The new Labour Party government might be in summer recess, but there’s no time like the present for throwing disabled people under the bus.
It’s summer recess – but don’t let that stop you
Keir and his pals might be on their summer holibobs, but since they conveniently forgot to throw out the previous lot’s vile and frankly abusive plans for disabled people before they went, they’ve been left to fester like the mould in JK Rowling’s castle.
The prevailing theory on why Labour didn’t immediately cancel all plans for tougher work capability criterion and of course the infamous PIP vouchers consultation is because they will be going along with it. So, as is usually the case in the run-up to the Autumn Budget, the seeds of disability scrounger hatred are being sown so nobody feels bad for us when we have our vital benefits cut.
In amongst other truly incredible headlines such as the Telegraph blaming disabled people for the riots and the Daily Mail making their front page about workshy DWP scroungers from seemingly the opinion of one unnamed Tory, the British media decided to take aim at disabled kids – because they’re apparently fair game too
The Telegraph decided that making vulnerable disabled people the enemy wasn’t enough, they had to go one disgusting step further and try to turn people against disabled children. Of course not all disabled children though, no these aren’t the super bubbly inspo-porn brand of disabled kiddies we see on Children in Need – I’m of course talking about the ones with lying benefit-scrounger parents.
Scrounging kids getting tax-free benefits to spend on fags and booze
Figures released early this week showed that a record number of children received Disability Living Allowance. The Telegraph pointed out this was tax-free because I forgot kids pay taxes.
Of course, the Torygraph’s take on this was that kids are being over-diagnosed with ADHD and autism so that their scrounger parents can claim for them.
Despite linking the two and putting the main total of 730,000 kids with DLA – much, much further down, the article itself explains that less than half of claims (337,000) were for “neurodevelopmental conditions such as autism and Asperger’s syndrome”. They then pulled out that 72,500 kids claimed benefits for “hyperkinetic syndrome – also known as ADHD”, despite making it sound like a separate figure this will have actually gone in with the 337k.
Along with deliberately using outdated terms to delegitimise the conditions, they were quick to point out that claims for these had risen by a third and a fifth respectively.
The article claims that many are concerned that if they start receiving support this early it will encourage them to always stay on benefits and not work – because the children clearly yearn for the mines, and accessible jobs of course are in abundance.
Or maybe, just maybe, support now means they will grow up with a support system and be helped throughout education and into a career that suits them. Or if they can’t work be supported regardless, because our right to live shouldn’t be determined by how much money we make for the economy.
A something-for-nothing culture in pre-schools, apparently
More infuriatingly, this wasn’t the only story the Telegraph ran on this.
They followed it up by attacking toddlers.
Yes, you read that right.
This is the shocking news that nearly 30,000 kids under five are receiving support for “severe behavioural disorders” again with the outdated-as-fuck language.
The article also claims parents only put themselves and their children through awful benefits assessments as it “doubles their benefit income” with the two-child tax credit benefit cap. Because again it’s scrounging parent’s fault and not the fact that the government are happy to let kids starve.
I first became aware of this when I got a call from a producer at LBC to go on and talk about it, with about an hours notice. I tried to prepare for what I expected would be an “is everyone pretending to have ADHD and autism for benefits” onslaught but nothing could’ve prepared me for what I was actually up against.
Corporate media running disabled people ragged
Along with talking me in circles about why everyone deserved benefits who needed them, and constant talk of functioning labels, came the presenter’s baffling assumption that some schools forced diagnoses so that they could get extra funding. Despite no evidence for this, it was presented as fact. He even had the audacity to ask me if it was true. To which I replied the only way I could
I don’t know and neither do you.
I came out of this interview feeling absolutely awful, like I’d failed the disabled community.
But I now realise that I couldn’t have done anything to “win” that, and there lies the problem. As I said on TikTok yesterday, I am sick of being asked on shows and told it won’t be a debate only for presenters to force me to defend disabled people’s right to support, and by extension life. My life and the lives of other disabled people shouldn’t be a debate – especially not kids.
Disabled people: the media want you to be broken
Despite trying this hard to disparage neurodivergent people for a long time, I think the takeaway should be this quote from the scrounging toddler’s piece
A government spokesman said:
We are committed to ensuring parents with children with disabilities are supported fairly.
Awareness of neurodevelopmental conditions has increased over the past decade with a rise in the numbers of children seeking formal diagnoses reflected in those seeking support.
This is what we need to be focusing on. Neurodivergent conditions aren’t being over-diagnosed, we just have more awareness of them now.
The reason kids are getting more support is because they SHOULD be getting this support. As I always say, disabled children will likely grow into disabled adults, and it’s much more preferable that they get a diagnosis and support now than growing up thinking they’re wrong and broken.
But that’s exactly what the media want.
Featured image via the Canary
