{"id":10518,"date":"2016-11-09T15:09:31","date_gmt":"2016-11-09T15:09:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=10518"},"modified":"2016-11-10T10:40:25","modified_gmt":"2016-11-10T10:40:25","slug":"national-shame","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=10518","title":{"rendered":"\u00e2\u20ac\u0098National shame\u00e2\u20ac\u2122"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A damning United Nations inquiry has concluded that vicious Tory cuts to welfare and social care for disabled people in Britain amount to \u00e2\u20ac\u015bsystematic violations\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 of their rights.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The UN said that since 2010 a host of austerity<\/a> measures, such as the bedroom tax and cuts to disability<\/a> benefits and social care budgets, have disproportionally targeted disabled people.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The scathing report<\/a>, published on Monday (November 7), stated that austerity had badly affected disabled people\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s right to live independently and work. The inquiry also found that disabled people\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s right to achieve an adequate standard of living had been hit.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Particular condemnation was reserved for ministers, who it says pressed ahead with reforms despite being aware of their damaging consequences for disabled people.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In a formal response to the inquiry\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s findings the UK government dismissed the report as inaccurate.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bWhile the government continues to improve and build on the support available to disabled people, it stands by and is proud of its record,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 the response stated.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Unite national officer for equalities Harish Patel said the Tories were presiding over a \u00e2\u20ac\u015bnational shame\u00e2\u20ac\u0165.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Dramatic falls <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThis report comes as no surprise to the thousands of disabled people who under austerity have suffered dramatic falls in the quality of their working and social lives.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bFor the last six years they have been living under a government which has systematically eroded their independence, care and dignity through savage and sweeping attacks on public services and welfare,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Patel said.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bDespite the deplorable treatment of disabled people in Britain now garnering international attention, the Tories are refusing to acknowledge the evidence and are even claiming they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re \u00e2\u20ac\u015bproud\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 of their achievements.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

He added, \u00e2\u20ac\u015bThis government is either delusional or dishonest. Either way it is clear they are wilfully ignoring a national shame of their own making.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The inquiry highlighted key areas of concern, including cuts to personal independence payments and the independent living fund. The cuts \u00e2\u20ac\u015bhindered various aspects of (disabled people\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s) right to live independently\u00e2\u20ac\u0165, the report found, leaving them overly dependent on family and carers. In some cases disabled people have been forced into move into institutions because of the cuts, the report noted.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In addition, cuts to housing support and the bedroom tax<\/a> have led to debt and eviction for a disproportionally high number of disabled people.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bEvidence indicates that persons with disabilities affected by cuts in their housing benefits have undergone high levels of stress, anxiety and depression as a consequence of the shortfalls in their budget,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 the report said.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Deeply controversial <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

During assessments for social security benefits disabled people were \u00e2\u20ac\u015bmerely processed rather than being listened to or understood\u00e2\u20ac\u0165, the report stated. Deeply controversial \u00e2\u20ac\u015bfit-for-work<\/a>\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 tests also came in for criticism and were found to be filled with flaws.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The inquiry noted that more generally disabled people are depicted as \u00e2\u20ac\u015blazy and putting a burden on taxpayers\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 and experience \u00e2\u20ac\u015bincreasing hostility, aggressive behaviour and sometimes attacks to their personal integrity\u00e2\u20ac\u0165.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The UN report concludes that \u00e2\u20ac\u015bthere is reliable evidence that the threshold of grave or systematic violations of the rights of persons with disabilities has been met\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 and makes 11 recommendations, including for the government to commission a study on the cumulative effect of spending cuts on disabled people.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe root cause of the UN’s findings are the humiliating and brutal efforts of the Tory government to take away disabled people’s benefits and services,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 said head of Unite Community Liane Groves.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bNot only has this caused untold suffering but it is has also fed into the pernicious narrative that disabled people are scroungers. In fact the very opposite is true \u00e2\u20ac\u201c the cuts are preventing disabled people who are willing and able to work from gaining employment.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

She added, \u00e2\u20ac\u015bUnite calls on the government to follow the UN’s recommendations and end the systemic violation of disabled people’s rights in this country.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A damning United Nations inquiry has concluded that vicious Tory cuts to welfare and social care for disabled people in Britain amount to \u00e2\u20ac\u015bsystematic violations\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 of their rights.   The UN said that since 2010 a host of austerity measures, such as the bedroom tax and cuts to disability benefits and social care budgets, have […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3164,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[17],"tags":[76,491,172],"wps_subtitle":"UN report slams government on disabled welfare cuts","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10518"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10518"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10518\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10519,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10518\/revisions\/10519"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3164"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10518"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10518"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10518"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}