Still plenty going on!

Hi readers, Kerry here today and yay, Emily’s back next week!

I’m writing on Sunday and I’m feeling tired.  Maybe it’s because it’s been so hot all week. I’m glad it’s cooler today.

Tomorrow I’ve got meetings, including one with Amy and Marshall from Speakup, and hopefully Emily. We’re going to write to government about the benefits welfare vote coming up.

That’s because it’s rubbish. Last week with Labour MP Vicky Foxcroft resigning the whip, because she doesn’t agree with the proposed cuts, it’s a good time to write.  At least she’s still an MP.  

I agree with her. The benefit system is not working for people who need it most. She’s right too, that it’ll be terrible for many disabled people if there are more cuts.  If, like me, you depend on benefits to help you, as I do with my learning disability and cerebral palsy (confining me to a wheelchair), you will know how difficult to understand, hard to use, and complicated the benefits system is. One of our members parents says the government’s attitude to disabled people is ‘I see you. I hear you. I ignore you’. He’s right!

We all know the welfare system doesn’t work. Lots of us can see where the government could make cuts that will help people and save money. So why do this and make things worse? The government know more disabled people will suffer, on top of managing their disability.

If the government want to stop people abusing the system, these cuts are the wrong way. Surely, the government understands, that as benefit fraudsters don’t have a disability to manage, these fraudsters will have time to cheat the system and stay scroungers. And annoyingly, give those of us who need benefits to manage, a bad name?

The writers of the Our View column are supported in their editing by People First Dorset - a charity led and run by people with learning disabilities with support from staff