With the New Year just around the corner, this week is often a time of reflection for many.
What did we achieve this year, what went well, and what can we do better next year? These are all questions that we ask ourselves.
Unless of course, you’re the Tory party.
Those nitwits are so lacking in self-awareness, that they probably thought they did great all year, especially in anything that involves disabled people.
So since they won’t, I will.
Here’s a look back at all the varied and cruel ways the Tories hurt disabled people this year, a worst hits if you will.
Abandoning all Covid safety plans as Omicron surged
The Tories started the year strong by announcing that they would be taking away all Covid safety measures, right in the middle of the Omicron variant wreaking havoc.
Instead of reaffirming that we needed to remain vigilant in order to protect the most vulnerable, then Prime Minister Boris Johnson RIP (he’s not dead but his premiership better be, no take backsies) declared that people no longer needed to wear masks on public transport or even stay home if they had Covid.
Then in February he did something he’d been threatening to do for a while and ended the provision of free Lateral Flow Tests (LFTs) stopping people of low income from testing from home.
So not only was Covid free to roam without isolation but people also couldn’t test. He really was making good on his “we will lose many loved ones” promise.
Not only that, but the government since then has consistently refused to procure Evusheld, the antibody treatment that many other countries have adopted to protect their most vulnerable citizens.
They’ve also not made it easy for immunosuppressed people to access anti-viral treatment and still won’t commit to a clean air policy, something which has been proven to fight the spread.
No instead they’re happy to “watch the bodies pile high”.
Completely forgetting disabled people in their levelling up plans
In February, the government announced their sparkling Levelling Up strategy, however to the surprise of no disabled people they completely forgot us again.
Although it talked about improving local communities there was no mention of how it would make them better for disabled people.
There was of course nothing about accessible housing or making towns and cities easier to get around, because why would they want us to do that?
They vowed to spread prosperity (try not to laugh) but completely missed out on any plans to help disabled people do this.
National Disability Strategy disaster
Oh the NDS has had an eventful year, first, it was found to be unlawful in January by the High Courts as it failed to consult disabled people or Disabled People Organisations (DPOs).
So we thought okay cool, bring on the consultations, but oh no, it got halted in June yet again when the government sought permission to appeal this decision.
Why should they care what disabled people thought about a strategy about them?
This meant of course that those dastardly disabled activists and DPOs who had the audacity to want our concerns heard were blocked.
Then finally, at the beginning of December, the third part of the strategy was released, to the usual amount of no fanfare so as not to draw attention.
This part sets out intentions to involve disabled people in policymaking, which is ironic since we’re still being shut out.
Benefits claimant's deaths report cover-up
And so we head into Liz Truss’ summer jaunt as PM. We were mostly ignored during this time, as she had other things to get on with, though I’m struggling to remember what.
Though maybe this was so we didn’t kick up a fuss about the fact that her short-lived Minister for the Department of Works and Pensions Therese Coffey (yes that one) just plain refused to release the findings of a report into how many disabled people died by suicide related to benefits.
The report was one of five that she got out of releasing using the fact that this was done under a previous minister as the excuse.
But honestly, how can that be an excuse when they came as often as buses this year? To so callously dismiss the need for this report shows how truly cruel and dangerous she is.
Disabled minister downgraded
Another thing that screwed us over during this jolly old time before she was beaten by a lettuce though, was the downgrading of the role of Minister for Disabled Minister.
Instead of being a full minister, Claire Coutinho (yes I hear you asking who) was made Undersecretary.
This meant that nearly 14 million disabled people didn’t have anyone representing them.
As Shadow secretary for disabled people Vicky Foxcroft said at the time "What messages does this send to disabled people who already feel like an afterthought from this government?"
The role was eventually reinstated to full minister by Sunak, but it took him two weeks of being in power.
I think this is in small part thanks to the pushback of the role by people like myself, Foxcroft and Emma Lewell-Buck, MP for South Tyneside who told me “I think we will judge him by his actions, the 14 million plus disabled people in our country clearly aren’t that important to him”.
Not really supporting the BSL bill
This summer saw the great news of the passing of the British Sign Language Act which saw the recognition of BSL as an official language.
This was backed by prominent figures like Rose Ayling Ellis and of course the government, who love an easy bandwagon
However, when it became clear that they would actually need to work instead of just appearing to, they stopped caring.
They ruled out funding free BSL courses for parents of deaf children straight off the bat and delayed the launch of BSL GCSE consultation.
But perhaps the worst was the dragging out of a legal case which attempted to provide compensation for the inaccessible covid briefings for which they consistently refused to include BSL or captions.
Cost of Living payments are inadequate
To help with the cost of living crisis the government announced a raft of support for those who needed it, though they gave many disabled people a lot less than others.
The payment for those on DLA, ESA or Universal Credit was £400 with extra on top, however, those on PIP only received £150 and none of the extra support.
In the chancellor's autumn statement he announced the £400 would be uplifted to £900, though the PIP amount stayed at £150.
Autumn statement focused on forcing disabled people into work
Whilst Hunt’s first budget on the surface looked like it would help to help disabled people, it was as we know, very much not the case.
Instead of providing actual help he focused on workplace participation and pledged that he would make 600,000 people on Universal Credit meet with a work coach.
This is despite 500,00 workers recently dropping out of the work market due to Covid.
He also vowed to crack down on benefit fraud, despite the fact that just 0.07 per cent of benefit claims are questioned.
No commitment to social funding
When the chancellor moved on to social care funding and schools in this statement it was much of the same story.
He decided that he just didn’t want to uphold the plans laid out by Boris Johnson’s government to keep the cap for social care users would pay over their lifetimes.
This will mean that disabled people will receive no help with struggling with rising care home costs.
He also pledged no support for struggling special educational needs schools. No shock there.
Uplift in disability benefits comes too late
One good thing to come from the budget was that all benefits will be raised in line with inflation. However again, this isn’t as great as it seems.
Unfortunately, this won’t come until April 2023.
This will be too late for many who will struggle to get through the rising costs of winter and even the spring when things are set to go up even more.
Passing the buck with the rolling blackouts
With the energy, crisis came the prospect of rolling blackouts during the winter to conserve energy.
However, going without power for up to three hours at a time just isn’t an option for many disabled people who rely on it for life-saving equipment.
I spoke to disabled people about their concerns which ranged from breathing equipment to fridges for medicine. It made for a hard but necessary read.
The government, however, refused to commit to who would actually be the department to save disabled people should this become a reality.
The buck passed from Levelling Up Housing and Communities to Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and finally to Health and Social Care who then palmed it off to the energy companies.
As yet there is still no official plan for how disabled people are supposed to survive rolling blackouts.
Former Health Minister eats kangaroo genitals on TV
Perhaps the biggest insult to disabled people this year was that instead of standing trials for allowing thousands of disabled people to die in the pandemic, former Health Secretary Matt Hancock went into the I’m a Celeb Jungle.
After slinking out of government and facing no retribution for the policies he was responsible for during the pandemic, Hancock then decided to reform his image by appearing a bit remorseful in the jungle for a few weeks.
He claimed it was to raise awareness of dyslexia, but he barely mentioned it during his whole stint.
And as I said at the time, if only he’d previously had a platform where he could really help neurodivergent people and make real change?
'Matt Hancock doesn’t get to use his dyslexia to redeem himself in the jungle'
Instead, he attempted to win the hearts of the nation by saying he was just a man in love and it worked. he came second. But now is the time for him to face the Covid Inquiry.
Rail strikes show lack of willingness to help disabled travellers
As my wonderful colleague Anna Morell wrote, train travel as a disabled person is truly awful.
However, the rail strikes highlighted how little the Tories wanted to help make this better.
By not supporting the unions and allowing train companies to enact policies such as reducing staff that work at train station platforms, the government are making it even harder for disabled people to travel by train.
Christmas bonus remains the same for 50 years
If you receive benefits you’re “treated” to a Christmas bonus every year.
However don’t get too excited, it’s only £10 and remained at that rate since it was introduced in 1972.
As I wrote earlier this month, if it had been raised in line with inflation it would now be between £108 and 168. But of course, those scrooges aren’t going to give us that.
Honourable mentions
Some policies were so preposterous that even the Tories had to concede on them. Though I suspect it was more due to the public outcry than that they thought they were too cruel.
First up, in February there were rumours that they would ban anyone who failed GCSE maths and English from applying for university.
This would’ve had a catastrophic impact on the rate of disabled people who attended uni as many of us didn’t receive the support we needed in school.
Next up, whilst running for PM Rishi Sunak pledged that he would make anyone who missed GP or hospital appointments pay £10.
This would've disproportionately affected disabled people as not only do our illnesses fluctuate but it’s often harder for us to attend in-person appointments due to care, travel and money issues.
And finally, for much of the year, it was floated that the DWP would make PIP a means-tested benefit.
This would’ve meant that three million people would’ve potentially lost their benefits. It was announced just before the autumn statement that this would not happen.
It’s perhaps no coincidence that over 200 disabled activists were planning an open letter demanding the benefits stayed as they were.
So that’s your lot, I definitely haven’t covered all of the terrible things the Tories did this year by no means, least of all to disabled people.
One thing’s for sure though, we can’t allow this to continue into a New Year.
I wish you all a safe and peaceful New Year and one in which we overthrow this vicious government.
