Statement from Canadian Samuel Miller on the ESA WRAG cuts and 'wrongful' welfare reform deaths in the UK

The ESA WRAG cuts have been in effect since April 3rd; the failure of the Guardian (which publishes articles on disability on an almost daily basis) and the British press to investigate how these new chronically ill and disabled claimants are faring as they struggle to survive on a below subsistence, JSA-level benefit, is a serious dereliction of duty.

If the media blackout on the ESA WRAG cuts persists much longer, the danger is that the DWP ministers will conclude that these vulnerable claimants are adequately coping on a reduced benefit and they'll promote that false narrative in the right-wing press.

Once the complete details of the personal support package (PSP) are obtained from the DWP, I will ask the UN CRPD and the Work and Pensions Select Committee to rule on whether the PSP a) fully mitigates the ESA WRAG cuts; and b) meets the subsistence needs of sick and disabled.

I intend to hold the DWP and its ministers accountable for 'wrongful' welfare reform deaths by facilitating a crowdfunded human rights lawsuit supported by UN reports, coroners, and the testimony of the Work and Pensions Select Committee. (I am a lifelong Canadian citizen and resident; I cannot sue your government directly, but I can lend my support in helping to arrange either a crowdfunded judicial review or lawsuit against the DWP).

Since 2012, I've been reporting voluntarily to the UN on the welfare crisis impacting Britain's sick and disabled.

Centre for Culture & Disability Studies Seminar: Sorrowless Lamentation by Prof Lennard J. Davis

Sorrowless Lamentation:
Viewers' Emotional Response to the Disabled Poor in Art

Prof Lennard J. Davis, University of Illinois at Chicago

Date: Wednesday 15 November, 2017
Time: 2.00pm–3.30pm
Place: EDEN 109, Liverpool Hope University, UK

This seminar reviews the history of the disabled poor in Western Art and
considers what the viewers' emotional response to such depictions would
be. Prof Davis is interested in the repeated tropes of disability and
poverty over time and how the viewers' responses might have changed.

Lennard Davis is Distinguished Professor of Liberal Arts and Sciences at
the University of Illinois at Chicago in the departments of Disability
and Human Development, English, and Medical Education. He has written or
edited over 20 books, some of which are the most influential in the
field.  He has been an active member of the JLCDS board since its
inauguration in 2006 and he contributed to the previous CCDS seminar
series in 2015.


This seminar is part of the CCDS series, Disability and the Emotions.
Other dates include:

31 Jan 2018, Embracing Disorientation in the Disability Studies
Classroom, Ryan Parrey.

07 Mar 2018, Affective/Effective Images? The Aesthetics of Representing
Disability Experiences in Comics, Gesine Wegner.

18 Apr 2018, Crip Feelings/Feeling Crip, Brady Forrest.

23 May 2018, Remembering the Great War through Bodies and Emotions: The
Experience of Disabled Ex Servicemen between the Two World Wars, Ugo
Pavan Dalla Torre.

04 Jul 2018, Demanding Money with Menaces: Fear and Loathing in the
Archipelago of Confinement, Owen Barden.


For further information please contact Dr David Bolt:  Dr. David Bolt dbsw@hope.ac.uk

A Prayer For Sue Jones, British Disability Campaigner, Who Is In Hospital

May the One who was a source of blessing for our ancestors, bring blessings of healing upon Sue Jones, a healing of body and a healing of spirit. May those in whose care she is entrusted, be gifted with wisdom and skill, and those who surround her, be gifted with love and trust, openness and support in her care. And may she be healed along with all those who are in need. Blessed are You, Source of healing. Amen.