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SubscriptionsCategory: Disability
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‘Left in the Lurch’: The Systemic Failure and Under-Funding of Respite Care
Government austerity and savage cuts to council funding have decimated respite and short break services
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Voter ID Made it Harder for Young, Poor and Ethnic Minorities to Vote, Official Study Finds
The study suggests that those groups less likely to vote Conservative were more likely to be turned away
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Sunak’s Government Accused of ‘Hiding’ from Damning United Nations Inquiry on Treatment of Disabled People
From the Bedroom Tax to Work Capability Assessments, the Government is accused of systematically failing disabled people
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Just Another ‘C’ Word? The Weird, Wonderful and Worrisome History of Cripple
Penny Pepper explores how she encourages disabled people to reclaim labels – to twist and refute them
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Failing Learning Disabled People: The Contradictions of 1945
We should celebrate the birth of the NHS and the welfare state – but also acknowledge it has too often let learning disabled people down in the worst way imaginable, writes Stephen Unwin
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When Will the Government Listen to the Disabled Black, Asian and Ethnic Minority People Worst Hit by COVID?
A new report by a national commission has found that ‘systemic racism embedded in the Government’s responses to the pandemic may have worsened outcomes’
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Sticks and Stones: The Problem with Rosie Jones’ New Documentary on Disabled People’s Abuse
The families of profoundly learning-disabled people are involved in a continuous struggle for their most fundamental rights and dignities, writes Stephen Unwin
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The Dreadful Truths about the ‘Disabled Freeloader’: All the Things We Get for Free!
Penny Pepper debunks the bigoted beliefs held about the Blue Badge, support workers, wheelchairs and more…
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‘The Patronisers Club and the Calculator of Hate’: A Bigoted Focus on Disability Continues
When will the disabled experience be seen and valued in a humane way?
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‘The Price of Sausages: The Telegraph’s Calculator of Hate’
Attacks on disabled people have all too often dressed themselves in the clothes of good housekeeping – as the newspaper’s tax calculator suggests
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Fighting for Disability Rights Amid Russian War
Anna Romandash meets a disabled activist who has led the way in supporting Ukraine’s disabled population during Russia’s horrific invasion of the country
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‘High Time for High Fashion to have Found Us’
Vogue Editor-in-Chief Edward Enninful understands we have to go beyond stunning photography and glorious clothes – and push for further discussion around the disability narrative, writes Penny Pepper
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‘A Fundamental Lack of Awareness that these People are Actually Human’: How the Government is Failing Older People with Learning Disabilities
A new report lifts the lid on the urgent need for a strategy on how this ignored group can be supported to lead fulfilling lives
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‘When COVID Said My Name’
Penny Pepper shares her thoughts on finally catching the virus as a Clinically Extremely Vulnerable disabled person
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‘Hanif Kureishi and the Touch of Forced Intimacy’
Stefano Goodman explains how impairment can lead to sudden physical reliance on strangers – and how this shapes our personalities
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Government Spending Tens of Millions a Year on Disability Benefit Appeals
The money could be ‘much better spent providing the support that disabled people need to take part more fully in society’ – Chaminda Jayanetti reports
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Disabled Life: Crippled by Confusion, Banished by Barriers
Penny Pepper wears her bloody, beaten heart on her tattered sleeve in this powerful snapshot of the constraints imposed upon disabled people
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‘Government Just Made it Worse’: COVID’s Disproportionate Impact on Disabled People of Colour Revealed
Saba Salman reports on the yet-to-be-published findings of a national commission examining the impact of the pandemic, disablism and systemic racism
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The Fundamental Right to Intimacy
Do disabled people have sex? Of course we do, writes Penny Pepper. Why are you so surprised?
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New Law Could Lead to More Autistic and Disabled People Being Locked Up, Government Warned
The Mental Health Bill may have negative unintended consequences, Saba Salman reports
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A Letter to Nowhere: ‘Like Many Disabled People, I’m Fearful’
Penny Pepper pens an open letter to her Conservative MP, explaining why the NHS crisis is personal and political for those ‘living in the real world’
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‘Who’s Virginia Woolf Afraid Of?’
Stephen Unwin explores how the famed author’s views about disability were typical of a growing intellectual endorsement of the dangerous ideology of eugenics in the early 20th century
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‘Pity Porn on Santa’s Knees’
Penny Pepper reflects on what the festive season means for her, as politicians and the media continue to marginalise the creation of new cultural narratives around disability
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Deaths in Care: ‘How Can You Move On if there’s No Accountability?’
Saba Salman reports on the impact on families of years spent seeking answers after an unexpected death in care
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Being An Employer of Your Own Care
Penny Pepper has spent more than 20 years balancing the books, hiring and firing, and eyeing up spreadsheets – like many disabled people, all in the name of ‘Direct Payment’
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Who Will Care for the Carers Left Without Government Support?
Politicians should take an approach to health and care that considers the needs of the families of disabled people – but instead seem content to continue the creeping withdrawal of state support from the people who need it most, writes Saba Salman
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Bogged Down with the Eternal Fight for the Perfect Convenience
Why is it still not widely understood that disabled people have the right to decent toilet facilities just like anyone else? asks Penny Pepper
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Twenty-Seven Cardigans and Still Not Enough: A Torturous Style Journey
Penny Pepper reflects on her relationship with fashion – and how punk took her into disability activism and feminism
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How the Human Rights Act Helps Disabled People Live the Lives they Want
Saba Salman reports on concerns that the Government’s new Bill of Rights will leave vulnerable people without the support and opportunities they require to lead fulfilling lives
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How a Cost of Living Crisis Fuels a Healthcare Crisis
Mental and physical health are all at risk when energy costs go up again, reports Sian Norris
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Class War – One of Disabled People’s Many Battles
Penny Pepper explains why class continues to be so oppressive for working-class disabled people
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Lost in the Criminal Justice System: What is Happening to People with Learning Disabilities in Prison?
Guy Taylor investigates the lack of resources devoted to identifying those with learning disabilities and autism in the process of justice
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Barriers, Ignorance… And More Barriers: The Every Day Experiences of Disabled People
Society and politicians need to wake-up to the fact that disability is a normal part of the human condition that can impact us all, says Penny Pepper
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The ‘Big Power Off’ and the Importance of Fact-Checking
Katherine Denkinson explores the genesis of the protest against rising fuel costs and the media’s unwitting part in promoting untruths
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From Nostalgic Disability Direct Action On Screen – To Rishi Sunak’s Cold Shoulder in the Spring Budget
A new BBC film, ‘Then Barbara Met Alan’, looking at the beginnings of disability direct action, contrasts sharply with Rishi Sunak ignoring disabled people from his Spring Statement, says Penny Pepper
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‘Completely Inhumane’: Government’s Relaxed Approach to COVID Represents a Regression for Disabled People’s Rights
By asking people with learning disabilities and their families to live in a ‘constant state of lockdown with no support’, the Government is following an approach to the vulnerable that should be consigned to the past, says Saba Salman
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Medicalisation and Hidden Agendas: The Down Syndrome Bill Faces Multiple Criticisms
The Private Members Bill promises to ensure the specific needs of people with Down syndrome are considered – but parents, campaigners and people with learning disabilities are sceptical about what the law will achieve and the motives behind it
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The Care Carnage
As the Health and Care Bill returns to the House of Lords, Penny Pepper dissects why it will hit disabled people the hardest
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A Disabled Person’s Liaisons with Politicians: A Love-Hate Affair
Penny Pepper explores what a steady stream of inadequate disability ministers reveals about the sorts of people required to really improve disabled people’s lives
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How the Government Forces Disabled People into Poverty and Despair
The Department for Work and Pensions uses private firms to deny assistance to vulnerable people, many of whom overturn the decision on appeal, reports Chaminda Jayanetti
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How the TfL Funding Crisis Will Leave Disabled People Stranded
As Government funding for London’s transport network dries up, so do promised improvements to access – with just 33% of the Underground step-free
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The Highs and Lows of 2021: A Disabled Person’s Perspective
Penny Pepper shares some of the enduring inequalities and the memorable breakthroughs which characterised the past year for disabled people
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‘Life Unworthy of Life’: The Lessons of T4
Stephen Unwin delves deep into the intellectual traditions and cultural mindset that produced the Nazis’ ‘wild euthanasia’ of people with disabilities, and finds we have not yet put those prejudices to rest
