I think it was Gandhi who said ‘the true measure of any society can be found in how it treats its most vulnerable members.’

A couple of weeks ago I went to a meeting in Fleetwood. A small team of advocates there act for those who have problems with their benefits because they are disabled or infirm, and therefore cannot work.

It was distressing to hear their stories. One person was suffering from a serious illness which ultimately proved terminal.

He was deemed at various stages over a twelve month period to be fit for work; he received no benefits during those months – and the week after he died, the benefit was paid.

The poor man spent the last twelve months of his life stressed - fighting both for his life and his entitlement to financial support.

There are other equally as disturbing stories about how long it is taking to go through the process of claiming Personal Independence Payments – the new Incapacity Benefit system.

Lord Freud suggested that disabled people are not worth employing at the full minimum wage – so £2 instead of over £7 per hour. This attitude simply smacks of not caring – and reinforces the ongoing vilification of the disabled and infirm.

I hadn’t realised until recently that the number of hate crimes against people with disabilities are rising year on year – up 13% since 2011. Forty percent of these are violent.

Even in Blackburn, I have chatted to a man who has had his crutches kicked from under him ‘for a laugh’.

Disability campaigners are taking their fight for the Independent Living Fund to the Royal Courts of Justice – without this fund 19,000 severely disabled will not get the support they need to live in their communities.

It is beyond me to understand why as one of the richest countries in the world we cannot look after those who need it. More critically, why are we as a society not challenging policies which effect the most vulnerable, and the way these policies are implemented?

Are we just too complacent, or do we just not care?

 

Gillian Beeley Development Coordinator, Together Lancashire