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‘It won’t be a merry Christmas’
Tuesday 13 December 2011
Hardest Hit campaign delivers a Christmas card with a serious message
Representatives from Mencap were among the members of a ‘Hardest Hit' choir who delivered a giant Christmas card to the government today.
The card, designed by the political cartoonist Gerald Scarfe and signed by 20,000 people, calls on Prime Minister David Cameron and Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg to protect the basic rights of disabled people.
The choir performed Christmas songs with a twist outside Parliament, including ‘David It’s Cold Inside’ and ‘It Won’t Be a Merry Christmas’. They later delivered the card to Number 10 Downing Street.
The Hardest Hit campaign, organised jointly by the Disability Benefits Consortium and the UK Disabled People’s Council, brings together individuals and over 50 organisations to campaign against cuts to benefits and services affecting disabled people. In October, thousands of people took to the streets for a series of regional Hardest Hit protests.
This latest action coincides with the Welfare Reform Bill's passage through the House of Lords. Many disabled people are living in fear of cuts to essential benefits including Disability Living Allowance (DLA) and Employment and Support Allowance, on top of cuts to many local care and support services. Although the government recently announced that it will not go ahead with plans to cut the mobility component of DLA, there are still concerns about what the replacement of DLA with the Personal Independence Payment will mean for disabled people.
Mencap campaigns assistant Ciara Evans took part in the event. She said: "Today's Hardest Hit event was important because we wanted to give the government a giant Christmas card signed by almost 25,000 disabled people and their families. This was to call for a fair benefits system.
We wanted to tell important people in government that people with disability want to have their rights and to also have the right support to help them to live independently. If benefits are taken away from people with a disability, then this has a massive effect on their lives. This would stop them from living independently and having a good life like any other person."
Comments
perhaps the scheme described in Malta could work here. There is major problem here regarding matching someone;s skills to jobs available in the job's market. Also there is an unwillingness to allow everybody who is disabled a chance in employment. again if a small island like Malta can make arttempts to change this then why can't we , especially with the resources available within social care? would love to see the project in malta and record it in a documentary or in still pictures. l will be facing having to find a job in january as my benefits will be insufficent in survive on. would like to wish everybody at mencap and the people who they help, a merry christmas. l hope the difficulties that families are facing through this christmas and beyond will be over very soon. all the best from cornwall
hello all
happy xmas to all at Mencap.you are very hardworking to have your rghts accepted by the public. very good i must say.
here in Malta we too are always try to do the best for disabled people.
We have a new company called ME TOO. it helps them to go to work .they help them very much to fit the job that is good to do.
I am a careworker at Mtarfa here in Malta.I work hard with deafblind people most .Last year i worked for one week at peterbourgh at UK. i got alot of good new ideas and help to such people.
thanks to all
fortunata.Love You