Two coalitions of disability charities have launched separate campaigns this week against the public spending cuts and proposed changes to the Disability Living Allowance.
Mencap, Leonard Cheshire Disability and Sense have arranged for hundreds of campaigners to descend on the Houses of Parliament tomorrow to challenge MPs about the government’s decision to stop paying the mobility component of the Disability Living Allowance (DLA) to disabled people living in residential care.
Tomorrow’s demonstration is part of a week of action by the charities which began on Saturday. A petition will be handed to the government and campaigners unable to travel to London have been meeting with their MPs to explain how the removal of the DLA will strip them of their independence.
Meanwhile, another group of disability, welfare, housing and advocacy organisations, along with academics and activists, have launched the Campaign for a Fair Society, which opposes the government's cuts to services for disabled people and proposes alternatives.
The Campaign for a Fair Society launched with a full-page ad in the The Times this morning. Its central claim is that despite George Osborne’s promise that those with the “broadest shoulders should bear the greatest burden”, in reality the government’s cuts are affecting some of society’s most vulnerable people, including those with learning disabilities and disabled children.
The Campaign (pictured) proposes seven principles to guide government decision-making on policy and funding. It has an interim steering group comprising Steven Rose, CEO of Choice Support (interim chair); Sally Warren, MD of Paradigm; Maggie Sherlock, CEO of Advance Housing and Support; Alan Johnson, MD of Progress Care Housing Association and Bob Tindall, MD of United Response.
A spokeswoman for the first campaign admitted that it was not aware of the Campaign for a Fair Society. A spokesman for the latter said: “They are separate, but there is bound to be an overlap in membership.”
Changes to Disability Living Allowance
Thousands of disabled people rely on the mobility element of the DLA to enable them to get around. The scrapping of this component, due to happen in October, will mean that around 80,000 disabled people in residential care will no longer have sufficient funds to meet extra transport costs, such as an electric wheelchair or adapted car.
Mark Goldring, Mencap’s chief executive, said: “Removing this benefit will take us back to the dark ages, essentially stripping people of control over their lives and leaving them stuck in residential care homes.”
