Marching truth to power
Symon Hill joined a historic demonstration of disabled people and listened to some of their concerns
‘What Parliament does, the streets can undo,’ declared a sign fixed to a wheelchair on the Thames Embankment last week. The young woman in the wheelchair was part of a 5,000-strong crowd who had descended on central London from all corners of Britain to protest against the impact of government cuts on disabled people. The ‘Hardest Hit’ march was the biggest demonstration of disabled people in British history. The extraordinary diversity of the protesters, both disabled and non-disabled, showed an inspiring cross-section of British people. But they had not come to plead. They had come with pride. This was not a cautious request for ministers to ‘rethink’ details. These people were determined. These people were angry. They had come, to quote some words well-loved by Quakers, to speak truth to power.
‘Our very independence is being threatened by this government,’ insisted Phil, as he marched with a white stick in one hand and a placard in the other, ‘Disabled people are being scapegoated as scroungers and fraudsters and all we want is the money to help us lead independent reasonable lives.’
There were banners in Braille and chants in sign language. Symbols of belief – Muslim, Christian and Jewish – mingled with varied styles of dress as the march made its way towards Westminster.
The anger has sharpened over time as the feeling grows that disabled people are under attack. Esther Leighton, a disability equality trainer who belongs to Jesus Lane Meeting in Cambridge told the Friend that she regards opposition to the cuts as a ‘fundamental human rights issue’.
The cuts are having an impact at both national level, with a major overhaul of benefits, and local level, where councils with reduced budgets are cutting services.
Colin Gourlay, a demonstrator from London, told the Friend he was marching because he fears that changes to Disability Living Allowance (DLA) could leave him isolated. ‘DLA allows me to use a taxi, go to the theatre, socialise generally,’ he said, ‘Meeting other people keeps my wellbeing up.’
Lianna Etkind of the campaigning group Transport for All said these concerns are being echoed nationally. ‘It’s a false economy to trap people in their own homes,’ she argued, pointing out that if disabled people can travel, ‘they can volunteer, they can spend at businesses in the High Street’.
While the march remained united, political differences remain. Major disability charities continue to face criticism from more radical disabled activists, who accuse them of being unrepresentative and too close to government.
Sunara Begum, a mental health service user from Coventry, said: ‘The banks have gambled on the stock market and lent irresponsibly and now we’re being blamed for it.’ She called for ‘protests like this but also strike action, especially national co-ordinated strike action’ to defeat the cuts.
In contrast, Steve Ford, chief executive of Parkinsons UK, declined to take a position on cuts in general, arguing instead that ‘the cuts that do need to take place shouldn’t impact on people living with disabilities’.
Nonetheless, there was a surprisingly unified response to questions about the government’s approach to getting more disabled people into work. Marc Bush, head of policy and campaigns at the charity Scope, insists that ‘the vast majority of disabled people’ want to work. But he is highly critical of the Work Capability Assessment, which requires everyone claiming Incapacity Benefit to be re-assessed.
He said he is aware of several people with terminal cancer being found fit for work. The Friend was told of a woman in York being declared fit for work despite being sectioned under the Mental Health Act at the time.
The assessments are carried out by Atos, a company whose name has become a dirty word amongst disability campaigners. Slogans such as ‘Atos kills’ appeared frequently on the march. Protests and sit-ins took place at Atos offices throughout the UK last week. The company’s office in York was closed on Friday, apparently in anticipation of a planned demonstration.
‘In terms of actually getting people into work, we need to change the whole way that the work world operates,’ said Roderick Cobley, chair of the London Autistic Rights Movement, as he marched past Parliament. In a similar vein, Marc Bush accused the government of ‘measuring the wrong thing’ because the process assesses impairments in themselves rather than barriers to finding work.
Thus, the assessment may take account of a person’s visual impairment, but not whether he/she lives in a rural area with little public transport that would prevent someone who cannot drive from travelling to work.
There is an increasing conviction on the part of disabled people that it is not they or their impairments that are the problem, but society’s structures and prejudices. ‘What makes us vulnerable is not us, it’s society,’ insisted Esther Leighton. She argued that this social model of disability ‘places the onus on society to be accessible rather than us to make ourselves “normal”.’
‘I don’t think I’ve ever seen the media portraying disabled people as active citizens with rights,’ she explained, ‘It’s either this terrible situation requiring pity or a “supercrip” “overcoming” their disability. But if you’re expecting, or asking for, or even demanding rights, you must be a scrounger.’
Ceri Owen, a mental health campaigner who belongs to Friargate Meeting, was preparing to meet her MP after the march when she told the Friend that she is alarmed by press coverage of people living on benefits. She wants Quakers to speak out against the ‘demonisation’ of disabled people ‘in the same way we’ve spoken out on prison and slavery’.
Esther Leighton said that in her experience, Quaker attitudes to disability ‘are almost entirely well-meaning but lean heavily towards an approach based on disabled people as being needy or worthy rather than a rights and equality approach’. However, she is pleased that a number of Friends are starting to take a stand based on rights. She urged Friends to ‘resist the cuts at a local and national level in a loud and profound way’.
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