Disabled people are being ignored and a new government will make no difference, according to activists in Dudley. The shocking claim was made as candidates prepared for the final week of general election campaigning amid allegations that disability issues have been ignored.
Sedgley couple Ken and Tracy McClymont and carer Leanne Shakespeare from Kingswinford, shared their concerns with the Local Democracy Reporting Service. Ken, aged 63, said: “The main two parties have virtually failed to mention disability or caring, it is worse than disappointing, they seem to ignore us.”
Leanne, who is a carer for her adult son who has special needs and has another adult son with special needs in assisted living, says she feels pushed to one side by the state. The 50-year-old who is a self-employed travel agent, said: “I feel bullied, if I could go and live abroad I would.
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“I have got fibromyalgia, I’m not ashamed of it. I applied for 100 jobs but they weren’t interested because I ticked the box for disability, so I have had to do it for myself. “The law says you are not supposed to discriminate but once you have filled-in the form, what is to stop them throwing it in the bin?”
Campaigners are calling for a number of measures to help disabled people and carers including more co-operation between the NHS and adult social care services, continuous care plans for people leaving education as they move into adult life and greater financial support, possibly by making caring a paid position. Leanne said: “We would save the government millions if we were paid properly, we wouldn’t need universal credit or income support.
“We would be able to spend – we would be economically active.” Ken is concerned about how Britain views the 16 million disabled people in the country.
He said: “We are almost a quarter of the population, would they ignore senior citizens? They wouldn’t dare – they protect pensions. “We are prevented from doing things by the state and society and they pick on us by calling us lazy scroungers who won’t work.
“Why does the government persist in coming after us over benefit fraud and disability? “If you keep telling someone they are useless often enough they become useless.
“We are not useless, we have a multitude of skills and things to offer but most people don’t get the chance.” A proposal by the Department of Work and Pensions to replace some cash Personal Independence Payments (PIP) with vouchers came in for savage criticism.
Ken said: “Why should we only be able to go to certain places, we are second class citizens, worse than refugees. Why can’t we make a choice like everyone else? “We are going backwards to a harsher time and I can’t see any way of it ending under any government.”
In their election manifesto the Conservatives say they will reform benefits to make sure they are better targeted and that they are delivering a disability action plan to improve peoples’ lives. Labour say they would introduce measures to improve inclusivity and expertise for special needs school pupils, introduce a full right to equal pay for disabled people and create plans to support disabled people into work.
Leanne said: “Carers need to be paid and disabled people need to feel independent and treated fairly.”
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