Get Britain working white paper - what ideas or suggestions would you be open to

apple85

so it’s no secret that the government would like to see more disabled ppl in (full time?) paid employment

It’s also well known that many disabled ppl fear that is may mean that they are forced into work (and on another subject may or may not lose their disability benefits as a result)

My viewpoint is that I’m open to any fair and well thought out ideas that Kendall & co present tomorrow - though I have reservations on how realistic they will be when setting out their strategy (though I also think many of the disabled community are not acknowledging welfare data from the past 5 years and why we’ve gotten to a point of mass reforms and are as unrealistic/unopen to compromise or meeting in the middle as gov ministers or dwp seem to be)

This is not a thread for those who have no intention to even consider if there is a safe way they could ‘contribute’ something towards society - I know I’d be wasting my time trying to argue logically

(there are so many ppl in society questioning ‘what use is a disabled person if they don’t give and only take?’ - it’s a horrible question to bring up but depending on how Friday plays out I think more nasty people will be asking this out loud and as a disabled person worried about my future safety in uk society I feel like I need to ask myself how I could safely contribute to society (so not to be seen as dead weight or a leech), but also what barriers would need to be removed/what help needs to be offered to have any chance to achieve this)

Right now the current dwp ideology is a huge barrier for many of us (who know that we would most likely get penalised/‘punished’ for even trying to take a positive step forward…………..and the dwp themselves are a major reason why the welfare bill has gone up and the increase of long term claimants

To put it in analogical terms - the building needs to be knocked down and foundations torn out before anything ‘better’ can be built

Liz Kendall said in the dwp committee last week that she wants to listen to disabled people (and they be able to contribute to ideas on fixing the system - prehaps not those words) however she didn’t mention how disabled ppl could share their views in a way that she would be able to hear them (could mean she has some more public consultations in mind or that she is relying on disability organisations to relay messages from the disabled community as a whole………….or she was being insincere)

so in a nutshell - what would be helpful to you if you were open to a longterm ‘goal’ of finding a safe way to ‘contribute’ to society

(by contribute im not just referring to paid work and I hope Kendall and the dwp realise that may be an unrealistic goal for some and there are more ways to contribute than just work if they are open to expand their goals and increase their definition of ‘success’)

Hopeless

I would welcome the return of supported employment - like the old Remploy. I think that is perhaps realistically the only way I could work

Stellar

employers would have to take people on, and the equality act needs reform so that disabled people arent burdened with holding employers to account for violations (and effectively getting themselves blacklisted from other employers if they do this).

That sadly won't happen as it's incompatible with neoliberal ideology.