My Reaction to Mike Penning's Statement on the future of the Independent Living Fund

The DWP has been hell-bent on closing the Independent Living Fund and refuses to acknowledge the obvious: that the mainstream adult social care system, which it considers the right approach, is inadequately funded and will be subjected to further budgetary cuts in the years to come.

The government's commitment to disabled people living independent lives has already been called into question by the fact that almost two thirds of claimants assessed for the government’s new disability benefit have been rejected, figures show.

A total of 220,300 new claims have been registered for the Personal Independence Payment (PIP) since it was introduced last April.

Of those, only 34,200 have so far gone for a decision, with 12,654 – or 37% – eventually approved.

Did DWP Change Criteria To Assessing Personal Independence Payments (PIP)?

Did DWP Change Criteria To Assessing Personal Independence Payments (PIP)?

Mr. Mike Penning
Minister of State for Disabled People
Department for Work and Pensions
Caxton House
Tothill Street
London
SW1H 9DA

 

Dear Mr. Penning,

I am a 57-year-old Disability Studies specialist and disability activist from Montreal, Canada who has been reporting frequently and voluntarily, since January 2012, to senior United Nations officials on the welfare crisis for the United Kingdom's sick and disabled.

 

As you know, Personal Independence Payments (PIP) helps with some of the extra costs caused by long-term ill-health or a disability if you’re aged 16 to 64.

I am concerned that the DWP may have recently changed the criteria to assessing PIP and would appreciate your comments on the veracity of the following information contained in this blog piece:

http://www.ldascotland.org/index.php/welfare-reform/122-the-dwp-turns-nasty-on-personal-independence-payment-claimants

On another matter, I am distressed by this news story: http://www.gloucestershireecho.co.uk/Parents-seriously-ill-baby-lose-Cheltenham-home/story-21151268-detail/story.html, and would most grateful if the DWP would reverse its decision on humanitarian grounds.

 

Please note this comment (below the story) from Ben Godsland, the father of the seriously ill baby:

Just to clear a few things up, we can afford to have children we were both working full time, but due to poppy ariving early and haveing to come home on a drip for 12 hours every day my wife had to leave work, be medicaly trained to car efor our daughter, hence loosing one wage. we have never claimed benefits prior to this and require them to help with our daughters care, also we have not chosen what benefits we have they were given, also if we loose the DLA we loose the others too, we have appealed it, and given them lots of medical evidence, the story is the fact that we are loosing it over a NON medical person choosing to take it from us, they say she is a normal child, i dont know any normall child that has a sergical line in a main artery and that can go from fine to bleeding out in seconds if she was to pull it, also what normal baby is hooked up to two drip bags 12 hours a day?? thank you for all the comments and hope this clears a few things up. Ben

 

In closing, I thank you for your consideration in these matters and look forward to your e-mail reply.

Best wishes.

--
Samuel Miller
http://diaryofabenefitscrounger.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/a-last-plea-for-unified-shadow-uncrpd.html
http://independent.academia.edu/SamuelMiller
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/dom-aversano/iain-duncan-smith-mortality-statistics_b_4301535.html?utm_hp_ref=uk-politics&ir=UK+Politics
http://www.echo-news.co.uk/news/10634947.My_bedroom_tax_fight_goes_to_UN/?commentSort=score
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/it-all-adds-up-work-and-pensions-press-officers-sent-on-statistics-course-8706145.html
http://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/letter-to-the-icc-at-the-hague-re-mistreatment-of-the-disabled-and-sick
http://mikesivier.wordpress.com//?s=Samuel+Miller&search=Go
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/disabled-mark-wood-starved-death-3194250
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VnHBfW0_u5A&feature=youtu.be
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQ5ypmTtL_s&feature=player_embedded
E-Mail: disabilityinliterature@gmail.com
Blog: Hephaestus: Disability Studies
http://illnessandcivilization.blogspot.com/
Blog: My Disability Studies Blackboard
http://mydisabilitystudiesblackboard.blogspot.ca/2013/03/pushed-over-edge-by-benefits-fear.html
Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/Hephaestus7
(Montreal, Canada)

Cc: Jorge Araya
Secretary of the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
Groups in Focus Section
Human Rights Treaties Division
Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
E-mail: jaraya@ohchr.org
Tel: +41 22 917 9106
Fax: +41 22 917 9008
Web: www.ohchr.org

[UK] Train to Facilitate a Peer Support Group for Paranoia & Beliefs

PARANOIA & BELIEFS PEER SUPPORT GROUPS

Why not set up a new kind of peer support group?

where unusual or distress-related beliefs can be discussed openly

We are looking for professionals and people with lived experience 

interested in learning how to facilitate

4-day facilitation training course

24^th, 25^th 30^th July & 1^st Aug 2014

apply using attached application form

deadline for applications: 11^th July 2014

for people aiming to set up and facilitate a Paranoia & Beliefs Peer Support Group

Prices:

FREE for people with lived experience of paranoia

£170 per person for Voluntary Organisations

£220 per person for Statutory Organisations

The London Paranoia & Beliefs Project launched in February 2012, and is run by Mind in Camden in association with the National Paranoia Network. Mind in Camden is known for its previous success establishing a London-wide network of groups for people who hear voices. Hearing Voices Groups are founded on an ethos of acceptance and validation, providing a safe space where members can share without fear of judgement, and where their experiences are understood as having personal meaning. The London Paranoia & Beliefs Project aims to develop a similar network of peer support groups for people experiencing paranoia or distress related to beliefs. There are now 10 such groups currently running in London, and another 6 in preparation – where beliefs can be explored, common ground discovered, and coping strategies shared.

We can support you to set up your own Paranoia & Beliefs peer support group: exactly how is detailed in the attached ‘Project Info for Partners’. Your group will need a minimum of two trained facilitators, and we will be offering 1 more facilitation training course after this one (dates: October 9^th, 10^th, 15^th & 17^th).

Venue:

Amnesty International UK

Human Rights Action Centre

17-25 New Inn Yard

London

EC2A 3EA

Your help distributing the flyer would be greatly appreciated.

Looking forward to your applications

with best wishes

John Wetherell

Project Assistant

020 7241 8978

London Paranoia & Beliefs Project

run in partnership with the National Paranoia Network

http://nationalparanoianetwork.org/

Mind in Camden

Barnes House, 9-15 Camden Road, London, NW1 9LQ
www.mindincamden.org.uk

[UK] CCDS seminar reminder: Young DaDa by Claire Penketh

Young DaDa: Evaluating Participation in the Arts.

Dr Claire Penketh

Date: Wednesday 25th June 2014
Time: 2.15 – 3.45pm
Place: Eden 109, Liverpool Hope University, UK

This seminar will report on participatory evaluative research carried out by
members of Young DaDa and students from Liverpool Hope University. Young
Dada is a Liverpool based organization developed to encourage participation
in the arts by Deaf and disabled young people. The evaluation project was
designed to enable us all to learn about the practice of using participatory
methods and the ways in which the arts can enable participation. Here
‘voice’ takes many forms as evaluation methods evolved into drawing, song
and role-play.

Claire Penketh is Senior Lecturer, Head of Department, and a core member of
the Centre for Culture and Disability Studies at Liverpool Hope University.
She is author of A Clumsy Encounter: Dyspraxia and Drawing (Sense, 2011) and
has recently contributed to the CCDS book Changing Social Attitudes Toward
Disability: Perspectives from Historical, Cultural, and Educational Studies
(Routledge, 2014).

Like the new CCDS book on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/ChangingSocialAttitudesTowardDisability

This seminar is part of the CCDS series, The Voice of Disability.

The next seminar is 15th Jul, Crip Displacements: Voices of Disability,
Neoliberalism, and Resistance, Robert McRuer.

For further information please contact:

Dr. David Bolt
Director, Centre for Culture & Disability Studies
http://ccds.hope.ac.uk/

Graph of the Day (Courtesy of Left Foot Forward)

The Disability Movement Calls For The Active Participation of Organisations Of Persons With Disabilities In The Implementation Of The UN Convention

THE DISABILITY MOVEMENT CALLS FOR THE ACTIVE PARTICIPATION OF ORGANISATIONS OF PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES IN THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE UN CONVENTION

Zagreb, 18 May 2014 | The European conference on ‘Monitoring the implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in practice’ brought together more than 200 individuals from the disability movement all around Europe, the Croatian authorities, as well as representatives of European organisation and the Commission. Organised by EDF in cooperation with its Croatian members, SOIH, in the frame of EDF’s Annual General Assembly, the European conference opened a dialogue between national and European organisations of persons with disabilities concerning their view on the upcoming EU report to the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

The different sessions of the conference focused on the right to work with examples of legislative and social protection reforms to ensure equal access to the labour market for persons with disabilities, as well as on the involvement of women and men with disabilities including children and their representative organisations in the implementation of the Convention. In these terms, the disability movement adopted a resolution on the future of financial sustainability of civil participation on the movement of persons with disabilities in Europe.

Read more on EDF’s website

Have a look at the pictures here

Lila Sylviti
Communication
European Disability Forum | nothing about us without ustel +32 2 282 46 04 | fax +32 2 282 46 09 lila.sylviti@edf-feph.org - www.edf-feph.org

   

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save a tree: think before you print

UK: Invitation from APPG Mental Health

Meeting on Debt and Mental Health

Tuesday 13 May, 10.30 – 12.00

Committee Room 18, House of Commons

We hope you will be able to join us for a joint meeting of the APPG on Debt and Personal Finance and the APPG Mental Health on Tuesday 13^th May 2014, where the groups will consider mental health and debt. The event is taking place during Mental Health Awareness Week 2014.

The meeting will be an opportunity to discuss the strong links between problem debt and mental ill health; to ask what steps creditors should take to reduce the likelihood of people with mental ill health or capacity limitations from getting into problem deb; to explore the possibility of a more coordinated approach between debt advice agencies and mental health service organisations; and to ask the question: how better can we support people facing problems with debt and mental health

Guest speakers include Martin Lewis, Founder of Money Saving Expert & Chris Fitch of the Royal College of Psychiatrists.

Please RSVP to lisa.townsend@parliament.uk or, if you have any queries, please call Mark Haslam on 020 7391 4584.

                                                                                                                                                                 

Lisa Townsend

Senior Parliamentary Assistant to James Morris MP

Member of Parliament for Halesowen and Rowley Regis

House of Commons, London SW1A 0AA

020 7219 8715

07912 422917

Keep up to date with James - Newsletter | Facebook | Twitter | YouTube | Flickr

 

Seventh session of the Conference of States Parties to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, 10-12 June 2014

Seventh session of the Conference of States Parties to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, 10-12 June 2014

The 7th session of the Conference of States Parties will take place at United Nations Headquarters from 10 to 12 June 2014. The thematic discussions for this session are: Incorporating the CRPD provisions into the post-2015 development agenda; Youth with disabilities; and  National implementation and monitoring.

This session will include:

Six meetings:
(see Draft Programme: http://www.un.org/disabilities/documents/COP/COP7/draft_programme.pdf)

• Election of the Member of the CRPD Committee
• Matters related to the implementation of the Convention:
  (a) General debate
  (b) Round Table 1. Incorporating the Provisions of CRPD in the post-2015 development agenda
  (c) Round Table 2: National implementation and monitoring
  (d) Informal panel: Youth with disabilities
• Implementation of the Convention by the UN System

Documents

• Provisional agenda  ((CRPD/CSP/2014/1)
• Election of the members of the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities under article 34 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (See online announcement: http://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/CRPD/Pages/Elections2014.aspx)
• Background Paper for Roundtable One: Incorporating the provisions of the CRPD in the post-2015 development agenda (CRPD/CSP/2014/2)
• Background Paper for Roundtable Two: National implementation and monitoring (CRPD/CSP/2014/3)
• Background Paper for the Informal panel: Youth with disabilities (CRPD/CSP/2014/4)

Civil Society Participation

Registration: Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) must register online in order to attend this session. CSO representatives in possession of annual ground-passes should also pre-register. (Deadline: 30 May 2014)
http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/cosp/2014/register.html

Participation of National Human Rights Institutions (NHRIs)

NHRIs must complete and submit the Registration form for NHRI participation (Deadline: 20 May 2014)
http://www.un.org/disabilities/documents/COP/COP7/cosp7_nhri_registration_form.doc

Side-events

(Deadline for application for side-events: 15 May)
http://www.un.org/disabilities/documents/COP/COP7/cosp7_side_event_application.doc

For more information on COSP7, please visit:

http://www.un.org/disabilities/default.asp?navid=15&pid=1615

MILLIONS OF EUROPEANS WITH DISABILITIES EXCLUDED FROM THEIR RIGHT TO VOTE

MILLIONS OF EUROPEANS WITH DISABILITIES EXCLUDED FROM THEIR RIGHT TO VOTE

Brussels, 9 May 2014 | Today, on the day of Europe, less than two weeks before the European elections, EDF deplores that millions of persons with disabilities are being excluded from their right to vote.

For the first time in the EU history, the outcome of the elections will directly determine who becomes president of the European Commission, with top candidates from the different political forces running paneuropean campaigns.

In this crucial time of crisis in Europe, every vote counts and every voice should be heard!

EDF calls on the EU and the Members States to remove restrictions preventing citizens with disabilities from enjoying the rights to vote and to stand as candidate, guaranteed by EU Treaties, the EU Charter and the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UN CRPD). We also call on the European Commission to take measures to ensure that the right to vote in European elections enshrined in the Treaties is enforced for all citizens.

NOT ACCESSIBLE MORE THAN HALF OF THE POLLING STATIONS IN EUROPE

The Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA) has unveiled the main findings of its EU-wide survey on the right to political participation of persons with disabilities in the EU. The survey, for which FRA cooperated with EDF, confirms that persons with disabilities face major barriers preventing them from enjoying the fundamental right to vote and to stand as candidate:

- Only 12 EU Member States out of 28 have accessibility standard for all polling stations. Moreover, most of standards focus only on persons with physical impairments, so they still exclude other persons with disabilities.
- In most Member States, the official websites providing instructions for voting and information on candidates do not meet the internationally recognised standards for internet accessibility.

ACCESSIBILITY OF TV DEBATES

The top candidates participate in a series of historic TV debates. But without sign language interpretation, nor subtitling, the first two debates broadcasted on France24 on 9 April and on Euronews on 28 April failed to reach all Europeans and excluded millions of persons with disabilities.

It is crucial that the upcoming TV debates between the top candidates, which contribute to provide information to voters across Europe in a moment that is particularly critical for Europe and its citizens, are accessible to citizens with disabilities.

In view of today’s TV debate, EDF contacted the organisers to receive their commitment that the debate foresees sign language interpretation and that the venue is accessible for persons with disabilities. EDF also calls on all broadcasters and organisers to follow that example.

The European disability movement campaigns for inclusion!

Join our campaign here!

Lila Sylviti
Communication
European Disability Forum | nothing about us without ustel +32 2 282 46 04 | fax +32 2 282 46 09 lila.sylviti@edf-feph.org - www.edf-feph.org

   

Disability Hate Crime Network: All Party Parliamentary Disability Group

Disability Hate Crime Network

All Party Parliamentary Disability Group On behalf of Baroness Campbell of Surbiton DBE and Rt Hon Anne McGuire MP, co-chairs of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Disability, I warmly invite you to a meeting of the Group on Tuesday, 10th June 2014, 2.30- 3.30 pm in Room 4A, House of Lords, Palace of Westminster The meeting will be addressed by:                            Lord Chris Holmes MBE The Disability Commissioner of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, Lord Holmes MBE, will give a progress report on the EHRC Inquiry into Disability Harassment, including a summary of developments since he addressed the group in March 2013 Stephen Brookes MBE of the Hate Crime network, and Disability Rights UK, will comment on the progress and the involvement of the Third Party reporting toolkit. We very much hope to see you at the meeting. For further information or to confirm your attendance please email Philip.Connolly@disabilityrightsuk.org

follow on Twitter | friend on Facebook | forward to a friend  Visit the DHCN Website.