For Heaven’s Sake Man Stay!#Corbyn

 News  6 Responses »
Jun 292016
 

Less than a year ago there was a vote by Labour party members and people who were sick of establishment and Labour inaptitude. That vote overwhelmingly elected Jeremy Corbyn as leader of the Labour party. There have been calls for his resignation ever since along with a continuous back-stabbing farce that puts the Labour party to shame.

This afternoon (29th June) Cameron, the worst Prime Minister in living history, had the gall to tell Corbyn to go. This comes from a man who has split the UK , and whose actions to stave off the Eurosceptics of his own party  has led the UK into total chaos with Brexit and no apparent plan on what to do next.

Its thanks to Cameron that we face yet more recession, increasing horrors of unacceptable racism, more cuts and the potential parting gift of an imposed Boris Johnson.

Cameron should not have been part of the Remain campaign. He helped lose it just by being there, now like a rat deserting the sinking ship he’s off leaving the mess to some other inept con man or woman. There’s nothing honourable about Cameron, he resigned to pass the buck.

Corbyn on the other hand holds fast in the face of enormous pressure from careerist Labour MPs, ex grandees and an ever hostile right wing press. Why? Because he respects the mandate that he was elected on by ordinary people. Ordinary people who were sick of a plastic ineffectual Blairite Labour and a Labour little different from the Tories

DPAC and disabled people have had unstinting support from Jeremy Corbyn and John McDonnell. Both have spoken out and voted against every horror the Tories have imposed on disabled people. So when we had a message from John McDonnell we knew we’d pass it on to you.

“please send out to all DPAC members and supporters urging them to support Jeremy if there is a leadership election, we will need Labour Party members to vote for Jeremy if they are not members we will urge them to join ”

See Corbyn’s statement issued after the ‘no confidence’ vote

“In the aftermath of last week’s referendum, our country faces major challenges. Risks to the economy and living standards are growing. The public is divided.

“The Government is in disarray. Ministers have made it clear they have no exit plan, but are determined to make working people pay with a new round of cuts and tax rises.

“Labour has the responsibility to give a lead where the Government will not. We need to bring people together, hold the Government to account, oppose austerity and set out a path to exit that will protect jobs and incomes.

“To do that we need to stand together. Since I was elected leader of our party nine months ago, we have repeatedly defeated the Government over its attacks on living standards.

“Last month, Labour became the largest party in the local elections. In Thursday’s referendum, a narrow majority voted to leave, but two thirds of Labour supporters backed our call for a remain vote.

“I was democratically elected leader of our party for a new kind of politics by 60% of Labour members and supporters, and I will not betray them by resigning. Today’s vote by MPs has no constitutional legitimacy.

“We are a democratic party, with a clear constitution. Our people need Labour party members, trade unionists and MPs to unite behind my leadership at a critical time for our country.”

See some of the ways Corbyn and McDonnell have supported DPAC and disabled people

https://dpac.uk.net/2015/07/make-labour-awesome-again-vote-corbyn-jezwecan/

https://dpac.uk.net/2015/07/the-labour-party-needs-a-leader-not-a-jobsworth-thats-why-dpac-are-supporting-jeremy-corbyn/

Corbyn and McDonnell have done more than any other politicians to speak out and act against what’s happening to disabled people

And if you want to know the real story of why the Labour party seems to be against its own members see the excellent Steve Topple’s piece in the Canary: The Truth behind the Labour Coup, when it began and who manufactured it. http://www.thecanary.co/2016/06/28/truth-behind-labour-coup-really-began-manufactured-exclusive/

Labour Membership and Vote of Confidence in Corbyn Petition

To add yourself to the estimated 13,000 people who recently joined Labour with the majority giving the reason that they are supporting Corbyn

You can join either by phoning 0345 092 2299 or online :  http://www.labour.org.uk/

 

 

To sign the petition and add your name to almost 300,000 signatures to express a vote of confidence in Corbyn go to

https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/a-vote-of-confidence-in-jeremy-corbyn-after-brexit

 

 

 

 

 

An Appeal to Labour MPs from Disability Campaigners

 News  11 Responses »
Jun 282016
 

As three of the disabled people and the parent of a fourth who in 2013 and 2014 brought legal challenges to the decisions by Conservative ministers to close the UK-wide Independent Living Fund, we are concerned by the developments in the Labour Party over the weekend and the threat to Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership.

 

Throughout our campaign to save the Independent Living Fund, Jeremy Corbyn was unstinting in his support for the continuation of the Fund, and issued a statement on the day of closure in June 2015 pledging to campaign for its reinstatement.

 

The democratic election of Jeremy Corbyn last September instilled hope among many disabled people and their families that the Labour Party had turned a corner, and would campaign hard to stop further austerity and cuts to public services and benefits.

 

A number of Judicial Reviews brought in recent years reflect the impact public service cuts are having on the lives of disabled people and their families. While legal challenges are sometimes successful, they cannot achieve the impact and change an effective political campaign can.

 

Rather than sow further division, we would urge Labour MPs to remember who austerity and public sector cuts are hitting the hardest, and the lives now being destroyed by them.

 

There is a desperate need for unity among working class people of all ages and backgrounds, and we need the Labour Party and its MPs to consider their responsibility and duty of care towards those who will continue to face the consequences if we fail to end austerity now.

 

This is only possible if the Labour Party unites behind Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership and works in unity with the trade unions and disability campaigners to build a political movement to achieve this.

 

Anne Pridmore, Gabriel Pepper, Paul Taylforth and Stuart Bracking

 Posted by at 00:37

Protest against work cure therapy 5th July, London

 News  2 Responses »
Jun 262016
 

[Reblogged from the Free Psychotherapy Network Blog]

Mental health activists, workfare campaigners and therapists protest against work cure therapy for benefit claimants with mental health disabilities

  It’s time for the psy professional bodies to stop colluding with the DWP 

Join the protest against the professional bodies supporting work cure therapy for benefit claimants with mental health disabilities

Tuesday 5th July at 9 am at the New Savoy Conference

Hallam Conference Centre, 44 Hallam Street, London W1W 6JJ

Central London @ Great Portland Street tube (Map here)

See the conference programme here

For a decade or more, the Government has been deploying psychotherapy to get people with mental health difficulties off benefits, back to work and mapped into the neoliberal labour market. Since 2010, austerity policies of welfare reform – punitive Work Capability Assessments, benefit cuts, workfare, sanctioning – have intensified government strategies of psycho-compulsion and work cure for welfare claimants. IAPT therapists are being co-located in Jobcentres, DWP mental health advisers and employment coaches in GP surgeries, food banks, schools and libraries.

The big five national organisations representing the professions of counselling, psychotherapy and clinical psychology* have welcomed these policies and the state funding of back-to-work therapy.

As members of the New Savoy Partnership, they have been major players in The New Savoy Conference, an annual jamboree and market stall for state therapies in the NHS. The NSC frequently stages opening addresses by DWP and Health ministers to assert the close relationship between the professional bodies, MH charities and Government mental health and work-cure policies and funding. Hundreds of mental health workers accredited by the psy professional bodies have been hired by the DWP to provide “support into work”. These are jobs that are experienced as deeply unethical by many of the professionals being steered into this kind of work.

In March this year, the Mental Wealth Foundation (see below) wrote to the five professional organisations challenging their support of the government’s use of psychological therapies to put pressure on people with mental health disabilities to get into work. You can read the exchange of letters between us and the professional bodies here.

So far, all but one of these organisations are refusing to speak to us and continue to argue that they have had private reassurances from the DWP that “work cure” therapy will not be mandatory for claimants, and will not involve setting entry into employment as a therapeutic outcome. This claim defies the reality of the DWP’s record of punitive and coercive policies of workfare, Work Capability Assessment and sanctioning and its growing determination through its Work and Health initiatives to prioritise work as the therapy of choice for long-term mental health disability.

* British Association for Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies; British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy; British Psychoanalytic Council; British Psychological Society; United Kingdom Council for Psychotherapy

Come and join the protest against work cure therapy for benefit claimants with mental health disabilities. All welcome. Gather at 9am on Tuesday 5th July outside the Hallam Conference Centre, 44 Hallam Street, London W1W 6JJ. For more info contact eventsatfpn@yahoo.com

The Mental Wealth Foundation (MWF) is a broad, inclusive coalition of professional, grassroots, academic and survivor campaigns and movements. We bear collective witness and support collective action in response to the destructive impact of the new paradigm in health, social care, welfare and employment. We oppose the individualisation and medicalisation of the social, political and material causes of hardship and distress, which are increasing as a result of austerity cuts to services and welfare and the unjust shift of responsibility onto people on low incomes and welfare benefits. Our recent conference focused on Welfare Reforms and Mental Health, Resisting the Impact of Sanctions, Assessments and Psychological Coercion.

Currently, seventeen organisations are gathered under the MWF umbrella: Mental Health Resistance Network; Disabled People Against Cuts; Recovery in the Bin; Boycott Workfare; The Survivors Trust; Alliance for Counselling and Psychotherapy; College of Psychoanalysts; Psychotherapists and Counsellors for Social Responsibility; Psychologists Against Austerity; Free Psychotherapy Network; Psychotherapists and Counsellors Union; Critical Mental Health Nurses’ Network; Social Work Action Network (Mental Health Charter); National Unemployed Workers Combine; Merseyside County Association of Trades Union Councils; Scottish Unemployed Workers’ Network; National Health Action Party

 Posted by at 21:41

How Does The Brexit Vote Affect The Rights Of Disabled People?

 News  10 Responses »
Jun 242016
 

Press Statement from Irwin Mitchell law firm

24/06/2016

 

How Does The Brexit Vote Affect The Rights Of Disabled People?

 

Fiona McGhie, Public Law expert at Irwin Mitchell, said: “The common law and legislation in the UK have provided rights and protections for people with disabilities. 

“In addition both the EU and the UK have ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) which guarantees equality of rights of disabled people before the law on issues such as health, education, employment, access to justice and independent living. The UK is also a signatory to the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) which prohibits discrimination on the grounds of disability (Article 14) and offers protection for people with disabilities through a number of the other articles. The Human Rights Act incorporates these rights into domestic legislation. 

“The UK has developed a string of positive legislation for the protection of the rights of those with disabilities, most notably the Equality Act 2010. This Act consolidated a large amount of existing legislation (including those relating to other protected characteristics such as race, religion, gender and sexual orientation). This and previous legislation were introduced to ensure compliance with a number of EU equality directives. 

“Membership of the EU offers a large degree of protection for people with disabilities because of its directives on equality. However, if that protection was removed by a vote to leave the EU, people with disabilities would still benefit from the CRPD and the ECHR. It is unlikely that Equality Act would be repealed should the UK leave the EU, as we would still need to comply with the other international conventions which we have ratified. However, people with disabilities would not benefit from any further directives or regulations that the EU issued on disability rights and would be reliant on domestic legislation and common law keeping pace with the advancement of the rights of people with disabilities. 

“What Brexit would affect is the ability to potentially rely on the European Charter of Fundamental Rights (CFR) which in particular includes many wider social and economic rights, such as the rights to fair and just working conditions, to healthcare and to have personal data protected. If disabled people wished to try and strike down UK legislation as incompatible with rights under CFR under EU law – that avenue may not be available after the vote to leave.”

 

ENDS

 Posted by at 11:01

#EmilyNeedsAHome. Tell @ShropCouncil @ShropsCCG and @severnsideha to make one available to her.

 News  No Responses »
Jun 172016
 

This blog post from @NickyClarke was brought to our attention this evening 13 days before Emily is homeless, we finally hear from Andy Begley.

You can follow the link and read the full story for yourselves, but the essential information is that Emily Clarke, a disabled woman is to be made homeless in just 13 days time, because neither Shropshire Council, nor Shropshire Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) will take responsibility for providing Emily with the home that she is entitled to.

DPAC believe that this is totally unacceptable, and we call on Shropshire Council and CCG to urgently provide a suitable home for Emily. Urgently means now by the way, not next month or next week, it means now, today.

and we ask our followers to:

 

 

 Posted by at 00:03

#PIPFightBack: Day of Action Against PIP Today 13th July, protests in 17 places & online

 News  22 Responses »
Jun 142016
 

London, Ipswich, Norwich, Leicester, Glasgow, Sheffield, Manchester, Vauxhall, Brighton, Northampton, Chesterfield (cancelled), Derby, Merseyside, Birmingham, Southampton, Edinburgh, Wokingham, Dundee and Online 

Can’t get to one of these protests? Join the protest online – details here

If you are at an action and have a smartphone – you can tweet pictures to  @dis_ppl_protest and  @MHResist  and we’ll retweet them for others to see. Include the hashtag #PIPFightback

Join the Thunderclap for the day of action

 Watch the video
Callout poster for the central London protest - there will be many others around the country - check at the bottom of this page for one near you, if there isn't - why not organise one?

Callout poster for the central London protest – there will be many others around the country – check at the bottom of this page for one near you, if there isn’t – why not organise one?

PIP Fightback

National Day of Action Against PIP

Wednesday 13th July 2016

#PIPFightBack

Personal Independence Payment (PIP) is the replacement for Disability Living Allowance (DLA).

Whilst DLA worked to provide support for the extra costs of being disabled, and the system worked well, the whole PIP system is rotten to the core.

The whole purpose of making the change from DLA to PIP is to remove people’s entitlements to the vital support which DLA provided to help enable disabled people to live a life on more even terms with non disabled people.

With the PIP assessment regime now in place, thousands of people have already lost out and reports of the shoddy nature of the assessments are growing every week. Whilst the success rate at tribunal is high, it is taking up to 6 months or longer for cases to be heard – leaving disabled people struggling

Atos and Capita are making a killing from conducting sham PIP assessments which are seeing thousands of legitimate claimants having their benefits refused, their incomes slashed and their motability cars removed.

PIP Fightback Social Media MemeIt is time to step up the fight and to demand that the corporate assessors #DoNoHarm. There are PIP ‘consultation’ Centres across the country. If you cannot find a protest listed in your town or city, why not set one up.

If you decide to do so, please email mail@dpac.uk.net and we will advertise your event.

This is also a good way to meet others who have had enough and to form resistance in your local area. This day of action has been called jointly by Mental Health Resistance Network, Disabled People Against Cuts (DPAC) and WinVisible – women with visible & invisible disabilities

There will also be an online action announced nearer the time for people who can’t get to a direct action

List of actions:

These will be updated as more are set up – so keep checking back

Can’t get to one of these protests? Join the protest online – details here

If you are at an action and have a smartphone – you can tweet pictures to  @dis_ppl_protest and  @MHResist  and we’ll retweet them for others to see. Include the hashtag #PIPFightback

Location Organising Group Address of Protest Start Time Event Page Contact
London DPAC,MHRN, Winvisible Capita PLC 71 Victoria Street London, SW1H 0XA 1:15 pm https://www.facebook.com/events/1745989482324814/ mail@dpac.uk.net
Ipswich DPAC Suffolk PIP Consultation Centre,
Unit 3,
Duke St
Ipswich
Suffolk, IP3 0BF		 11:30 am https://www.facebook.com/events/1541475526160241/ Martin Tolley, dpacsuffolk@yahoo.com
 Norwich  DPAC Norfolk  11 Prince of Wales Road
Norwich
Norfolk
NR1 1BD
12:30 – 2pm		  12:30pm-2pm  Marion Fallon,dpacnorfolk@gmail.com
Leicester DPACLeicester; DEAEP Wellington House, 29 Albion St, Leicester. LE1 6GD 11:00 am  https://www.facebook.com/events/667515193401874/ Jane Linney, ratea62@gmaill.com
 Glasgow Glasgow DPAC The Bridge 348 – 382 Argyle Street Glasgow G2 8LX. 12:30pm https://www.facebook.com/events/1768966556652741/ Marion Nisbet, m.j.nisbet@talktalk.net
 Sheffield Sheffield DPAC DWP Medical Assessment Centre, 1 Hartshead Square, Sheffield S1 2FD 12:00–13:00  https://www.facebook.com/events/1621151198212742/
 Manchester  Manchester DPAC PIP Consultation Centre, Units 1 & 2, The Brewery Yard, Deva City Office Park, Trinity Way, Manchester, M3 7BB (for Sat Nav M3 7BD) 12:00 pm https://www.facebook.com/events/522078507977893/ ManchesterDPAC@gmail.com
London (Vauxhall) Mental Health Resistance Network  Vauxhall PIP consultation Centre, 65 Sancroft Street SE11 5NG  10.30 am to noon  https://www.facebook.com/events/908415682618292/  mail@mentalhealthresistance.org
 Brighton Brighton DPAC  PIP Assessment Centre, Crown House, 21, Upper North St, Brighton BN1 3EP  12 noon until 2.30pm  https://www.facebook.com/events/515085692018546/ Miriam Binder, mimseycal@sky.com
Northampton  Northampton DPAC  The Capita offices
Charles House
Derngate
Northampton
NN1 1UE		  1:30pm – 3pm  https://www.facebook.com/events/132575083834834/ Norman Adams ntactnorman@googlemail.com
 Derby Derbyshire DPAC Ground Floor St Peters House Gower Street Derby DE1 1SB 11am to 1pm https://www.facebook.com/events/1691018591150835/  Karen Springer, derbyshiredpac@gmail.com, @derbyshiredpac1
 Chesterfield Derbyshire DPAC

Protest Cancelled 

  https://www.facebook.com/events/1632370943757444/ Karen Springer, derbyshiredpac@gmail.com, @derbyshiredpac1
Merseyside Merseyside TUC and Merseyside DPAC PIP Consultation Centre, Exchange Station, Tithebarn Street, Liverpool L2 2QP 12 to 3 pm https://www.facebook.com/events/128180060944343/  merseysidetuc@gmail.com
 Birmingham West Midlands DPAC   PIP Assessment Centre, Ground Floor 127 Hagley Road Birmingham B16 8LD 13.15 to 15.30 https://www.facebook.com/events/738061006297562/
 Southampton Southampton DPAC with The Peoples Assembly and Unite Community  BBC South Today, 10 Havelock Road, SO14 7PU Southampton  17:30–18:30 https://www.facebook.com/events/826680450799523/ dpacsoton@gmail.com
 Edinburgh  Edinburgh Coalition Against Poverty, Disability History Scotland and Black Triangle Campaign Scottish Parliament, EH8 8 Edinburgh, United Kingdom 12.30 – 14.00  https://www.facebook.com/events/303522106656955/  ecap@lists.riseup.net
 Wokintgham  Berkshire DPAC  Market Square, Wokingham

Please email  berkshiredpac@gmail.com if you are going to let them work out numbers

 1-3p.m.  berkshiredpac@gmail.com
Dundee Scottish Unemployed Workers’ Network Dundee City Square DD1 9 Dundee 12.30-1.30 https://www.facebook.com/events/293732660975693/
 Posted by at 14:14

Sanctioned whilst waiting to be Sanctioned

 News  9 Responses »
Jun 102016
 

By Kate Belgrave

Yesterday, I spent god knows how long on the phone to the Department for Work and Pensions (a charged-for call, if you don’t mind), having the most ridiculous conversation that I (and probably anyone) has ever had with them.

I was calling on behalf of Sam, a 22-year-old who signs on at East Ham jobcentre in London. A week or so ago, Sam saw a different jobcentre adviser from her usual one. The adviser at that meeting decided that Sam’s jobsearch record for the fortnight wasn’t up to a standard that the adviser had in mind and that the jobcentre would think about imposing a sanction. Advisers told Sam that she’d have to wait a week or two for a decision-maker to decide whether or not the sanction would go ahead.

But in the meantime, to all intents and purposes, Sam has been sanctioned. I say this because she didn’t receive her benefit payment this week. As of Monday, she had 80p left in her bank account. Last week the jobcentre gave her a hardship payment application form, when advisers first started talking about imposing a sanction. She filled in the form and took it to the jobcentre this week with her bank statement showing the 80p.

But the jobcentre now told Sam that she couldn’t submit the hardship form until the jobcentre had made a formal decision about sanctioning her. Sam said she’d already been sanctioned, because her benefit had been stopped. That was a sanction as far as she was concerned. It certainly felt like a sanction. She had no money. Her benefit had been stopped. Still the jobcentre wouldn’t take the hardship form.

So we rang the DWP. The DWP confirmed that Sam’s benefit had been suspended. The DWP also confirmed that Sam couldn’t submit her application for a hardship payment until the jobcentre made a formal decision about the sanction. I said that Sam had surely already been sanctioned, because her benefit hadn’t been paid.

Certainly, as far as Sam was concerned, she had been sanctioned. Her benefit had been suspended and she had no money in her account. How else would anybody view that experience, except as a sanction? Was it a pre-sanction sanction? What was the DWP even talking about? The DWP said that it had to suspend Sam’s benefit payments while the jobcentre decided whether or not to sanction her. True story. That’s what they said.

I said again that Sam had no money in her account. The DWP said again that Sam couldn’t submit the hardship form until the jobcentre made the formal decision about the sanction. The DWP said it hoped the formal decision about the sanction would be made sometime this week. Sam very much hopes the same, as well she might. Her benefit has been stopped, she has no income and she can’t apply for hardship assistance until her benefit is “officially” stopped, even though her benefit has already been stopped anyway.

The DWP suggested that in the meantime, Sam goes to her local council and asks for crisis help there. I wonder how many other people will be in that queue. These people are not only being left completely without income – they’re not even being told how long they’ll have to go without income for.

with thanks to Kate, Chaminda and the excellent Sentinel News

 

 

 

 

 

 Posted by at 11:47

Support Doug Paulley vs First Bus 15th June

 News  2 Responses »
Jun 092016
 

On the 15th June the Supreme Court will look at a case which could have wide implications for wheelchair and mobility scooter users who want to travel by bus in the UK.

On this day, TfA (Transport for All) members will gather together to show First Bus Group that disabled people everywhere are standing up for our right to ride.

Join us to show our support for Doug Paulley on this historic day.

WHEN: Wednesday, 15th June 2016, 9.00 am

WHERE: In front of the Supreme Court (nearest accessible Tube station is Wesminster. Buses: 148, 211).

Wheelchair and mobility scooter users are heavily dependent on buses to get around London because so few Tube stations have step-free access. But bus travel for disabled and older Londoners is not always easy.

In 2014, the well-publicised Appeal Court case involving Doug Paulley and the bus company First Bus Group really highlighted this issue.

Wheelchair-user Doug Paulley had successfully sued First Bus Group in 2013 after he had been denied access to one of their buses because a bus driver didn’t enforce priority in the wheelchair space and a buggy owner refused to make room for him. But this decision was overturned by the Appeal Court in November 2014. The Supreme Court will now reconsider the case.

Transport for All has supported Doug from the beginning. This case has wide implications for wheelchair users who want to travel by bus. If the original verdict in Mr Paulley’s favour is upheld by the Supreme Court, then the requirement in law to give a wheelchair/mobility scooter user access to the wheelchair space will be absolutely undeniable, and all bus companies will have to enforce it.

We hope that Doug’s appeal will be upheld. Disabled people fought for and won the wheelchair space, and the right to be able to travel on buses. We can’t let this right be eroded by a failure to enforce it as a wheelchair bay.

Please email Raphael if you would like to come: raphael@transportforall.org.uk

 Posted by at 17:36

WCA and non visible impairment, illness..?

 News  5 Responses »
Jun 092016
 

Have you, or someone you know, with an “unseen” chronic illness been through the Work Capability Assessment (WCA)?

 

As part of a health psychology research project, we would like to know your experiences of the process (regardless of the assessment’s outcome), as well as the day-to-day effect of your condition.

 

An unseen or “invisible” condition could be any chronic condition which is not visible to others. Examples could include: MS, fibromyalgia, asthma, arthritis, heart problems, diabetes or gastrointestinal issues.

 

The study involves a semi-structured, informal interview and an optional section around photographs – talking about photographs, taken by you, which you feel represent the day-to-day effect of your condition and your experiences of the WCA.

 

If you would be interested in finding out more, please do contact William Day via email (dayw@aston.ac.uk) or telephone (0121 204 4050).

 

The study is based in Birmingham/the West Midlands area, however we are keen to travel and meet with any interested individuals at locations convenient to them. Alternatively, discussions can take place via any internet messaging programs.

This study has been approved by the Aston University Research Ethics Committee.

 

 Posted by at 16:19

Experiences of Applying for ESA?

 News  4 Responses »
Jun 072016
 

An important survey on the experiences of applying for ESA to complete the survey go to: https://leeds.onlinesurveys.ac.uk/experiences-of-applying-for-esa

We have copied the first page here for more information

I am a PhD student at the University of Leeds who has personal experience of applying for Employment and Support Allowance and attending a Work Capability Assessment.

My research is looking at changes over time in the way the government defines ‘disability’ for the purposes of employment-related disability benefits, its relation to the economy, and how this definition compares with disabled people’s lived experiences.

As part of this research I am gathering people’s experiences of applying for Employment and Support Allowance and in particular the Work Capability Assessment and how well they feel this reflects and understands their lives.

If you have ever applied for Employment and Support Allowance (including if you are not currently recieving it) I would be very grateful if you could complete this short survey. All answers are confidential and anonymous. No information will be shared with any other individual or organsiation and when writing up my research I will ensure that no respondants can be identified. None of the questions are compulsory and you can save the survey to complete at a later time at any point.

I would really appreciate it if you could help with this research. Having been through the process of applying for ESA myself, I know it can be distressing to recall the experience so if at any point you are finding it very difficult to continue please don’t.

If you have any further questions please contact me at: ss10rm@leeds.ac.uk

Thank you very much for your time.

Survey link: https://leeds.onlinesurveys.ac.uk/experiences-of-applying-for-esa

 

 Posted by at 13:53  Tagged with:

ROFA Conference 14th July Sheffield

 News  No Responses »
Jun 062016
 

ROFA “Uniting Our Voices & Defending Our Rights” conference 2016 : Thursday 14 July 10.30am to 4pm , Sheffield Town Hall, Pinstone Street, Sheffield S1 2HH

 The Reclaiming Our Futures Alliance (ROFA) – a national alliance of grassroots Deaf and Disabled Peoples Organisations (DDPOs) and campaign groups – is holding its annual conference on Thursday 14 July. The conference is a chance to share information about effective campaigns our movement has carried out over the year, build our campaign skills and share & shape campaign priorities over the next year.

As well as interactive campaign workshops we have a keynote speech from Professor Peter Beresford and panel on “Defending our vision of rights, inclusion and equality in austerity neo-liberal Britain” with lots of time for audience questions and contributions.

To register go to: www.rofa.org.uk

 Posted by at 15:49