Together with the UK Disability Benefits Consortium and the
Scottish Disability Alliance Scotland, SAMH is campaigning for the
rights of disabled people and people with mental health problems in
the face of fundamental changes to the Welfare System.
These changes threaten to undermine the living conditions
of people with disabilities and erode a founding principle of the
welfare state: that people with disabilities should be able to live
with dignity and as independently as possible.
We need your help to ensure that the Welfare System treats
disabled people and people with mental health problems fairly and
with respect for their needs.
SAMH and the Hardest Hit
The Welfare Reform Bill - currently going through
Parliament - threatens to undermine the living conditions of people
with disabilities and mental health problems and erode a
founding principle of the welfare state: that people with
disabilities should be able to live with dignity and as
independently as possible.
If
enacted, the proposed Bill could mean hundreds of thousands of
people would see their incomes significantly reduced. They would
continue to be subjected to humiliating and flawed medical
assessments, and could be forced into work they can't cope
with.
Many fear cuts to essential benefits
including Disability Living Allowance and Employment and Support
Allowance. In total, an estimated £1 billion in
Scotland - and £9 billion in the UK - could be cut from the incomes
of people with disabilities and their families over the next four
years, on top of cuts to many public services.
What can you do?
In Edinburgh, a wide-ranging coalition
of organisations, including SAMH, recently organised the biggest
rally led by people with disabilities ever to take place in
Scotland. But the protests will not end there. We are
calling on people in Scotland to do what they can to prevent the
cuts to disability benefits.
It is vital
that those
affected
speak out against this unprecedented attack on the living
conditions of some of our most disadvantaged and vulnerable
citizens.
The Hardest Hit Christmas Card, Signed by 23,000
The Disability Benefits Consortium (DBC) created an
online Christmas card which was delivered to Downing Street on 13
December. The giant card, designed by famed political cartoonist
Gerald Scarfe and signed by 23,000 people who support the Hardest
Hit campaign, told the Government that for Christmas, we all want a
fairer benefits system.
The Hardest Hit Christmas card petition is now
closed, but there are lots of ways you can support the Hardest Hit
campaign:
If you are
interested in finding out more about the campaign please don't
hesitate to contact us: scotland@hardesthit.org.uk
The Hardest Hit Rally - Edinburgh
On Saturday, October 22nd, around 1,000 people gathered in
Edinburgh's Princes Street Gardens for Scotland's first ever rally
of disabled people, people with long term conditions and carers.
The event was part of a series of such protests across the UK that
saw around 5,000 people come out to make their voices heard.
All those attending came out to protest the Government's
proposed cuts to disability benefits - Employment Support Allowance
and Disability Living Allowance - as well as the broader cuts to
public services that are likely to disproportionately affect
services for disabled people and those with long term
conditions.
The crowd heard speeches from, among others, Lord Low, Chairman
of RNIB and Iain Gray, Leader of the Scottish Labour Party.
The audience also heard from SAMH's own Shona McInally, a
trainee at the Redhall Walled Garden. Shona gave an affecting
personal account of how the benefits system has helped, and
hindered, her mental health, and warned against the cuts and the
damage they would do to the mental health of claimants.