Aggression is a fact of life for the disabled in London, as the tabloids continue to attack

In an atmosphere of right-wing media baiting, the disabled are finding themselves the object of a persecution in everyday life. Over half of disabled Londoners have experienced hostility, aggression and even violence from strangers, because of their disability, according to a new poll reported by the BBC.

Disabled person The BBC writes, on the poll of over 2,000 disabled people, that:

“Disability charity Scope, which commissioned the survey, warned a disability benefit crackdown was increasing prejudice…

“Half of London respondents to the poll said they experienced discrimination on a daily or weekly basis.

“It also found that 63% of people with disabilities in London thought others did not believe they were disabled.”

Obviously the individuals committing this foul behaviour are directly responsible. However, the government and the media shape public debate and perception on any issue, even one of simple humanity.

Many journalists cultivate the perception that if you are on a disability benefit you are either, a drug addict, a cheat, have to be forced into work, or should stop moaning because disability can be good for you. The second to last link, taken from the Mail, has a picture caption reading:

“Feet up: Claimants will lose their disability benefits as the public spending cuts bite (Posed by model).”

For an article about disabled people having their benefits cut we have a completely staged photo of a able-bodied man sitting on a sofa smoking a cigarette.

Or take this headline from The Sun: ’Cripple’ runs marathon scam. Exactly what are they putting in those quotes. Does it read: a man claiming to be a cripple runs marathons, or a man pretending to be what some people call a ‘cripple’ runs marathons. It’s hard to work out which is more offensive.

Summing all this hate mongering up is an indicative Daily Express editorial. The first lines read:

“Bad systems encourage bad attitudes. Nowhere is that more apparent than in incapacity benefit.”

Except for the systematic reporting on incapacity benefit perhaps. If one person has been abused or suffered violence because of the social impact of this reporting, that is one person too many. It’s time our press realised how cruel, unfair and one-sided their disability coverage has become.

At the same time this government are re-testing disabled people for proof that they can’t work. The fact that 71,600 people have already successfully appealed their tests initial findings, which found them ‘fit for work’, suggests how accurate it is and where its priorities lie.

To put the debate in perspective, only one per cent of benefit is fraudulently claimed and government statistics show ”tax evasion costing the public purse over £15 billion per year and benefit fraud just over £1 billion”.

Do we have constant reports of people evading tax? Are they called ‘cheats’ and ‘parasites’ who worked the international tax haven circuit while claiming to be languishing at home under punitive taxes. No. We get an unhealthy obsession with ‘benefit cheats’ that appears to be tarring those who need societies help.

http://twitter.com/therightarticle/status/80295956041568256 Michael

Aggression is a fact of life for the disabled in London, as the tabloids continue to attack – http://j.mp/lVCbBj
http://twitter.com/jpofgwynedd/status/80297632089649152 J P

RT @TheRightArticle: Aggression is a fact of life for the disabled in London, as the tabloids continue to attack – http://j.mp/lVCbBj
http://twitter.com/adpucci/status/80304807805591552 Pucci Dellanno

Tabloids share blame for hostility to disabled @BiancaJagger RT @leftfootfwd Aggression is a fact of life http://bit.ly/iG4QzH by @dbr1981
Selohesra

“Do we have constant reports of people evading tax? Are they called ‘cheats’ and ‘parasites’ who worked the international tax haven circuit while claiming to be languishing at home under punitive taxes?”

Perhaps I’m mistaken but I could have sworn that there has been endless attacks on the likes of Green & Ashcroft (but not The Guardian) for their use of tax mitigation techniques – some of which being made in quite pejorative language.
http://masondixonautistic.blogspot.com Mason Dixon, Autistic

Selohesra, the difference being that those are public individuals. The targets of the tabloids are not; even wrong-doing cheats do not have the resources to fight newspapers that mix truth with speculation and lies about them despite the impact they could have. Nor are individuals just being targeted but large swathes of people, entire demographics of benefit claimants. This is done and then they hide behind the cynical defence that ‘of course the genuine claimants should get unconditional support, we’re not talking about them but the scroungers’. They know the effect their rhetoric has, but they do it anyway and their empty platitudes don’t change that.
http://twitter.com/biancajagger/status/80353080327151616 Bianca Jagger

#RespectRightsofDisabled RT @leftfootfwd: Aggression is a fact of life 4 d disabled in London, as d tabloids continue..http://t.co/zkXD7CT
http://twitter.com/rougebaisers/status/80356959718612992 Ja ime

#RespectRightsofDisabled RT @leftfootfwd: Aggression is a fact of life 4 d disabled in London, as d tabloids continue..http://t.co/zkXD7CT
http://twitter.com/1cheerfulman/status/80361620576018433 Larry Gardiner

Disability hate crime is a daily hazard for people with disabilities! http://fb.me/SSAgmDhJ
http://twitter.com/aspiemum/status/80362607860654080 Vanessa

Disability hate crime is a daily hazard for people with disabilities! http://fb.me/SSAgmDhJ
http://twitter.com/ada_vodkar/status/80399345849081856 jessica mitchell

#RespectRightsofDisabled RT @leftfootfwd: Aggression is a fact of life 4 d disabled in London, as d tabloids continue..http://t.co/zkXD7CT
http://wheresthebenefit.blogspot.com DavidG

Further coverage from BBC Radio Kent, http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p00h6qvy/Breakfast_with_John_Warnett_and_Clare_McDonnell_13_06_2011/ see 0:09 I(my experience), 1:07 (Scope) and 2:08 (a professor from UKC). Then an hour long phone in at the start of the Julia George show http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p009v85c. South East Today also covered it, with Mark Reckless (Con, Rochester and Chatham) responding to my story by asserting people were perfectly entitled to decide disabled people were faking it.
http://twitter.com/evilc154/status/80414603091263488 Clive Burgess

RT @leftfootfwd: Aggression is a fact of life for the disabled in London, as the tabloids continue to attack http://t.co/3mkrPgv
http://twitter.com/blacktriangle1/status/80621286740598784 Black Triangle

Aggression is a fact of life for the disabled in London, as the tabloids continue to attack | Left F http://fb.me/10jaRsQEj
http://twitter.com/leni_lava/status/80625467413118976 kirst

Aggression is a fact of life for the disabled in London, as the tabloids continue to attack | Left F http://fb.me/10jaRsQEj
http://twitter.com/psychvictim/status/80630454767714304 MARY HALL

Aggression is a fact of lif: http://www.leftfootforward.org/2011/06/tabloid-media-share-the-blame-for-hostility-to-disabled/ writes @dbr1981
http://twitter.com/veganpanda/status/80632503941074944 Vegan Panda

Aggression is a fact of life for the disabled in London, as the tabloids continue to attack | Left F http://fb.me/10jaRsQEj
http://twitter.com/isdancing/status/80656579132792833 Mabel Horrocks

Aggression is a fact of lif: http://www.leftfootforward.org/2011/06/tabloid-media-share-the-blame-for-hostility-to-disabled/ writes @dbr1981
http://twitter.com/mysti2009/status/80660147743100928 Penny

Aggression is a fact of life for the disabled in London, as the tabloids continue to attack | Left F http://fb.me/X71ZyV2d
http://twitter.com/bendygirl/status/80694949020053505 BendyGirl

RT @leftfootfwd: Aggression is a fact of life for the disabled in London, as the tabloids continue to attack http://t.co/n6gY4FK
http://twitter.com/isdancing/status/80697304599904257 Mabel Horrocks

RT @leftfootfwd: Aggression is a fact of life for the disabled in London, as the tabloids continue to attack http://t.co/n6gY4FK
http://twitter.com/massagebucks/status/80855863136497664 Emma James

Aggression is a fact of life for the disabled in London, as the tabloids continue to attack http://t.co/pHrmyFd
http://www.leftfootforward.org/2011/07/government-spin-war-on-disabled-continues/ Government’s spin war against disabled continues | Left Foot Forward

[...] abuse and violence. As reported previously on Left Foot Forward, a recent survey for charity Scope in the capital found that: “Half of London respondents to the poll said they experienced [...]
http://www.leftfootforward.org/2012/02/dwp-scrounger-rhetoric-causing-real-harm/ The DWP’s ‘scrounger’ rhetoric is causing real harm | Left Foot Forward

[...] Browne wrote: Many journalists cultivate the perception that if you are on a disability benefit you are either, [...]