A constituency meeting with my MP

I have always believed that in order to convince people you have to be inclusive, or as inclusive as possible. I have taken that approach to work and I try to bring it to campaigning. My MP is Theresa May and whilst I do not believe I will persuade her to vote against Tory Party policy I do believe that there is a small chance (OK very small chance) that something I say may in someway influence policy.

I saw her last Friday and before I saw her I sent her this e-mail (below) detailing the issue I wished to draw to her attention.

Each appointment is only 15 minutes so we didn't cover everything but she undertook to respond to my letter in full.

We did discuss some aspects: She didn't accept or deny that Esther McVey had lied but was going to look into it; I asked her how a moral person such as her could go into the lobbies to support individual elements of the Welfare Reform Bill when it is obvious from the DWP's response to the WOW petition that they have no idea of the cumulative, or even the combined, effect the governments policies are having on sick, disabled, vulnerable and working class people - she undertook to read the DWP's response to the WOWpetition and Pat's Petition; I pointed out that using their language I am a "striver" so asked her why a disabled "striver" was unable to find and keep a job in her "strivers" Britain (I am not seeking to differentiate myself from other disabled/ sick people here - in my opinion people with impairments are strivers just by getting on with life!). She would look into that!

My case is my case. I am different from everyone else. We all have stories. Doesn't matter who they are - go and tell your MP your story. Please. If you talk to them they know we're here!!

To the Right Honorable Theresa May MP,

Dear Theresa,

Before our Constituency Meeting on Friday 22nd March at 5pm I want to outline the issues I wish to discuss with you. They are as follows:

1. I am concerned about how easy it is for your government to announce facts or policies that could be interpreted as deliberately lying. Examples are :

• Esther McVey announcing the Govt follows the Social model of disability in her reponse to e-petition 20968 "Pat's Petition" when Lord Freud stated in Hansard (17th Jan 2012 Column 498)  that the welfare reform bill is based on the BioPsychoSocial model of disability - does she not realise they are different? Is she mistaken or lying?
• Before the Last Election you personally promoted "A Contract for Equality". Perhaps you might be able to give me a detailed review of how many of your aspirational policies contained within this document have been implemented and how many ignored.  I believe you "promised" to preserve DLA as a cash benefit on Page 11 of that document. Do you believe you have done so? 
• I know it is in vogue to blame Labour for the countries economic woes but I personally believe it stretches back to the Big Bang in 1986 and is primarily the fault of bankers and Hedge Fund managers compounded by poor regulation of the Financial Services by both Conservative and Labour Government's. I would be happy to debate this with you?
• David Cameron claimed in Parliament on the 13th March 2013 that there have been 1m new Private sector jobs created since the General Election. Can you please let me know the source for that claim please?

2/ I am concerned about how you can claim to be fair to disabled people and reward "strivers". I was disabled in 1991 and despite medical opinion being I should not try to work again I did. My eccentricities caused by my disabilities meant that I reached a glass ceiling in the UK so I went overseas to Abu Dhabi to progress and was CFO of a billion dollar business. When I returned from "striving" (the Abu Dhabi government Racially discriminated against me and the other European ex-pats by implementing a policy to replace us with Local Arab staff)  I have been unable to find a job with no help from Govt and despite paying National INSURANCE for 25 years working overseas for 2 years wiped my eligibility and I am deemed not to have contributed! How is that fair?

3/ I was responsible at age 24 and was in a company pension scheme. When BG finally decided that I was unfit to work they pensioned me off on an ill-health pension. It is a small pension but stops me getting any income based benefits. It is a pension. If it stops me getting benefits why can older people receive large pensions and still get state benefits. That suggests age and disability discrimination to me? How is that fair? I was responsible when younger but am not allowed to benefit from what I presume is a characteristic you would encourage?

4/ When I was disabled there were no Insurance policies widely marketed to protect me in the event of such an incident. National INSURANCE benefits have since been scaled back and I have been cut adrift. Why are there no transitionary arrangements to make the changes fair to people like me? After my accident in 1991 I was refused access to any Insurance policies marketed subsequently due to my pre-existing condition. How is this fair? Now you've dismantled the Welfare Safety Net what help do I get?

5/ The tax system gives benefits to certain types of disability; i.e. Blind Persons Allowance. Why do my disabilities not count? Yet again, invisible disabilities do not seem to be recognised - DLA, PIP, ESA etc.

6/ I am aware that Welfare Reform started under New Labour. You are aware that I resigned my Labour Party Membership over it. However, purely as an example are you aware that one Remploy worker has killed himself over the effect of your Governments' Policy on disabled people and I believe this is but the tip of the iceberg. The WOWpetition will be at Amnesty International's AGM having put forward a motion alleging Human Rights Abuses against disabled people and I personally have debated similarities between what your government is doing and Germany in the 1930's with Tim Farron on Twitter. You have not even allowed disabled people to choose who represents them and imposed Liz Sayce on us. It is believed by many knowledgeable people that the policies of your Government are in breach of their Human Rights Obligations. History will judge this Government. It will even judge the amazing decision of an Oxford magistrate to find a protester guilty of causing harassment, alarm and distress for stating that Cameron has Blood on his hands. Have the ConDem's banned "fair comment" in this country. History will judge you.

7/ I am currently not signed on the dole as there is a major disincentive to do so. I would be put in the situation of endless interviews with no hope of a job and the burden of failure hanging around my neck, no tangible help from Government/ Jobcentre, no benefit payments because I get a small ill health pension with the possibility of being forced to do Workfare slave-labour for no payment. I thought work was supposed to pay? 

8/ Other minority groups work differently to the way it was accepted you should work and laws have been brought in to protect them. I have not lost jobs because I can't do them. I have lost jobs because I am different. Why do I get no protection? Why do I get no hope? The last reasonable suggestion from the DWP was to apply for a job at LOCOG. As you are aware, LOCOG admitted at Tribunal that they failed to make reasonable adjustments for my interview with no consequences.

9/ Do you have any comment on Scope announcing yesterday following the budget that there is no place for the disabled in the chancellors aspiration society?

10/ David Cameron claimed in Parliament on the 13th March 2013 that there have been 1m new Private sector jobs created since the General Election. Can you please let me know the source for that claim please?

11/ Surely it is reasonable to expect that any Government in a civilised society would be aware of the combined and cumulative effects of its policies on a very vulnerable section of its electorate. Why do you feel it is ethical to pass through the lobbies when the authors of the policies on which you are voting have not taken the time to understand the effects of those policies on the most vulnerable in society? The DWP's response to the WOWpetition  achieving 10,000 signatures said as much!

Your Government is overseeing what I believe to be a deliberate policy to marginalise what is a large resource of very able but different people and are responsible for what I judge as a complete withdrawal of hope for disabled people. Rather than giving us equality of opportunity we are demonised by Government ministers and made to feel a burden. Do you agree that is wrong?

I look forward to discussing this with you on Friday at 5pm.

Yours sincerely,

Ian M Jones

Sent from my iPhone

When WOW met the Campaign for Benefit Justice

I have thought long and hard about this. I can either say it exactly how it happened or make it interesting by shortening some of the sequences, leaving others out and telling a story that relays the facts rather than just give the facts (Sounds like a bad advert for some computer software!!). I'm in story telling mode!!!

On Sunday of last week a link did the rounds among the WOWpetition Activists. (Activist makes me sound more heroic than fat middle aged man sitting at his computer sending Tweets, e-mails, Skyping and walking my dog (with housework and cooking thrown in!!)). Someone had come across details of a Campaign for Benefit Justice that was meeting at Birkbeck College in London on Saturday 9th March and there was a general call out for WOWers to go. There was also a steering committee event last Monday evening to help organise this event.

Us at WOW (!!) have always realised that in order to be successful we need to break out of the confines of Twitter, although it is a very comfortable environment. To me this seemed to be an opportunity to take WOW into the real world. Others are doing that already, including our sponsor and all round good egg Francesca Martinez, so I volunteered, contacted the organisers and set out for the steering committee meeting.

At this point, I want to restate that one of the overriding principles behind WOW was that it was to be a democratic inclusive process, to include disabled people, their families, carers, friends and anyone else that supported us. Got that? You sure? OK!

So I walked into the steering committee meeting introduced myself and sat back. I am not going to go through the other people there as this post isn't about the wonderful job they did. The meeting began and as they were talking about the organisation of the event which they had already done without me I didn't really contribute. I think I made some comment about what a good job had been done.

Poked my head above the parapet!

Having included myself in the discussion I was "fair game".

I was asked......

"So, have you managed to change the wording of the WOWpetition yet?"

(It wasn't this brutal or aggressive but I'm telling a story!!)

I replied......

"Hello, my name is Ian. What?!?!"

It transpired that the meeting generally felt that the WOWpetition was a little bit "closed" when it asked for the end of sanctions against disabled people.

"Wouldn't it have been easier to ask for an end to sanctions against all?"

I slipped straight back into exec at a meeting mode. I pointed out that we were unable to change the wording of the petition (we've already considered that - hands up all of you that have noticed the the wording of the petition doesn't include the word "WOWpetition"!!!) and that WOW as a movement is against sanctions against all benefit claimants and vulnerable people. I was not going to try to justify the wording - much too dangerous!!

Good answer I thought.

Although that wasn't exactly the answer I gave. KISS - Keep it simple stupid, are the rules by which I try to live. But my mouth sometimes gets ahead of my brain. I had to add...

"and of course we were working against the 1,000 character limit so had to be focused."

I sat back, happy, thought I'd deflected it.

The offending section was:

Consultation between the Depts of Health & Education to improve support into work for sick & disabled people, and an end to forced work under threat of sanctions for people on disability benefits.

KISS?

Somebody at the meeting dared to say something.

SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT....

'Hold on! If you "change sanctions for people on disability benefits" to "sanctions for people on benefits" that's fewer characters?'

SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT

KISS KISS KISS KISS KISS KISS KISS KISS

Here goes....

"The WOWpetition was crowd-sourced amongst sick and disabled people and their stakeholders (thought I'd try some Consultant speak!!) and went through a democratic selection process and a vote. It was never our intention to be non inclusive, in fact we made every effort to be as inclusive as possible, and if we failed or excluded some other group that was not intended and an error of drafting."

Yes, that killed the discussion. Good old "stakeholders"!

The meeting continued and we organised meeting up on Saturday.

I reported back to my WOW colleagues and we had a lengthy exchange about what we could do.

Saturday came.

I got up, packed the car and set off into London. Got to the University of London campus. Suddenly I  realised the plan wasn't completely thought out!

Where to park?

I drove & drove & drove and came across a side road with "Parking regulations suspended" signs everywhere.

"Result".

Apart from it being very narrow parking spaces, nearly full and our elite students and academics being unable to park between the lines.

Got into one space, but it was so tight I couldn't even wind the windows down! Then someone left so as quick as I could (didn't lose any wing mirrors) jumped into it. Success.

Went over to Birkbeck College and saw familiar faces. Found my desk (tucked away under the stairs!!) but as if by magic it moved to a prime location on the entrance to the meeting room. Put the stuff out on my desk, put some posters up, tried to connect my ipad to BT wifi.

Shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit shit

We were underground. No signal. How could people sign the petition?

I read somewhere that technology is disabling us. Without SatNavs people can't find their way. That sort of thing.

Went to the shop. Bought an A4 pad, a ruler, some pens. Made a paper petition for people to sign.

Simples.

The first part of the Benefit Justice Meet was in Birkbeck college. In order to get into the meeting they had to file past my desk. If they got too close they were told about WOW. If they wanted to go to the meeting after that they were encouraged to sign or I kept talking. The meeting started. My audience disappeared.


After about an hour and a bit the meeting finished and potential signees reappeared. They had to some past my desk to escape!! Some signed; some took our Cards; Some talked to me about who was WOW. I talked about how Welfare Reform wasn't fair and we'd had enough.Some promised to promote our message elsewhere.


Then they were gone. I packed up to move to the second part of the meeting, the workshops at ULU. However, by the time I got there they had started and there was a bigger prize.

Sitting there in ULU was the TUC rep and one of the organisers. I sat down. Made small talk. Then....

"so is there anything WOW can do to rehabilitate itself in the eyes of this movement?"

It turns out there is a Workfare protest coming up and they would like WOW to organise it for them. We did nothing to organise the rally last saturday so that seems fair to me. I will let you know what when I find out.

Remember, this version would differ slightly from a CCTV record of what happened but I trust you were all sitting comfortably.

What does working mean to me, a head injury survivor?

Disabled Benefit Scrounger!
WOWpetition
I am currently unemployed.
WOWpetition

I want to work.
WOWpetition
David Cameron, Theresa May, Chris Grayling all think that I need to be incentivised to work.
WOWpetition
As a counterpoint to that, I think that in reality the UK Business Community needs to be incentivised to let me work.
WOWpetition

Let me explain that to you.
WOWpetition
In 1991 I tried to do too much and ended up in a car crash suffering a very severe head injury as a consequence.. After an initial 6 weeks where I was "not there" I started my recovery. All the way through my recovery I held onto the belief that I was going to make a 100% recovery and that defined me. I wasn't disabled.
WOWpetition
Within 10 months I was back at work, much to my Doctors disgust. At first I am sure I was a challenge but went through a gradual rehabilitation program and over 3 months became productive again.
WOWpetition
Productive but different. After my accident my IQ still registered in the top 5%of the population but my memory recall was in the bottom 5%. Also, I was, as they say, "easy to wind up". As is common in Traumatic Brain Injury I suffer from behavioural eccentricities. My problem was that if somebody "played politics" with me the red mist descended if I interpreted their games as a personal attack. After a couple of slanging matches with colleagues which did me no good at all I worked out that the only way to deal with this was to keep my counsel which worked at junior levels.
WOWpetition
Also, I do not "play well with the other children". My brain injury effectively puts up a wall between me and everyone else. I have little or no empathy. I find it difficulty to relate to people in social situations and I can very easily say inappropriate things. Unfortunately, work is also a social situation!! Not disabled but weird!
WOWpetition
I returned to BG after my accident, which I had whilst at work, and they tolerated me for 5 years. But the first chance they got.......
My directorate was being wound up and we all had to apply for jobs in it's successor. There were more than enough jobs to go around! So, despite me being brain injured and disabled British Gas tried to make me redundant.
WOWpetition
Having convinced them of the error of their ways and getting myself  retired on the grounds of ill-health, I commenced a glittering career via PricewaterhouseCoopers which ended up with me as a very successful FC/CFO of a Billion Dollar Aircraft Leasing Company in Abu Dhabi till 2008.
WOWpetition
However, the higher you go, shutting up and keeping your own counsel becomes a less and less valid tactic. Especially, when other "operators" in the company pick up on your lack of political "games playing" skills.
WOWpetition
When I left BG they retired me on the grounds of ill-health as I effectively convinced them that my inter-personal skills deficit made it very difficult for me to secure appropriate employment. Sadly, since 2008 that has been the case. Before 2008 I would argue that my natural ability, charisma and ability to "bullshit for England" got me by.
WOWpetition
Since 2008 there has also been a change in me. Pre 2008 I firmly believed I wasn't disabled and approached life with that belief. Since 2008, when I believe my disabilities became a limiting factor in my career I have accepted and embraced my disabilities. That doesn't mean I let them define me and they don't stop me doing anything (badly!!).
WOWpetition
Yet, I believe that if my disabilities weren't  (and I hadn't kept them well hidden) I wouldn't have had the opportunities I have had.
Does that make me a traitor to disabled people?
I think not, because I didn't hide or deny my disabilities - I just didn't discuss them unless I was asked. Surely, my experiences would reinforce the message that the disabled are very able if you can see past the disability?
WOWpetition
The effect of that was that to other non-disabled colleagues I was different and eccentric but when it came down to the job I was "better than the average bear". Try Googling "Ian Jones TATA Oasis" to see some of my work.
WOWpetition

My catch phrase on Twitter is becoming Disabled People Need Equality of Opportunity, not just Equality of Treatment. What do I mean by that?
WOWpetition
I hate interviews. Equality of Treatment means that everybody gets interviewed in the same way. The Recruitment Department with their large budget would argue that the outcome of the interview process is that the best candidate gets the job. The interview process I generally come up against, involving social interaction and memory tests (Competency Based Questioning), I believe weights the process against me. I would go so far as suggesting that it would be like selecting the team for the Olympics (Athletics, Swimming, Cycling, Gymnastics, etc) by seeing who ran the 100m quickest. Horses for courses.
WOWpetition
Does my inability to interview consistently well mean that I am unable to do the job? No.
WOWpetition
Does my social skill deficit mean I can't do the job? I would argue no. Would people need to make allowances for me. Sometimes yes, although very rarely.
Is there a precedent for this? The Law, I believe, guarantees Physically Disabled people physical access to work. Shouldn't it also guarantee people with Cognitive/ Mental Health Disabilities/ Learning Disabilities access to work?
WOWpetition

Therein lies the a major factor in my continuing problem.
WOWpetition
I do not look disabled!
WOWpetition
People do not think I am disabled because I don't look disabled. I am just weird!
WOWpetition
People generally in my opinion do not make allowances for that which they can't see.
WOWpetition

Until the Government, Business and some of the Disabled Charities act to allow the skills and talent that are undoubtedly present in many, many unemployed disabled people to be put to fulfilling and productive use, they are guilty of ignoring an underused resource in the UK labour market.

Frame a Directgov e-petition question

Through a friend I made on Twitter I got involved with a move to write PatsPetition2. 

Pats Petition called on the government to
 

"Stop and review the cuts to benefits and services which are falling disproportionately on disabled people, their carers and families"

This petition attracted 62,645 signatures as at 11am on the 8Nov2012 but is now closed.

Since this petition the Disabled Community has been asking what comes next.

To this end "Napoleon Wilson" (a nom de plume!!) organised a mass tweet on Tuesday night to brainstorm for new ideas. I have collected ideas left on two Blogs set up for comment.

• Lubottom
• Want a review enquiry Not a debate.
• Cuts fall disproportionately on women. (Evidence)
• GPs should be involved in WCA.
• 32 per week in WRAG dying.
• Benefit reduction equates to lost taxes.
• Cuts to medical services (MH, OT etc)
• 10 percent
• Repeal WRB
• Causing death and stress.
• Call for a free vote on abolition.
• Mike Sivier
• Current assessment system not fit for purpose.
• Engage wth all dis orgs including charities.
• Angus Curruthers
• See Irish rejection of WRB
• Lynn
• Point out what loss of DLA/PIP will practically mean to people.
• MH sufferers cannot handle the assessments.
• Gracie
• Approach Paralympians and 38Degrees and get them to do everything.
• PatWalker
• Free vote to repeal WRB
• Jane
• Engage with people on case study to get people to understand.
• Diane Maxfield
• Debate and discussion of how equality of opportunity could be achieved is way forward.

• Coffeecup
• Dame Carol Blacks report in 2008 outlines ideology behind finding people fit for work but the support she suggested is not being provided.
• Ambir
• Aim for 100k signatures
• Promote more realistic view of sick and disabled people.
• Gavin Saunders
• Welfare decisions should not be in the hands of a private company.
• EdwinMandella
• Equality of treatment is not enough. We want equality of opportunity.
• RickB
• Free vote in repealing the Welfare Reform Act to save 30-70 lives per week.
• Kimmie Stuckinscared
• Doctors… should be enough.

The trick now is to distil these ideas into an Action!

The rules of the e-petition are as follows:-

1. All e-petitions must call for a specific action from the government.
2. If an e-petition does not include a clear statement explaining what action you want the government to take, it will be rejected. 
3. If you collect 100,000 signatures, your e-petition could be debated in the House of Commons.

Personally, I suggest that the questions coming out of these ideas are as follows. There is a comments section below this Blog. If you think I'm wrong, please tell me.


My Interpretation of Suggested Actions following Brainstorming session.
 

1. Call for the repeal of the Welfare Reform Bill.
2. Call for the Work Capability Assessment  process to be re-engineered with a greater emphasis on professional evidence based assessment.
3. Call for the process to be "softened" for vulnerable people.
4. Call for serious discussion on how Equality of Opportunity can be encouraged.
5. Call for the Government to Provide the support identified and required to get people found fit for work back to work.

 I am very sorry if I have missed any that were Tweeted alone. Use the comments section to correct. Also, IMO, lots of the ideas and comments would feature as evidence given to support the e-petition specific action. The better the request for action, the more evidence we could load into the e-petition.


There were also many points about how the current process operates ("welfare decisions should not be in the hands of a private company" and calls for various people to front this campaign). My personal opinion is (and again use the comment section if you disagree!) this is all about getting the right requested action. An action so powerful, incisive, emotive and obvious that it cannot be ignored. Once you have the right requested action, to quote from "Field of Dreams", "Build it and they will come".



I have just glanced at Twitterand picked up this Tweet, which to me is very pertinent.

Nick @Mylegalforum

What we need to do is smash a few of the #media myths which surround benefit claimants, correcting public perception is key #patspetition

If we build the right request for Action with the right evidence I believe we will smash the ConDem lies and change Public Perception.

My final point is, we need to construct the killer request for Action  which may be one or an amalgamation of the suggested Actions above (or may be completely different if I got it wrong!)

You know where the comments section is! 

Links

Help us Frame an e-petition question http://wp.me/p2S5Ri-4  via @wordpressdotcomHave duplicated forum on Wordpress. You have no excuse now!!  

Help us Frame an e-petition question http://napoleonspetition.blogspot.com/2012/11/help-us-frame-e-petition-question.html …

 

How Can Disabled People get their voice heard?

I have had a very interesting TwitCon this morning which in my opinion outgrew Twitter as a medium for discussing it 3 others and myself started by discussing Labours culpability for ATOS and the Work capability Assessment (WCA) and progressed to a "guerilla" campaign against marginal seats at by-elections. I have copied this conversation to the end of this Blog for completeness.


In my opinion the conversation was about how the disabled can mobilise to act as a political force and we got to the point where we started to discuss ideas.

My position.

• I do not believe the disabled are represented adequately by any organisation. Each organisation has it's own agenda and there is an "I'm alright Jack, don't want to rock the boat before my honour for Services to the Disabled is announced attitude" amongst the leaders of our Charities/ Organisations.

My ideas are as follows:

1. What should a disabled candidate at an election for parliament stand for? The choice is to either stand as: 
1. A candidate with a manifesto covering all areas of Policy; or 
2. A Single Issue Candidate standing on a platform of fair play for the disabled.
2. What is our manifesto? What do we campaign for? eg. If we campaign against ATOS and the WCA what do we replace them with? If we campaign for a fair share of government funds for disabled issues what is fair and where does the money come from? These are answers we need to have.
3. Can we defend the share of the welfare budget that supports disabled people and can we dispel the myths surrounding government support for the disabled and contrast this to support of non-disabled people through eg. housing benefits/ support of the old through pensions etc.
4. What are our key manifesto commitments?
1. What benefit levels and qualifications for access to them do we propose?
2. Do disabled people have adequate access to society (eg Premium rate phone lines for tickets to the Paralympics). What do we suggest?
3. Do Disabled people have appropriate access to the job market. Is equality of treatment the right measure or should different requirements be considered for disabled candidates? Isn't equality measured better by equality of access rather than equality of treatment?
5. Can we paint a compelling picture for the Daily Mail reading public of just how the benefit changes are affecting disabled people. Can we personalise our issues (with permission!!). C4 made a start!!!
6. Can we both find candidates to put up for election that will be able to get our message across and will we be able to raise the necessary money to fund the campaigns.
7. What disabilities are we concerned with? Invisible disabilities and mental health issues are invisible and the public doesn't seem to understand or want to support them. Are we going to highlight this issue in phase 1 or is that a phase 2/3/4 issue?
8. We are having this conversation. DPAC are fielding a candidate at the Corby by election. I don't care who leads us but in my opinion we need to have an inclusive organisation that can organise the response of Disabled People.
9. Do we have any "Rock Star" supporters that would be prepared to give us the PR edge. Are any Paralympians prepared or able to put their heads above the parapet to launch and support us.
10. Do we want to organise at a National level or do we want to organise at a local level with some kind of "franchise" providing support/ assistance and consistency of message?

I hope this is enough to kick start the discussion?

Please leave comments?



TWITTER TIMELINE
Eugene Grant ‏@Eugene_Grant

Far from scoring political points, #Labour is correct to blame Govt, not #Atos, for #WCA shambles. Govt designed test and oversees contract.

Ian Jones ‏@edwinmandella

@Eugene_Grant but #Labour designed and introduced #WCA and #ATOS so some of the blame is theirs!

@edwinmandella Absolutely. But both govt used #Atos as shield - outsourcing services also means shunning responsibility for wider failures.

Ian Jones ‏@edwinmandella

@Eugene_Grant < exactly, but the problem becomes who has the guts to sort it out. My MP has written to both Yvette Cooper & IDS #gutless

Eugene Grant ‏@Eugene_Grant

.@edwinmandella a key thing here is that political parties don't see #disabled ppl as voting bloc to appease and please, unlike pensioners.

Tanni Grey-Thompson ‏@Tanni_GT

@Eugene_Grant @edwinmandella agree. Disabled people not seen as coherent voting group

Tim Murray ‏@TimMurray16

@Tanni_GT @Eugene_Grant @edwinmandella Unseating or the threat to unseat a marginal does matter to all parties. Orginising is the all.

 Ian Jones ‏@edwinmandella

@TimMurray16 @Tanni_GT @Eugene_Grant we gave a DPAC candidate in Corby, #@Adam4Corby Adam Lutun but it has gone quiet. Organisation???

Tim Murray ‏@TimMurray16

@edwinmandella @Tanni_GT @Eugene_Grant I don't think putting up candidates is the way to goHe she will lose. Lobby and influencing mp is all

Tanni Grey-Thompson ‏@Tanni_GT

@TimMurray16 @edwinmandella @Eugene_Grant lobby locally o believe is answer

Eugene Grant ‏@Eugene_Grant

@Tanni_GT @TimMurray16 @edwinmandella even if they did, still need majority of MPs to see #disabled ppl as a powerful voting bloc like OAPs.

Tim Murray ‏@TimMurray16

@Eugene_Grant @Tanni_GT @edwinmandella It is not impossible...Even Simon Hughes is in danger. He has input in his own party.

Tanni Grey-Thompson ‏@Tanni_GT

@TimMurray16 @Eugene_Grant @edwinmandella need to target a number of constituencies. Not all

Tim Murray ‏@TimMurray16

@Tanni_GT @Eugene_Grant @edwinmandella Exactly it must not be seen in any way as political. Our politics will differ anyway. One reason only

Somebody Help Me out!

I've retired, or at least for 2 years until my youngest is a bit older. However, I can see me getting bored within that time frame so I thought I'd try to build up a network of people that could spring into action and find me a job when I wanted them to! RADIATE is an organisation that develops NETWORKS for disabled high flyers and although I feel a bit old in the tooth to be called a "high flyer" I thought I'd try them.There is an event tonight organised by RADIATE with Chris Holmes (the LOCOG Director of Paralympic Integration) speaking. I personally, feel there have been some bloody big anti-disabled people cock ups at the Olympics (disabled having to use a premium rate services to book seats, wheelchair users not able to sit with more than 1 of their family, The Royal Mail with the support of the British Paralympic Association discriminating initially against gold medal winning Paralympian's) but I wanted to hear his views as to how it went.

So I tried to book a place at this event.

RADIATE sent me back a registration form which I filled in and returned.

RADIATE called me and said I hadn't filled in the bit concerning my employer. I explained I was currently unemployed. I might well have called Agnes a bigoted useless interfering jobs-body because I got immediately excluded  RADIATE is only for those in work!

I did two things then. Firstly I checked RADIATE's web-site. I cannot find any requirement on the website to be in work! Secondly, I phoned Disability Rights UK (Disability Rights UK was formed through a unification of Disability Alliance, Radar and National Centre for Independent Living on 1 January 2012. They aim to be the largest national pan-disability organisation led by disabled people (in the pockets of the ConDems?). RADIATE is a spin off from RADAR) to ask them is they knew of an organisation that could help me.


The Chief Executive of Disability Rights UK is Liz Sayce. Liz Sayce prepared the report for the CONDEMS suggesting they close Remploy.

Disability Rights UK said they have no funding to do this but suggested I contact, yes you've got it,

Remploy.

I need to start planning my return to the workplace in 2014 now. Has anybody reading this Blog got any ideas what I could do! #justasking !!!

RT @christineburns: The lesson of the Paralympics is of what people can do if you redefine the rules to enable them, not about what they can't do if you don't

Life has a way of simplifying itself, doesn't it. I can imagine at schools up and down the country little girls and boys in wheelchairs will be seeing their career advisors about their career choices.



"Well, what do you like doing, Johnny/ Julie?"

"Well sir, I like maths/ English/ science and would like to be a banker/ journalist/ pharmacist."


"All very commendable but the only thing you are allowed to be is a Paralympian so spend the afternoon pushing your wheelchair round the playground for me."


OK, maybe a touch oversimplified but it seems to be the mood of the country? - "Look at all those Paralympian's doing amazing things. Why can't all the disabled benefit scroungers be like that?"


I'm just a run of the mill normal invisibly disabled person.After my accident I didn't consider Paralympic Sport because all I wanted to do was play normal sport again. My choice and I don't regret it.
Having tried and failed, I thought if I can't excel at sport I'll excel at work so over the next 17 years, by not highlighting my invisible disability and allowing people to think I was eccentric because I did things slightly differently, I ascended the tree to end up at Executive level.

I tend to think I ascended to the level where my disabilities matter because since then Nada, nothing, zip. It takes me time to develop relationships with people.When I'm thinking you can see it on my face. When I get angry no matter how I behave my face (through its involuntary twitches etc) makes it clear. I can control the way I consciously act but I am eccentric.

The world of sport is not equal. If it was Paralympian's and Olympians would at a minimum compete in the same games and ideally in the same events. As this isn't completely achievable the Paralympic Games is run in Parallel to the Olympics (hence the name!!) and the events are designed to allow the athletes to demonstrate their ability and high level of achievement.

Unfortunately, when you apply for a job their isn't a special category of jobs for the disabled to apply for. There are no "T34 CFO Jobs" advertised. In our dash for equality we forgot that we are different. That is not a bad thing, but if you put me up against a non-disabled person for a job I have to compete on his terms. No allowances. You can ask for reasonable adjustments but when you do they often get refused because they would give you an advantage over non-disabled candidates. All quite reasonable within the law.

But it's worse than that.

There is a wide ranging and rich diversification of disability out there. We are not all the same! Consider this scenario.

A company decides that it will recruit solely by telephone interview. There are 2 candidates, a candidate in a wheelchair and a head injured candidate. They know exactly the same things and are equally as qualified. They give exactly the same answers. Who gets the job?

Before you answer that be aware that under the stress of the interview the head injured person's speech became slightly slurred and he took longer to begin to answer the competency based based questions as his severe memory impairment impacted on his speed of recall of the exact circumstances surrounding the example but still gave exactly the same answers.

Now who gets the job? A lot of interviews are decided upon "soft" criteria and "Who is most like me?" You may think that is OK because the candidate in the wheelchair presented better at interview. Are you saying that an interview is the only way of selecting people for jobs? Does an interview itself not run the risk of being discriminatory purely because you are seeing how people perform in a situation which in the main bears little resemblance to the day to day job being interviewed for? What if there is a cognitive problem that causes problems at interviews but is rarely an issue in day to day life (don't laugh, they do exist - I have such a problem (spasticity caused by brain damage in my frontal lobe))!

So what do we do? Starting from the premise that the interview system will never be perfect what about instead of treating people equally make positive allowances to minimise the effects of any disability? But that will advantage the disabled over the non-disabled - NOT FAIR!


There is a current feeling of pride in our Paralympian's for their achievements. But haven't we made positive allowances by changing the events they compete in to minimise the effects of any disability. Doesn't this disadvantage the non-disabled as they are excluded from competing at the Paralympic's whereas the disabled can compete at the Olympics - Oscar Pistorius.

Why is Sport different from Work?

Celebrate diversity!

By the way, I do not rule out the possibility that I am not good enough to get the jobs I go for and I am unmanageable and thoroughly unpleasant but will leave it to others to Blog that!!

RT @christineburns: The lesson of the Paralympics is of what people can do if you redefine the rules to enable them, not about what they can't do if you don't