Amnesty International condemns coalition for assault on disabled

At its AGM on April 14 2013, Amnesty International UK passed a resolution on the Human Rights of sick and disabled people in the UK.

At its AGM on April 14 2013, Amnesty International UK passed a resolution on the Human Rights of sick and disabled people in the UK.

The resolution read:

“This AGM calls for urgent action to halt the abrogation of the human rights of sick and disabled people by the ruling Coalition government and its associated corporate contractors.

Calls for Amnesty International UK to urgently work with grassroots human rights campaigns by and for sick and disabled people, carers and their families. And to set up a specialist Disability Human Rights network…..

To protect the human rights of people with disabilities, ill people and carers to halt this regressive and lethal assault on our rights.”

You can read the full resolution here.

This month saw the introduction of the notorious Bedroom Tax; it’s has been estimated that two thirds of the households hit by the tax contain disabled people. Atos Healthcare’s ‘fitness to work’ assessments of disabled people – a linchpin of the coalition’s welfare reforms – have also been slammed by charities and paralympians.

50 Responses to “Amnesty International condemns coalition for assault on disabled”

  1. rfwr

    you’re right about the Labour government buying the banks. that was as close to insanity as you’ll ever find. bad banks/shoe shops/phone companies need to go bust. that’s how the free market works. they know now even more than before they can do anything and be bailed out. just a case of finding the right way through the legislation. the next crash will be bigger but its sole cause will be the government’s nationalisation of the banks.

    britisg leyland was shit. government owned Lloyds is shit

  2. RickB

    So how long have been ashamed of ‘pigeon holed’? What in society makes you feel that way? Why do you express the angst from that as hostility to people having their human rights removed? Why not come out of the disablist closet and join us? It’s much nicer out here.

  3. ref

    I’m not pigeon-holed. I do fine. I have some problems but I have a sympathetic workplace. every time I go to a doctor I have to emphasise I don’t want to go on benefits – I think they expect it – and they all offer it.

    I don’t believe people are having their human rights removed. I asked you earlier in the thread and you haven’t given me an answer.

  4. RickB

    Here’s one, it is not an isolated incident http://www.twitlonger.com/show/l06hje your lived experience may tell you otherwise but thousands of such testimonies now exist, so listen and learn.

  5. ref

    And she has my deepest sympathies. If we can get the people who are able-bodied back to work and help the people with problems who would like to work then there’ll be plenty of money for the hard cases.

    My lived experience says there are many many people who are on disability benefits who should be working. I also believe there are very genuine and difficult cases. It is not easy task to separate the two, especially with many people claiming benefits for disabilities that can’t be independently tested for.

    I have back problems that range from acute and transient to acute and chronic. You can see this in my MRI scans. Unfortunately there are people with worse looking scans who feel fine and people with barely anything to see who are heavily disabled. This is a difficult problem. At the easier end of the scale I know people who are on out of work disability benefits because they have trouble sleeping, are depressed or are drinking too much. These people would be better off in work, for themselves, taxpayers and the genuinely needy.

Comments are closed.