Barrier grief

The government’s new welfare reform plans will only stigmatise more disabled people, says disabled academic Ruth Patrick

We’ve all been there. Meeting new people in the pub, talking to a stranger at a wedding, or making small talk with a taxi-driver. It’s just a matter of time until the question, “So, what do you do?” rears its head. Everywhere you go, the job you have, and whether or not you are employed, is used to judge, stereotype and compartmentalise.

Unfortunately, the Labour government’s constant stress on the responsibility to work, and increasingly punitive measures to ensure that everyone who “can” work does, only increase the likelihood that those who do not work, for whatever reason, find themselves marginalised and stigmatised.

The single-minded emphasis on paid work affects us all, with disabled people now brought under the government’s distorting welfare-to-work microscope. Reforms announced in July* will see those disabled welfare claimants judged able to work expected to participate in “work-related activity”, or risk losing some of their benefit. Gordon Brown wants to get one million more disabled people into work and sees these reforms as capable of delivering this goal. But will the proposals succeed and what do disabled people think of them?

In my research, I explored attitudes to these reforms with disabled people in Leeds and uncovered findings that suggest the government’s reforms are based on a false analysis of the problem. Yes, many disabled people do want to work, but compulsion and the threat of benefit withdrawal are clumsy tools to achieve this. As Dave**, one of the participants, put it: “There are so many disabled people who want to work but aren’t able to because of people’s attitudes.”

Indeed, compelling disabled people to work when many face physical, attitudinal and societal barriers which prevent them participating as equals in the labour market, is more than a little perverse. It harks back to a model of disability that places the root of the problem with the disabled person rather than our disabling society.

What is more, the constant stress on paid work neglects all the other forms of contribution which disabled people make. Many of the disabled people I spoke to volunteer, have caring responsibilities, manage direct payments and/or participate in forums as service-users.

If the government really wants to help disabled people into work it should put its energies and resources into challenging discrimination, poor access and societal barriers. What is more, they need to listen more to the real experts on disability – disabled people themselves. Mike**, another participant, rightly asked for “a much better understanding of what disability actually means to individuals, before making policy decisions which… affect millions of disabled people”.

*The government’s most recent proposals are outlined in the green paper No one written off: reforming welfare to reward responsibility. To take part in a consultation on the reforms, visit www.dwp.gov.uk/welfarereform

**Names changed to protect confidentiality