MAXIMUS: Are you not entertained!

Drove through to Reading today as the Disabled People Against Cuts group there seemed to be the closest demo to me of the nationwide day of protest against the continuing obscenity of the Work Capability Assessments, as of today in the hands of US company MAXIMUS rather than the French company ATOS who have had to exit their contract early through a combination of their own incompetence and the activism of disabled people's groups rendering their involvement in WCA toxic. MAXIMUS' track record in America and around the world is even worse than that of ATOS, they have been found guilty of fraud and malpractice, have been fined millions and are banned from operating in about half of the States in the USA. They still got the contract. Both Labour and Tory claim these assessments are part of their efforts to help disabled people into work but in fact the tests are unfair, simplistic and take no account of the complexities of an individual's medical needs and problems. The "help" is confined to removing people's benefits leaving them unable to survive, make no mistake this policy is killing people. To quote Norwich artist and activist Vince Laws' telling summary:

"...it's not a Benefits system, it's not a support system, it's a method of culling people"

Real help to get back into employment would be welcome, help such as funding modifications to potential employers premises, specialised equipment, personal assistants etc. but that would actually entail spending more money not less and these current policies are explicitly cost cutting exercises - Ian Duncan Smith made it clear years ago that he was implementing these policies to save several billion pounds in benefits paid to disabled people and people with long term illness.

In addition to the WCA assault we have also seen the abolition of the Independent Living Fund, a fund that helps provide the necessary support in terms of equipment and support staff to the most profoundly disabled people in the country. Without these resources people will struggle to survive and will lose their ability to lead any kind of independent lives, cash strapped local authorities will inevitably institutionalise many of them and many will simply die. Labour has announced they have no intention of reinstating the ILF either.

Even the Disability Living Allowance has been scrapped, payments for the additional care and mobility costs of disabled people. The new PIP system which will replace it (if they ever overcome the chaos it has caused at the DWP) is similarly harsh, unfair and designed to deny payments to those who need them - this will mean the loss of a disabled persons car, their Blue Badge, their access to social services and a host of other concessions dependent on eligibility to DLA.

Talking to people today as I tried to get them to take leaflets etc. I'm not sure which disheartened me most; the number who displayed complete ignorance of and disinterest in these issues or the high proportion of those who did stop to talk who had either personally suffered as a result of these policies, were currently stressed out as they went through the system or had close family who were affected. It seems the powers that be (aided by press demonisation and vilification) have found a group they can persecute with impunity.

(I must apologise for my dismal lack of blips again this week, the underlying reason has been my ongoing struggle to come off opiates which has left me withdrawn, energy less, uninspired, pain wracked and sleepless. Hopefully things will improve. After my efforts today I think I'll be horizontal for the rest of the week)