Benefits reform redefines what it is to be disabled

The support offered to disabled people is undergoing a revolution. As our report for Disability Wales, published yesterday, outlined, thousands of disabled people will be affected by major changes to Disability Living Allowance, Employment and Support Allowance and Housing Benefit, as well as by a myriad of less well-known changes such as loss of Severe Disability Premium and Disabled Tax Credit, and uncertainty over the future of the Independent Living Fund. And many of the benefits received by disabled people are also affected by the cap on the uprating of benefits – effectively a real terms cut – although some benefits are protected.

The financial impact on many disabled people will severe. 

Some disabled people will be affected by not one change to benefits but several, potentially losing almost all their income as well as associated benefits such as eligibility for a Blue Badge.  A disabled person whose impairments are moderate could easily not only lose their Disability Living Allowance but also their contribution-based Employment and Support Allowance after a year. He or she would have no income, relying totally on family and friends for food, clothing and heating, even though he or she may still not be fit for work.

Disability is being redefined

Underlying the changes to benefits is the most worrying change of all – the redefinition, by stealth, of disability itself. Disabled people have fought hard over many years for a focus on disability equality, rights and empowerment, with an emphasis on a social rather than medical understanding of disability.

But the new benefits regime is based on rigid and arbitrary tests of what a disabled person can or cannot do.

The Work Capability Assessment is the embodiment of this.  In it, the magic number is 15 – with this number of points or more, a person is entitled to claim Employment and Support Allowance. Less than 15 points, he or she is fit for work.

So, if someone cannot ‘mobilise’ for 50 metres without stopping, he or she gets 15 points and can usually claim ESA.  If they can mobilise for, say, 60 metres they only get 9 points.  Now, 60 metres isn’t very far – at normal speeds it’s less than a minute’s walk.  Despite this, someone who can mobilise for 60 minutes will be found fit for work. It is people with moderate impairments who, despite quite significant difficulty doing everyday tasks, are no longer able to claim disability benefits.

Only severe impairments are classed as disability

The idea that only severe impairments count as ‘disabled’ is reinforced by the daily news reports of scroungers, cheats and frauds, the vast majority of which involve disability benefits.  Claimants who do not have something visibly wrong with them are vilified – even though they may have a heart condition or mental health condition that severely limits what they can do.  Even worse, what can be quite severe health conditions are equated with every day aches and pains just because they involve the same part of the body. ‘Bad backs’ are the epitome of this as if conditions such as spinal stenosis (look it up – it’s no joke) are the same as a twinge after a spot of gardening.  

It seems that a disabled person has to conform to the stereotype of being a wheelchair user who cannot talk or feed themselves if they are to warrant society’s support.  It’s back to the ‘poor cripple’ idea.  

Clearly there are different types of impairment with some people able to do much less than others and who need more support. But the rigid division of disabled people into “properly” disabled people – who get the magic 15 points – and the “scroungers” – who don’t – rolls back our understanding of disability to the Victorian era.

Meanwhile, the questions of improving access to employment for disabled people, to eliminating discrimination and ensuring that everyone can fulfil their potential no matter what their condition is swept to one side.

Victoria Winckler is Director of the Bevan Foundation. This article draws on a report prepared for Disability Wales. For further information visit www.disabilitywales.org