition in the UK to register to vote. It is a simple but inspired idea that couldn’t come soon enough.

For too long now we have seen policy after government policy hit the disabled hardest. According to the government’s own impact assessment, two-thirds of those affected by the bedroom tax are disabled, and some are struggling so hard to make up the cuts to their housing payment that they are selling off possessions to buy their children winter coats. This week, research from charity Contact A Family showed 83% of families with a disabled child are now having to go without – 31% have gone without food, 33% without heating – with two-thirds of parents saying their own health has been affected as a result.

State benefits designed to ensure that disabled people can participate in society have been dismantled. The Independent Living Fund, which keeps the most disabled from being institutionalised, will be scrapped altogether by next June, despite the court of appeal ruling that the government will breach its equality duty by doing so.

Disability living allowance has been ditched and replaced by “personal independence payments”, which have been so farcically implemented one doesn’t have to look far to find stories of people with cancer who have waited for a year to see if they are eligible for support. The majority of people who receive employment and support allowance see their payments cancelled after 12 months, even if they are not fit to return to employment; and yet if those very same people, in desperation, go to sign up for jobseeker’s allowance they can be turned away as they are deemed too ill to seek work.

And if disabled people are well enough to work? The £1.2bn work programme, a flagship policy of this government, to help the long-term unemployed return to work, has utterly failed them. Less than 5% of those with a disability are likely to find a job through the scheme, compared with 20% of those who aren’t disabled. One year on from the closure of the remaining Remploy factories, only a quarter of its disabled work force have found employment, and many are on shorter hours and less pay. This is despite a government commitment to give extra support to those who were made redundant.

Those who do find work might turn to the government’s access to work scheme for support and grants towards the extra costs of employment that their disability might cause. Yet a recent report by the BBC revealed that the number of successful applicants to the scheme has dropped by 25% since 2010, which it suggests is attributable to a “cultural shift” within the department that has seen advisers try to catch out or restrict applicants.

It is unsurprising, therefore, that someone is 30% more likely to be unemployed if he or she is disabled and twice as likely to be living in a low-income household.

Support for disabled people has for too long now been seen as an easy cut to make. Operation Disabled Vote has the potential to be the catalyst that changes this attitude.

Less than two months ago, Lord Freud, who as a welfare minister is responsible for shaping government policy that directly impacts the lives of those with a disability, said that some disabled people were “not worth the full wage” suggesting instead they could earn a derisory £2 an hour. He is still in his post today. In contrast, Labour’s Emily Thornberry sent a tweet of a single picture and within 24 hours had been made to resign.

In my opinion, it was irrelevant to the coalition if Lord Freud’s comments alienated the entire disabled community, as disability is not seen as an issue that those who vote care about. In contrast, Labour recognised that it needs working-class votes to win the upcoming election and Miliband acted swiftly to address the electoral damage that Thornberry was thought to have caused. The fates of these two ministers is the simplest illustration yet of why people with a disability must vote. Put simply, if you vote, you matter.

I truly believe that if disabled people come out in force at the ballot box we can turn the tide. Yes, the voting system isn’t perfect, and miracles can’t be performed overnight, but we can recognise the benefits of incremental change.

When a third of families with one or more disabled children are going without food or heating, a change has got to come. Disabled people can use their force in numbers to be that change. Come May 2015, stand up, wheel up – scratch your name on a postal ballot from your bed if needs must – but be counted.