{"id":3163,"date":"2015-03-02T17:46:18","date_gmt":"2015-03-02T17:46:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=3163"},"modified":"2015-03-02T17:46:18","modified_gmt":"2015-03-02T17:46:18","slug":"fighting-broken-system","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=3163","title":{"rendered":"Fighting a \u00e2\u20ac\u0098broken system\u00e2\u20ac\u2122"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>\n

Hundreds gathered outside US-based health service firm Maximus\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 headquarters in London today (March 2) to protest the tick-box regime that robs disabled people of their rightful benefits entitlements.<\/p>\n

 
\nUnite community joined the Disabled People against Cuts (DPAC) demonstration in criticism against Work Capability Assessments (WCA), degrading tests carried out by profit-hungry firms on behalf of a government bent on starving the most vulnerable in society.<\/p>\n

 
\nMaximus is set to take over the DWP\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s contract to conduct the assessments, after Atos notoriously pulled outfollowing mounting public pressure and a growing list of failures.<\/p>\n

 
\nIn 2011, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s been reported that more than 10,000 people died within six weeks of their Work Capability Assessments being conducted.<\/p>\n

 
\nThe demonstration in London was part of a wider national day of action against WCAs, with events being held up and down the country.<\/p>\n

 
\nLondon\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s demo\u00e2\u20ac\u201da circus-themed event\u00e2\u20ac\u201dcalled the situation of Maximus taking over the Atos contract, \u00e2\u20ac\u015bSame circus, different clowns.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 Demonstrators played games mocking WCAs, in which people with obvious disabilities are found \u00e2\u20ac\u015bfit to work\u00e2\u20ac\u0165.<\/p>\n

 
\nUnite community member Laura Sothern came from Ealing to fight against a system she believes is deeply unfair and barbaric.<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bI\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m here today because I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m aware of the number of deaths and suicides that have resulted from the government unfairly taking people\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s benefits away,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 she said. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bMany people I know feel strongly about issues like this one, but are unable to come, perhaps because of mobility reasons, so I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m here on their behalf.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 
\nOne of the founding members of DPAC, Sam Brackenbury, argued that WCAs are part of an inherently broken system, one which will continue to fail no matter which firm takes on the contract.<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThese WCAs are based on an American insurance company\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s criteria,\u00e2\u20ac\u0165 he said. \u00e2\u20ac\u015bThey are designed specifically to take away what disabled people are entitled to. The vast majority of disabled people have worked; we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve paid into the system. They\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re taking away what\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s rightfully ours.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 
\nBrackenbury\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s message for the day was one of defiance.<\/p>\n

 
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u015bYou can do what you want to us, but if you think I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m going to die quietly, if you think I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m going to sit in a corner licking my wounds, you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re sadly mistaken.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n

 
\nTo find out more about DPAC\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s work and how you can get involved, visit their website here.<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hundreds gathered outside US-based health service firm Maximus\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 headquarters in London today (March 2) to protest the tick-box regime that robs disabled people of their rightful benefits entitlements.   Unite community joined the Disabled People against Cuts (DPAC) demonstration in criticism against Work Capability Assessments (WCA), degrading tests carried out by profit-hungry firms on behalf […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3164,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"wps_subtitle":"Unite Community joins disabled people\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s campaign in national day of action ","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3163"}],"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=3163"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3163\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3165,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3163\/revisions\/3165"}],"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=3163"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3163"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3163"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}