“Fewer people standing on their own two feet.” Those were Helen Whately’s chosen words while attacking millions of people receiving benefits. As a wheelchair user, I may not always be able to stand on my own two feet, but I am a content creator, disability-rights activist, volunteer and unpaid carer. Social security is not evidence of cultural decline. It enables disabled people to live independently, supports people in work and protects families when circumstances change. And when Whately was confronted with figures showing social-security spending is forecast to remain stable as a proportion of GDP, her answer was: “It’s been too high for too long.” So this isn’t really about spending “spiralling”. It is an ideological decision to provide less support, and disabled people are expected to pay the price. #HelenWhately #DisabilityRights #SocialSecurity #PIP #UniversalCredit

A couple of days I asked where working-age disabled people were in the National Care Service discussion. Now @DisRightsUK are asking: “Are Disabled People Invisible?” We need to talk about working-age disabled people, residential care costs, better wages and conditions for paid carers, bringing more provision back in-house,  and the millions of unpaid carers holding the system together. Unpaid carers provide care valued at around £184 BILLION a year. A National Care Service could be transformative. But disabled people and carers cannot be an afterthought in designing it. #SocialCare #NationalCareService #DisabledPeople #DisabilityRights #UnpaidCarers