Scope's reply to the governments planned concessions to the green paper.

I think what dawned on me yesterday watching the Kendall presentation (imagine getting your own policy wrong, is there a disabled person who could do that job instead? Just a thought!) that the real bad taste for me is the lack of disabled voices, period.

Even disabled MPs have said, nobody has spoken to us about this. Nobody has reached out. But there's so much spin from the government about 'moral' decisions and 'what disabled people need' and the 'system is failing', etc.

None of that comes from disabled people, because disabled people are not being asked. They're being TOLD. It's like they assume disabled people lack capacity/are children needing guidance and instruction by the Adults in charge, rather than being the best informed people about their quality of life and about how to make changes to get a better system.

Every time the government have been asked about this they've deflected. If someone hired an all white committee to discuss the rights of ethnic minorities, or an all male committee to debate women's rights, you know there'd be uproar. But disabled people? We need 'taking care' of. We're acceptable in society so long as we let everyone else speak for and over us.

When we speak for ourselves we get abuse and backlash - we're going to have to live with that for the next few months however the bill lays down at tonight's vote. But there will be no apology, nor any acknowledgement that disabled people are kept out of work by systemic ableism and lack of support/adjustments.

No, it will be more of the moral speak designed to tell us what is best for our needs. Entirely about us without us :/

Shameful in 2025.