How to fake up a Daily Mail benefits story in five easy steps

Over the last few months Left Foot Forward has been critical of a number of stories on welfare in the right wing tabloids. This is not just a matter of correcting inaccuracies and misrepresentation, important as these tasks are. These stories don’t come from nowhere – however misleading, they usually have some basis in fact, and the facts are generally selected and provided by someone other than the hack whose byline graces the story.

Daily-Fail In these cases a large share of the odium for misleading the public should fall on whoever has briefed the press, and the origins of misleading stories merit as much attention as their content.

The ‘dark arts’ of briefing the press are in fact pretty rudimentary. To see how it’s done, here’s a step by step guide to planting a story on welfare when you don’t have any new information to offer:

• Step 1: Choose an unpopular benefit and an angle you haven’t used too recently. Now download some publicly available figures here or here to form the basis for the headline. Choose the biggest figures you can find;

• Step 2: Write these up using a phrase such as ‘figures reveal’ or ‘it has emerged’, implying that this is new information;

• Step 3: Link the figures to stories which you’ve previously managed to plant – think of each story as part of a greater whole, a big mosaic of misrepresentation;

• Step 4: Pad your briefing with some more detailed figures, however irrelevant. This makes it look as if somebody has carried out some serious research;

• Step 5: If you work for the government – and let’s not be too coy here, you probably do – stick in a reaction quote from a minister.

You now have the skeleton of a story to brief to the press. When written up, the result might look something like this from Wednesday’s Mail. The headline is:

“The 90,000 young Britons out of work on sickness benefit”

That’s the rounded up figure of 85,500 people aged 18-24 receiving Incapacity Benefit as downloaded from the Department for Work and Pensions tabulation tool, where they have been publicly available for months.

But this is news because (Step 2):

“Nearly 90,000 young Britons are languishing on incapacity benefit rather than taking up jobs or training, figures reveal today.”

Or as the Express put it:

“A SHOCKING 86,000 young adults are on benefits designed for people who are too sick to work, official figures showed yesterday.”

Here’s step 3, the link to and reinforcement of an earlier story:

“Last week it emerged that since 1997, around 600,000 people have never had a job after leaving full-time education.”

Variants on this story date back to September of last year; see Full Fact’s report here. Next, here’s the padding:

“Birmingham, parts of Scotland and the North of England have the most young incapacity benefit claimants, the latest figures showed.”

And finally, the reaction quote:

“Chris Grayling said:

‘These figures are further evidence that too many young people have just been left behind.’”

Now let’s do something which whoever briefed the press didn’t do and (rightly) counted on the journalists not doing either: let’s try to understand these figures.

About 70% of the young people in these figures are severely disabled – severely enough to be in receipt of Disability Living Allowance. The figures don’t show “young Britons … languishing on incapacity benefit rather than taking up jobs or training” – they primarily concern young severely disabled Britons whose choices with regard to jobs or training are heavily curtailed by their conditions and by social attitudes towards disability.

Among the 20,000 who had been on IB for five years or more, who featured heavily in Wednesday’s stories, DLA recipients account for nearly 90%.

This doesn’t mean all or any of those who are not receiving DLA are ‘able to work’, nor does it mean there are no DLA recipients in this group who could work under different circumstances (although for many, the circumstances would have to be very different). But the fact that 70% of the people referred to in these headlines are on the severe end of the spectrum of disability is clearly relevant to their employment status.

Not for the first time, figures which are primarily about severely disabled people are being used to underpin exaggerated claims about voluntary self-exclusion from the labour market. The central narrative which the coalition has been using to underpin its welfare cuts – that this is a response to a build-up of long-term welfare dependency under Labour – is crucially dependent on airbrushing out people at the severe end of the disability spectrum.

Wednesday’s reaction quote from Emma Boon of know-nothing pressure group the TaxPayers’ Alliance unintentionally shows just how tenuous the links on which that narrative depends really are:

“Not all of these young people will be unable to work. If we don’t overhaul Incapacity Benefit now, taxpayers will be left to pay for a generation that’s never had a job or help to get one.”

That mindless leap from data on young disabled people to ‘a generation that’s never had a job’ exemplifies what the briefing behind Wednesday’s stories was intended to achieve.

As the evidence on the severity of impairment faced by large numbers of incapacity benefit claimants continues to mount, more stories of this type can be expected – after all, it’s not as if faking them up and planting them demands much in the way of time, effort or expertise.

Annex

The figures quoted in the press are for May 2010. Incapacity Benefit for new claims was replaced with Employment Support Allowance in October 2008. So the figures relate to claims which had been running for some time, since October 2008 or earlier.

This is important, because the duration of claims for IB, and its successor ESA, is related to the severity of the impairment of recipients, as indicated by whether they are also entitled to Disability Living Allowance. Table 1 below shows the relationship, using data from May 2008 (this specific breakdown is not available for later years).

Among young IB claimants who had been claiming for less than a year, only 5.6% were also receiving DLA, but among those claiming for more than a year, nearly two thirds were in receipt of DLA, and for those claiming for five years of more, nearly 90%.

Table 1

Incapacity benefit claims, age 18-24, May 2008

Duration of claim

< 1 year

≥ 1 year

≥ 2 years

≥ 5 years

IB claims (000s)	41.1	101.3	81.6	34.3
of which receiving DLA (000s)	2.3	66.4	60.4	30.5
% receiving DLA	5.6	65.5	74.0	88.9

Source: DWP 5% Tabulation tool

The figures reported on Wednesday only concerned young people who had been claiming for more than 19 months (people in May 2010 who had been claiming before October 2008). Obviously, a large share of this group will also be on DLA: based on the data from 2008, somewhere between 65.5% and 74%.

Hat-tip: Nicola Smith.

http://twitter.com/walshaw4hdngly/status/41144514857025536 Neil Walshaw

RT @leftfootfwd: How to fake up a Daily Mail benefits story in five easy steps: http://bit.ly/f4Crsy by Declan Gaffney
http://twitter.com/totaltruthpls/status/41144537795670016 totaltruthpls

RT @leftfootfwd: How to fake up a Daily Mail benefits story in five easy steps http://bit.ly/goOpZI
http://twitter.com/nosloc73/status/41144610562646017 DJC

RT @leftfootfwd: How to fake up a Daily Mail benefits story in five easy steps: http://bit.ly/f4Crsy by Declan Gaffney
http://twitter.com/longtallhannah/status/41145100595773441 Hannah Smith

RT @leftfootfwd: How to fake up a Daily Mail benefits story in five easy steps: http://bit.ly/f4Crsy by Declan Gaffney
http://twitter.com/anjijoy/status/41145109428834304 anjijoy

RT @leftfootfwd: How to fake up a Daily Mail benefits story in five easy steps: http://bit.ly/f4Crsy by Declan Gaffney
http://twitter.com/romilagupta/status/41145388572479488 Romila Chaplin

RT @leftfootfwd: How to fake up a Daily Mail benefits story in five easy steps: http://bit.ly/f4Crsy by Declan Gaffney
http://twitter.com/oscard8/status/41146232382566400 Oscar Davies

@Joe_Armitage http://bit.ly/f4Crsy and this is why I don't trust the #DailyFail
http://twitter.com/nicobobinus/status/41146531255943168 Nico Hogg

RT @leftfootfwd: How to fake up a Daily Mail benefits story in five easy steps: http://bit.ly/f4Crsy by Declan Gaffney
http://twitter.com/brokenofbritain/status/41147015752712193 Broken OfBritain

RT @leftfootfwd: How to fake up a Daily Mail benefits story in five easy steps: http://bit.ly/f4Crsy by Declan Gaffney
http://twitter.com/romilagupta/status/41147066499608576 Romila Chaplin

How to fake up a benefit scrounger scare story. You could mislead! http://www.leftfootforward.org/2011/02/fake-daily-mail-benefits-stories/
http://twitter.com/yorkierosie/status/41147915678384128 yorkierosie

RT @leftfootfwd: How to fake up a Daily Mail benefits story in five easy steps: http://bit.ly/f4Crsy by Declan Gaffney
http://twitter.com/frances_coppola/status/41148025069903872 Frances Coppola

RT @brokenofbritain: RT @leftfootfwd: How to fake up a Daily Mail benefits story in five easy steps: http://bit.ly/f4Crsy by Declan Gaffney
http://twitter.com/lisybabe/status/41148033349586944 Lisa E

RT @leftfootfwd: How to fake up a Daily Mail benefits story in five easy steps: http://bit.ly/f4Crsy by Declan Gaffney
http://twitter.com/frances_coppola/status/41148478436552705 Frances Coppola

@gwenhwyfaer have you seen this? RT @leftfootfwd: http://www.leftfootforward.org/2011/02/fake-daily-mail-benefits-stories/
Mary

RT @leftfootfwd: How to fake up a Daily Mail benefits story in five easy steps: http://bit.ly/f4Crsy by Declan Gaffney
http://twitter.com/hlcheathrow/status/41150336714407936 hlcheathrow

RT @leftfootfwd: How to fake up a Daily Mail benefits story in five easy steps: http://bit.ly/f4Crsy by Declan Gaffney
http://twitter.com/extraditiongame/status/41154316211453952 Extradition Game

RT @leftfootfwd: How to fake up a Daily Mail benefits story in five easy steps: http://bit.ly/f4Crsy by Declan Gaffney
http://twitter.com/press_not_sorry/status/41154329243156480 Press Not Sorry

RT @leftfootfwd: How to fake up a Daily Mail benefits story in five easy steps: http://bit.ly/f4Crsy by Declan Gaffney
http://twitter.com/broughtonlass/status/41156136837189632 Kathy Bartlett

RT @leftfootfwd: How to fake up a Daily Mail benefits story in five easy steps: http://bit.ly/f4Crsy by Declan Gaffney
http://twitter.com/superlativec/status/41156177299505152 superlativec

http://bit.ly/gnojlf 80-90% of young people on invalidity benefit are severely disabled but described as 'languishing' by the mail.
http://twitter.com/dwnhrv/status/41156233620758528 DfmeH

RT @leftfootfwd: How to fake up a Daily Mail benefits story in five easy steps: http://bit.ly/f4Crsy by Declan Gaffney
http://twitter.com/robingedwards/status/41158345997950976 Robin Edwards

RT @leftfootfwd: How to fake up a Daily Mail benefits story in five easy steps: http://bit.ly/f4Crsy by Declan Gaffney
http://twitter.com/chairmangee/status/41160050999435264 GMT

RT @leftfootfwd: How to fake up a Daily Mail benefits story in five easy steps: http://bit.ly/f4Crsy by Declan Gaffney
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Black-Triangle-Anti-Defamation-Campaign-In-Defence-of-Disabled-Claimants/117145668332176?v=info John McArdle

FANTASTIC! Great article!

Solidarity,

Black Triangle
Anti-Defamation Campaign
In Defence of Disabled Claimants
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Black-Triangle-Anti-Defamation-Campaign-in-Defence-of-Disabilty-Rights/191782724177042
Steve Kelly

As a writer, I know all about the old axiom: “Don’t let the facts get in the way of a good story.” Trouble is, most Daily Mail readers etc despite their supposed intelligence, either know the adage and choose to ignore it or are haven’t a clue it’s being used. Either way, they are duped.
http://twitter.com/simpkins83/status/41168787776602112 simpkins83

RT @leftfootfwd: How to fake up a Daily Mail benefits story in five easy steps: http://bit.ly/f4Crsy by Declan Gaffney
http://twitter.com/unitonehifi/status/41169371275591680 chris star

How to fake up a Daily Mail benefits story in five easy steps…
http://bit.ly/eoe9LY
#demo2011 #ukuncut
http://twitter.com/markwrightuk88/status/41170090351280128 mark wright

RT @unitonehifi: How to fake up a Daily Mail benefits story in five easy steps… http://bit.ly/eoe9LY #demo2011 #ukuncut
http://www.hlc-heathrow.org Jon Purdom

Yes, excellent. But it’s no big surprise to find the likes of the Mail and Telegraph twisting the facts to feed the prejudices of their usual audience. All the media probably does it to some extent, it’s just that 80% of the papers are biased towards the Tories. Fortunately the internet allows the public to access a far wider range of views, though many probably don’t bother.

The Guardian is probably the most objective of the papers at the moment, though it seems to have conveniently forgotten its moment of weakness when it actually believed the LibDems pre election promises. Sadly so did a lot of voters who probably read the Guardian. The BBC, for all it’s flaws also manges to be (mostly) resistant to pressure from the business lobby to put a right wing spin on every story.

The media is a powefrful tool to change the views of the public. While there is always a place for an individual perspective, the media should clearly separate fact from opinion – or it becomes little more than propaganda. In the case of press that are clearly right or left wing, it is likely that the spin is to give the audience what it wants to hear rather than to change opinion, but it is still dangerous. Prejudices, once formed are often hard to let go, even when the facts become clear at a later date.

Perhaps the Press Council should be taking the media to account on how accurately they represent the facts? We don’t want our press to be censured, but perhaps a league table of how often various publications misrepresent the truth might be an option?
http://twitter.com/muggersbuddle/status/41172336157790209 Curious Questioner

RT @markwrightuk88: RT @unitonehifi: How to fake up a Daily Mail benefits story in five easy steps… http://bit.ly/eoe9LY #demo2011 #uk …
http://twitter.com/scribbles123/status/41173351984672768 Colin Day

How to fake up a Daily Mail benefits story in five easy steps | Left Foot Forward: http://bit.ly/dNRzFN via @addthis
http://twitter.com/multimedian/status/41174618605617152 Ian Parker

How to fake up a Daily Mail benefits story in five easy steps #dla #ib http://ht.ly/43rBU
william

BRILLIANT!LABOUR WON THE 2010 ELECTION.And fom 1997, there was no increase in claimants of job seekers allowance,incapacity benefit, whilst the country benefited with a stable population as net immigration was zero.In spite of the right wing tabloids,the economic cycle was abolished and history was rewritten as a now unseen MP steered the country on a path of eternal prosperity….
http://twitter.com/oldmankelv/status/41184964787716096 Kelvin John Edge

RT @leftfootfwd: How to fake up a Daily Mail benefits story in five easy steps: http://bit.ly/f4Crsy by Declan Gaffney
http://twitter.com/leni_lava/status/41185317398642688 kirst

RT @leftfootfwd: How to fake up a Daily Mail benefits story in five easy steps: http://bit.ly/f4Crsy by Declan Gaffney
http://twitter.com/davidcwaterson/status/41199012585537536 david waterson

RT @leftfootfwd: How to fake up a Daily Mail benefits story in five easy steps: http://bit.ly/f4Crsy by Declan Gaffney
Richard

William’s feeling so deeply ashamed by the callousness of his tribe, he’s scrabbling around for any old nonsense to defend them.
http://twitter.com/caelumd/status/41201792817700864 Caelum Davies

RT @leftfootfwd: How to fake up a Daily Mail benefits story in five easy steps: http://bit.ly/f4Crsy by Declan Gaffney
http://twitter.com/socioblah/status/41205084184518656 Suzanne Newman

RT @unitonehifi: How to fake up a Daily Mail benefits story in five easy steps…
http://bit.ly/eoe9LY
#demo2011 #ukuncut
http://twitter.com/chaostocosmos/status/41217291903303680 Pamela Heywood

How to fake up a Daily Mail benefits story in five easy steps: "a large share of the odium for misleading the … http://twurl.nl/n0bcyj
http://twitter.com/fayelein/status/41239914993561600 Faye Hartgroves

RT @leftfootfwd: How to fake up a Daily Mail benefits story in five easy steps: http://bit.ly/f4Crsy by Declan Gaffney
http://twitter.com/kingmike01/status/41258055635046401 Mike King

How to fake up a Daily Mail benefits story in five easy steps http://ht.ly/43Hty
Mr. Sensible

Why should we expect any different from the Mail?
Mr. Sensible

Of course, having a cooperative government always helps…
http://twitter.com/myinfamy/status/41285380623970305 Daniel Pitt

RT @leftfootfwd: How to fake up a Daily Mail benefits story in five easy steps: http://bit.ly/f4Crsy by Declan Gaffney
http://twitter.com/swithinbank/status/41289058630111232 Chris Swithinbank

Excellently backed up. Read these NUMBERS: ‘How to fake up a Daily Mail benefits story in 5 easy steps’ | @LeftFootFwd http://bit.ly/gnojlf
http://twitter.com/bendygirl/status/41460061096116224 BendyGirl

RT @leftfootfwd: How to fake up a Daily Mail benefits story in five easy steps http://bit.ly/goOpZI
http://twitter.com/riveninside/status/41461281491787776 riveninside

RT @BendyGirl: RT @leftfootfwd: How to fake up a Daily Mail benefits story in five easy steps http://bit.ly/goOpZI
http://twitter.com/onedartlou/status/41461497418887168 Louise Jones

RT @BendyGirl: RT @leftfootfwd: How to fake up a Daily Mail benefits story in five easy steps http://bit.ly/goOpZI
http://twitter.com/julianyon/status/41461501692887040 Julian Yon

RT @BendyGirl: RT @leftfootfwd: How to fake up a Daily Mail benefits story in five easy steps http://bit.ly/goOpZI
http://twitter.com/marxroadrunner/status/41461596530294784 Rosa

RT @BendyGirl: RT @leftfootfwd: How to fake up a Daily Mail benefits story in five easy steps http://bit.ly/goOpZI
http://twitter.com/badgerbrocks/status/41463168395907072 badgerbrocks

How to fake up a Daily Mail benefits story in five easy steps | Left Foot Forward: http://bit.ly/dNRzFN via @addthis
http://twitter.com/incurablehippie/status/41465509153226753 Philippa

RT @leftfootfwd: How to fake up a Daily Mail benefits story in five easy steps http://bit.ly/goOpZI
http://twitter.com/brokenofbritain/status/41481543176167424 Broken OfBritain

How to fake up a Daily Mail benefits story in five easy steps | Left Foot Forward http://fb.me/VOMarl0c
http://twitter.com/madgemiggins/status/41482522206404608 Sari B

RT @BrokenOfBritain: How to fake up a Daily Mail benefits story in five easy steps | Left Foot Forward http://fb.me/VOMarl0c
http://twitter.com/thompson9100/status/41485960084455424 Dan Thompson

RT @BrokenOfBritain: How to fake up a Daily Mail benefits story in five easy steps | Left Foot Forward http://fb.me/VOMarl0c
http://www.catherinegracehughes.com Catherine Hughes

Great article. what it omits, though, is the suffering caused to those people who are duped into becoming the subjects of these dreadful (in both senses) articles. People like me: http://www.catherinegracehughes.com/?p=465
http://twitter.com/1upartist/status/41501500127584256 Kyle Campbell

@Timothy_Grayson On the subject of the Daily Mail | How to fake up a benefits story in five easy steps http://ow.ly/43V7Z
http://twitter.com/paul_trembath/status/41502733026467840 Paul Trembath

RT @BrokenOfBritain: How to fake up a Daily Mail benefits story in five easy steps | Left Foot Forward http://fb.me/VOMarl0c
Trialia

I’m one of these people. I just turned 25 this month.

I was at college when I aged into this group, and it was all I could manage to do. I’ve been on DLA (low rate care until last year, now LRC and HRM) since the age of 17. My health has deteriorated dramatically in the last six years.

I have tried to work in the past, and my health simply won’t stand up to anywhere near the amount I’d have to work to support myself financially. Six hours in one day leaves me housebound for four days to recover from the pain and exhaustion, even with morphine. It maddens me to see people like myself being classed as lazy scroungers who have never even tried to work, because it’s bulls–t.
Phil

Great article!
So good to see people prepared to speak up on behalf of those who are sick or disabled.

There is a certain irony in that the Mail and others are guilty of being lazy and shy of doing the necessary work (thinking and research) when presented with an easy story the government wants them to run with.

An example : a few months ago, the Express revealed that in a tiny unemployment black-spot in Birmingham almost all the residents are not in work and are claiming benefits. Lazily, and conveniently, the Express assumed this to be because the residents are workshy. Wrong! Life is more complicated than that! A significant factor is that employers filter out job applications by post-code; applicants from a “bad” post-code are routinely rejected by some prejudiced employers. So the Express could have run a story about employers’ prejudice trapping the unemployed in ghettoes, at the taxpayers’ expense … but they didn’t. Hey ho!

Poor quality reporting and a failure to think and to investigate does no favours to the country at large.
http://mcabellonmoneynet.com/home-business-ideas-you-can-start-today/ Home Business Ideas You Can Start Today

[...] How to fake up a Daily Mail benefits story in five easy steps … [...]
http://twitter.com/timothy_grayson/status/41578231832387584 Timothy Grayson

RT @1upArtist: @Timothy_Grayson On the subject of the Daily Mail | How to fake up a benefits story in five easy steps http://ow.ly/43V7Z
http://twitter.com/angelstrand/status/41597543406116864 angel strand

FB RT: Declan Gaffney on how to fake up a Daily Mail benefits story http://bit.ly/hmyt6K
http://dawnwillis.wordpress.com/2011/02/27/how-to-fake-up-a-daily-mail-benefits-story-in-five-easy-steps/ How to fake up a Daily Mail benefits story in five easy steps. « Dawn Willis sharing the News & Views of the Mentally Wealthy

[...] http://www.leftfootforward.org/2011/02/fake-daily-mail-benefits-stories/ [...]
http://twitter.com/londophilic/status/41814107447508992 Gabriel

RT @leftfootfwd: How to fake up a Daily Mail benefits story in five easy steps: http://bit.ly/f4Crsy by Declan Gaffney
http://twitter.com/dis_ppl_protest/status/41823863998394368 DisabledPeople

RT @incurablehippie: RT @leftfootfwd: How to fake up a Daily Mail benefits story in five easy steps http://bit.ly/goOpZI
http://twitter.com/bendygirl/status/41824145385721856 BendyGirl

RT @incurablehippie: RT @leftfootfwd: How to fake up a Daily Mail benefits story in five easy steps http://bit.ly/goOpZI
http://twitter.com/badgerbrocks/status/41824368057131008 badgerbrocks

RT @incurablehippie: RT @leftfootfwd: How to fake up a Daily Mail benefits story in five easy steps http://bit.ly/goOpZI
http://twitter.com/chunkylimey/status/41829672618696704 Martin

RT @incurablehippie: RT @leftfootfwd: How to fake up a Daily Mail benefits story in five easy steps http://bit.ly/goOpZI
http://masondixonautistic.blogspot.com Mason Dixon, Autistic

If William would kindly look at my blog, he might find the figures showing that in fact: Jobseekers Allowance and Incapacity Benefit claims did not increase over the past decade. They were falling until the recession and when new claims for IB were stopped, it immediately began dropping off because most claimants were very short-term.
http://twitter.com/dearengland/status/41905044651651073 dearengland

RT @leftfootfwd: How to fake up a Daily Mail benefits story in five easy steps http://bit.ly/goOpZI
http://cssanewsclips.wordpress.com/2011/02/28/news-clips-monday-28-february-2011/ News clips – Monday 28 February 2011 | CSSA news & research

[...] UK: How to fake up a Daily Mail benefits story in five easy steps [...]
http://inplaceoffear.blogspot.com Duncan McFarlane

Excellent post Nicola. Tabloids are to blame for a lot in this country and the Daily Mail is the worst of the lot. No wonder we end up with people like Blair, Clegg and Cameron elected with so many people believing these propaganda rags.
http://twitter.com/judeekerick/status/42191488549007360 Jude Ekerick

Interesting –> "A step by step guide to planting a story on welfare when you don’t have any new information to offer" http://bit.ly/hmyt6K
http://www.leftfootforward.org/2011/02/dwp-war-on-benefit-claimants/ A new low in DWP’s war on disabled benefit claimants? | Left Foot Forward

[...] Friday, Left Foot Forward published a guide to faking up a Daily Mail benefits story in five easy steps using publicly available data. Of [...]
http://twitter.com/jacr13/status/42257876487634944 jacr13

RT @coffeewithkate RT @leftfootfwd: How to fake up a Daily Mail benefits story in five easy steps http://bit.ly/goOpZI
http://twitter.com/lostinmanc/status/42348241924263936 Lost in Manchester

RT @leftfootfwd: How to fake up a Daily Mail benefits story in five easy steps: http://bit.ly/f4Crsy by Declan Gaffney
http://twitter.com/stonedrose28/status/42356637901656064 Kev Lacey

RT @leftfootfwd: How to fake up a Daily Mail benefits story in five easy steps: http://bit.ly/f4Crsy by Declan Gaffney
http://twitter.com/ljmpool/status/42362174215168001 Lewis Pool

Great breakdown of the shit D.Mail etc write RT@leftfootfwd: How to fake up a Daily Mail benefits story in 5 easy steps http://bit.ly/f4Crsy
http://www.leftfootforward.org/2011/11/mail-and-telegraph-race-to-see-who-can-smear-more-disabled-people/ Mail and Telegraph race to see who can smear more disabled people | Left Foot Forward

[...] we’ve pointed out on this site before, there isn’t a great deal of expertise involved in placing misleading press stories about [...]