The War on Welfare petition

Michelle Maher explains the importance of the War on Welfare petition

The War on Welfare petition came about in a very ad hoc way. I am sure many a thesis is now written on the power and connectivity of Facebook and twitter. The reality is twitter does enable the sick and disabled to have a voice where ‘normal’ day to day political activism is sometimes blocked to us. Twitter enabled a group of mostly sick and disabled individuals to find a voice, to get angry and do something concrete about it. The wowpetition was born out of such this ad hoc approach. Most of us have never been involved in politics other than a weekly shout at Question Time. The wording of the petition was discussed on twitter, the main members of the group were founded, and our different jobs discussed, and we now use Skype for our weekly meetings.

What we all had in common was anger, fear and humiliation. The constant attacks by the media, and the poisoness rhetoric employed by this government and the profound fear of the brown envelope gave us voice.  The comedian Francesca Martinez agreed to spearhead the petition. If the wording of the petition seems a bit rough or unprofessional it is because that is exactly us. We are blindly finding our way through the maze of pushing our petition, but we are all working very very hard to achieve our aim, whenever each of us is able.

I am not literate enough to encapsulate how our lives have now been shaped by the changes to welfare. We live in constant fear, uncertainty, anger and sadness in equal measure. We did not ask to be sick or disabled, we did not ask for this to be our lives, and the last bit of pride has been wrung out of us by the humiliation of the work capability assessments. I could throw facts and figures at you, I could list the endless changes to welfare, I could argue the statistics but I am sure you are aware that cuts are falling disprortionately on us.

What I will give you is a case of my cousin who had to fight for 18 months for DLA. She was 64 living in a council flat in Coventry with no other source of income. She has Parkinson’s, Osteoarthritis, diabetes, complex kidneys and high blood pressure. Her medication meant she was having hallucinations, foxes in her room, mice in the kitchen and seeing men on her balcony. She gets confused easily but is stoic and had her pride. I looked after her paper work with the DWP.

At first they denied they had sent out an ATOS doctor which proved difficult in getting the ATOS report. They just claimed she was denied DLA. I was forced to bring in her MP to get answers. I finally got a copy which was contradictory in nature. By this point she was getting worse and had started to collapse in the street, and had to be considered for sheltered housing. The DWP continued to fight. I complained about ATOS and complained about DWP and demanded compensation, which she received. I filled out a new claim and because she was so ill then they gave her everything. For her old claim she had to endure a tribunal. I had stated to DWP they would take one look at her and she would have won.

I did not tell her they would question her as she would have refused to go. By this point her hand had to be held at all times because of falling, her head was going over to one side which she found mortifying. They did question her, but they soon realised she was getting confused, and what she claimed to be able to do she couldn’t, because she was holding on to her dignity by her fingertips.

She won the case, but at what cost. The DWP spent thousands on dealing with MPs letter, my complaints, and demands for copies of everything. These changes are about ideology not a saving exercise but you cannot measure the stress on an individual. The period July to September 2012 the number of appeals was up by 69% on the same quarter on the previous year. Benefit appeals are now accounting for 58% of all cases received for appeals across all Tribunals – an alarming increase. The total number of benefit appeal cases for 2012/2013 has already reached a wholly unacceptable figure of 308,200 meaning that if the trend continues, and there is every sign it will, the total number of benefit appeals alone will have reached well over 600,000 by the end of the year.

If you could spare time to sign and support http://wowpetition.com or just read about welfare changes. The cuts are only being fully realised and felt and this year will really focus the minds of the disability groups and the sick and disabled. We call for a cumulative impact assessment on these changes in support, after all any government that claims they are going to protect the vulnerable should have done this already! Thank you from wowpetition.