(UK) Welfare to Work policy 'casts the disabled as cheats'

[alp227]

Source: The Observer

The government's flagship Welfare to Work policy is inciting hatred and violence towards the disabled by portraying them as cheats and benefits scroungers, an alliance of charities has warned.

A drip-feed of statistics about claimants who have been denied benefits by the Department for Work and Pensions because they are deemed fit to work threatens the safety and quality of life of its members, says an alliance of 50 charities. The government is feeding a negative attitude towards people with disabilities, which, the charities warn, will ultimately end in violence.

The alliance has written an open letter to Iain Duncan Smith, the work and pensions secretary, after complaining that private warnings on the issue have gone unheeded. The charities say the government should instead be promoting the talents of those who no longer need to claim benefits. Alice Maynard, the chair of Scope, who is a wheelchair user, said: "We just feel it is too much now. It is becoming such a frequent occurrence, it is likely to have some very serious negative effects. I think in the end it ends up in violence."

She added that a hardening of attitudes meant she now "thought harder" about going out at night in London.

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2011/jul/24/welfare-policy-incites-hatred-disabled

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Attitudes towards to the poor have gotten worse in the US since Clinton signed welfare reform; it's hardly taboo to call poor people lazy in our public square. Just listen to talk radio or , and you'll see. I heard a local radio report yesterday about (mostly white) people in Lancaster, Calif. shaming welfare recipients (mostly black) who live there.

[tinwi]

1. Really?

Their propagana has gotten so good they got us turning on the disabled? Well, why not, I remember when cartoon characters were under attack for being gay. But seriously, I do not care how good their propagana is. CANT ANYONE THINK FOR THEMSELVES? IS THERE NO MORAL COMPASS IN AMERICA ANYMORE?
Or apparently the world. Have we all devolved into sociopaths that are ready to turn on our neighbors rather than fight the rich for the money they have been leeching off of us? Come on, where is the Solidarity? Without it we are lost.

[Odin2005]

2. UGH! K&R

[NOLALady]

3. Unfortunately,

"people in Lancaster, Calif. shaming welfare recipients (mostly black) who live there."

Unfortunately, it's only a matter of time before they will join the ranks of the welfare recipients if the economy does not improve.