#abolishthestate — Public Fediverse posts

"He [prime minister Rishi Sunak] also became the latest member of the government to compare the proportion of those now found not fit for work (65 per cent) after an assessment with the same figures in 2011 (21 per cent).

Like his fellow ministers, and many media commentators, he has ignored the fact that the 2011 figures reflected the early years of the work capability assessment (WCA), before its most serious flaws were exposed.

It took years of activism and research by disabled people and allies to expose the links between the WCA and hundreds, and probably thousands, of deaths of claimants, and to force DWP ministers to ease the harshness of the assessment.

That eventually made it easier to qualify for the employment and support allowance (ESA) support group and avoid work-related conditions, although the test continues to be linked to serious harm and multiple deaths."

Link here for more:

https://www.disabilitynewsservice.com/ministers-ramp-up-hostile-rhetoric-a-decade-after-osborne-cameron-and-duncan-smith/

#Disability #DisabilityJustice #DPAC #AbolishTheState #DWP #WCA #ESA #ChronicIllness

Also, how much shit do people get away with and are not held to genuine account because "they are family". I have taken crap from people in my non-chosen family I would never take from someone who isn’t (well mostly never, after years of unlearning) because, hey it's my [insert family member] and I have been socialised since young to embrace and know my [insert family member, especially immediate such as mum] no matter what. That's abusive, yet has a powerful hold over me. The individualistic, atomised and privatised construction of the family - whilst part of a wider fabric of state control and authority - is central to that abuse. It shouldn't come down to whether we are 'lucky enough' to have a 'supportive' family or whatever. And even if we are 'lucky enough', there are often demands put on people within families to meet societal expectations and demands reflecting and reinforcing inequalities and oppression - for instance, views around unpaid caring relating to patriarchy. A radical, collective and communal approach to care is what we need instead. #AbolishTheFamily #AbolishTheState #AbolishMoney

Central to this is late capitalism, as we see furthering of gross inequalities and the corresponding drive of divide and rule politics to distract from said inequalities. Even though this is no surprise and things will get worse regardless of whether the Tories or Labour win the next election, I have found my mood really affected by this discourse and rhetoric today and also thinking about what this will mean in terms of day-to-day impact on disabled people's lives as we battle with the state on a daily basis, with it already such an ideologically brutal system. As always, we have a fight on our hands and we have to do this together, collectively, through mutual aid, radical communal care, to look after and be there for each other against the state, the gaslighting and the punitive practices and institutions.

#Solidarity #LongCovid #RadicalCommunalCare #MutualAid #AbolishTheState #AbolishMoney #DisabilityJustice #Disability #DisabilityActivism #DPAC #ToryPartyConference #CovidIsNotOver #CovidIsAirborne