Disability Policy In The U.K.

Scroll down for a list of articles on disability policy in the United Kingdom during the last several years. A lot has happened and is still happening there that could signal trends that could take hold here in the U.S. For example:

Austerity

The UK government's main response to the 2008 financial crisis was to go into deficit reduction mode, by cutting spending. Cuts reached across every sector of the British government, but some of the must notable cuts were made to long-established disability support programs.

Restructuring

The government argued for many of it's cost-savings in disability programs by saying they would restructure and improve these programs. They claimed that existing programs provided more than necessary to some, and not enough to others. They also embraced the idea at least of more employment of people with disabilities. However, their main approach in this was to hire a handful of consulting firms to do a complete work ability reassessment of everyone getting benefits, with the idea of finding possible savings and motivating disabled people to go get paid work. They also eliminated and consolidated independent living benefits in ways that were supposed to be more sensible, but of course almost always resulted in people losing benefits, and independence.

"Scroungers"

Part of the backdrop for all of this was a rise in popular resentment of people receiving disability-related benefits. Everyone suddenly knew three neighbors who were "benefits scroungers," people getting disability benefits who maybe? / perhaps? / who knows? / might not be "properly" disabled according to the limited understanding of their nosy neighbors. I saw her stand up out of her wheelchair and walk! He went to a movie, how can he be too mentally ill to work? Us working people are strapped because of all these scroungers!

So far, problems with disability benefits and services here in the U.S. seem to have more to do with neglect than purposefully harmful or wrongheaded ideas. But in this volatile political climate, we need to watch out for these themes. Read more about disability in UK politics in this collection of articles: