Around 10,000 people, many in wheelchairs, marched through London in the Hardest Hit march, calling to an end to harassment and benefit cuts for the disabled. London, UK. 11/05/2011
The protest was supported by a huge range of charities representing and supporting the physically and mentally disabled, alongside major unions including the PCS, UCU and Unite. They called for an end to cuts in benefits for the disabled, and in particular for an end to the discredited and iniquitous testing regime administered by Atos Healthcare, which has replaced proper medical tests by a computer-based system that often ignores the actual needs of those being assessed, and has an unacceptably high error rate, with a majority of appeals against its assessments succeeding.
The often ludicrous decisions of Atos assessments have also been used by the government, and with their encouragement by the press to justify attacks on those drawing disablement benefits as 'scroungers'. While many would agree that we need an overhaul of the benefits system, and most that where suitable employment can be found within the capabilities of the person concerned this would be to their benefit, the changes introduced by the previous government, along with the cuts of the current coalition have been disastrous. Among the banners on the march was one for Remploy, an organisation providing suitable work for many disabled people, which has been savagely pruned, along with many other positive projects aimed as helping the disabled.
The government is making cuts in the Equality and Human Rights commission that helps to protect the disabled against discrimination, and disabled people rely much more than the rest of us on local authority support services and other public services and so are suffering more from the cuts in these.
Among those leading the march which went past the Houses of Parliament was Sally Bercow, the wife of the Speaker of the Commons, and with her was actress and activist Jane Asher, president of three of the organisations involved in the march: Arthritis Care, National Autistic Society and Parkinson's UK.
Among the many placards, one that stood out carried a part of its message in Braille; 'We're being ........ by the government!' and I was told the dots meant 'screwed'.
After the march ended many of those taking part went back to Parliament to lobby their MPs and call for better treatment for the disabled.
