Crippen Cartoons cartoons at the cutting edge of disability

Crippen’s Freak Show cartoon

One of the comments that was made at the recent SHAPE/DAO Media Conference concerned the ethics of some TV commissioning departments.

Some felt that the involvement of small people in a recent docu-drama about their involvement in a panto, was more about providing the freak show element that the general viewing public seem to enjoy, rather than an attempt at a serious documentory.

The cartoon is based upon one conference participant’s observation …

2012 Paralympics Crip Tossing

Overheard a conversation the other day between a couple of sporty wheelchair users. You know the type; massively developed upper body with tiny legs and feet strapped into the base of the chair. The sort that can do wheelies up and down stairs and tell non-disabled people that there’s no need for ramps and such!

Their main gripe it appeared was about the Cultural Olympiad and the money that was being spent getting disabled people involved.

“what is this Cultural Olympics (sic) then?” queried his friend.

“It’s a load of nutters and whimps getting money for doing Blue Peter stuff!” was the reply.

“But that’s not proper Olympics is it?!”

“No. And it’s them that give disability a bad name. At least we show people that we can achieve something for all the money they give to charity.”

You ever get the feeling that we’re just not getting through to some people?!

Don’t give A toss!

Wonder how many members of the public realise just how pissed off we are about Atos?!

These are the self styled experts that the government have employed to reduce the amount of benefits being paid to disabled people in the UK.

This is the company who get paid a commission for every disabled person that they target, despite having a high percentage of their ‘decisions’ over-turned following appeal!

This is the company that has come to represent everything that is corrupt and mean spirited about the UK Government.

“We have campaign groups like DPAC and BT, and I’m aware of the effort that is going into what disabled people are doing right now, but I believe we need to have a visible “resistance movement” which brings all the strands together in a ‘Rock Against Racism’ style approach.

“This doesn’t need to be organised in the traditional Disabled People’s Organisations style; our central drive has to be to gather support for disabled people in face of the savage attacks that are falling upon us.

“This ‘movement’ needs to be militant, visible, and extremely challenging – I agree with linking with UK Uncut and employing direct action methods to get our message across – we also need to use other media and alternative forms of protest too. Working with non-disabled people will be essential.

“Duncan Smith has demonstrated that the Government has a ‘kill or exploit’ policy which is creeping nearer and nearer to the Nazis’ T4 programme. Our lives ARE at risk; it’s no longer about being excluded or marginalised and offered inadequate services – the fact IDS used the word “fester” transforms the landscape – people with impairments are now viewed as “a sickness” – the same type of landscape the Nazis created for the Jews and other ‘unacceptable groups’.

“No doubt he’ll claim he used “fester” to mean ‘left without support’, but we know that this is bollocks because the Government like all of those before them maintain our social oppression. The mask has slipped, finally the ruling elite reveal their resentment and contempt for the “ABNORMAL, CRIPPLES and FREAKS” who have been burdensome due to the Welfare State. The knives are out; they ARE out to get us!

“We MUST mount a resistance, fighting cuts and oppressive policies, is not enough in relation to this ideological onslaught – it is a State run ‘hate campaign’ and more and more disabled people will die.

“I’m not going over the top or being alarmist, this is a measured political analysis of our current situation. Me simply putting out a “call to arms” will achieve nothing in itself; what is required is for disabled people, especially activists, to come together to shape our destiny – unless there is a genuine effort made to build a resistance movement, many of us will not have a future.”

Bob Williams-Findley is well known within the disabled people’s movement both as an academic and an activist. Please leave your responses to Bob’s article within the comments section of this blog. Thankyou.

Photograph of Vic Finklestein 2011

Having been out of things for most of the last 12 months I was saddened to hear that the political activist and god-father of the disabled people’s movement Vic Finkelstein had recently died aged 73.

Originally deported from South Africa in the 60’s for his support of the anti-apartheid movement, Vic was the main architect of ‘The Fundamental Principles of Disability’, published in 1975, which argued that the problems faced by disabled people were caused by society’s failure to take account of their needs, not by their impairments.

In 1972 when Paul Hunt wrote his now famous letter to the Guardian, calling for a radical new disability organisation to be formed, Vic eagerly got involved along with other politically active disabled people in the UK.

It was the resulting organisation, called the Union of the Physically Impaired Against Segregation, that published ‘The Fundamental Principles of Disability’. Not only was Vic a key participant in the discussions that produced this document, but he was the main drafter of it.

He was also prominent in setting up the BritishCouncil of Organisations of Disabled People in 1981 and became its first chair. In the same year he represented Britain at the first world congress, established by Disabled Peoples’ International.

‘To deny or not to deny disability’ by Vic Finkelsteinhas been hugely influential to countless numbers of both disabled and non disabled people new to the Social Model. Both simple and profound, it shows how that it is society that creates the barriers, and not our ‘defective’ minds and bodies, as the Medical Model would have us believe.

Vic was also instrumental in setting up the first Open University Disability Study courses, working with Colin Barnes and others at Leeds University.

My own memories of Vic are based around the comments he used to send me whenever one of my cartoons had caught his attention. Not one to mince words was our Vic and I learned a lot from him in this way. He’ll be sadly missed.

The Guardian’s obituary of Vic can be found by clicking on this link.

Crippen's Rogues Gallery cartoon

Just when you’ve all been lulled into a false sense of security and felt able to visit this blog section without the need for extra double-gusset strength protection, I’m afraid I have to break the news to you that … I’m back!

Described by one of my editors as ‘that old curmudgeon’ – A crusty irascible cantankerous old person full of stubborn ideas – I’ve left my bed of pain and incontinence and have once again picked up my pen ready to do battle on behalf of crips everywhere.

One thing I have noticed is that more and more non-disabled people, especially members of the Coalition, are joining the ranks of those who seem to enjoy giving us all a good kicking. What with companies taking contracts away from groups and organisations of disabled people (A4e), newspapers painting us all as benefits scroungers, Lansley wrecking our NHS, and the rest of the government dismantling what protective legislation that we did have and slowly but surely pushing us back towards the work house.

Plenty of material for me to get my teeth into then … watch this space!

Note: Crippen has also reopened his blog on the Disability Arts on Line web site. Click here to view. There’s also a new Flickr site where you can see about 200 of Crippen cartoons – Click here to view that. And if you’re a real masochist, you can visit his Facebook page by clicking here.

Atos tentacles

Atos Origin, the french owned company who undertake the ‘work capability assessment’ for the UK government have spread their tentacles still further into the world of disabled people.

Already a ‘worldwide partner’ of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC), Atos founder and former chair Bernard Bourigeaud, has now been invited to join the IPC as a member of the Governing Board.

Bourigeaud, a non-disabled person who now runs his own consulting company, will take his place alongside the 14 other members of the Governing Board with immediate effect and therefore be part of the body primarily responsible for the implementation of policies and direction of the Paralympic Movement.

Bob Williams Findlay, a spokesperson for Disabled People Against Cuts (DPAC) commented:

“The chief agent of people’s oppression currently in the UK is Atos, and whilst I fully understand the outrage over the appointment of Bernard Bourigeaud as a co-opted member of the Governing Board of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC), I can’t say I’m surprised … whilst western capitalist states may be slashing their welfare budgets, global corporations such as Atos, continue to exploit the potential markets surrounding medicine, ill health and disability.”

You can read more by Bob on the DPAC web site.

Click here to access the DPAC web site.

Black Triangle, another anti-cuts organisation of disabled people based in Scotland have called for a boycott of the Paralympics. John McArdle, Black Triangle’s facilitator told me:

“In a recent survey by Scope, 64% of all respondents said that they see the Paralympics as an opportunity for disabled people. We agree; it is an opportunity for grassroots disabled people and disabled people’s organisations to UNITE TOGETHER and BOYCOTT this event!”

You can read more what John has to say about this on the Black Triangle web site.

Please click here to access the Black Triangle web site.

Crippen's No Future cartoon

Recent legal advice given to 38 Degrees, the ‘Save our NHS’ campaigning group makes sobering reading. It states that the government’s changes to the NHS plans could pave the way for a shift towards a US-style health system, where private companies profit at the expense of patient care and those without money go untreated.

Barrister Rebecca Haynes found that the government’s plans could pave the way for private healthcare companies and their lawyers to benefit most from changes, not patients. Another barrister, Stephen Cragg, found that we were right to be worried that Andrew Lansley was planning to remove his duty to provide our NHS.

Conservative MPs are being told by their bosses these changes fit with party ideology. But many would be horrified to know that the NHS would be subject to European competition laws and front-line services could be held up with procurement red tape. 38 Degrees are urging people to lobby these MPs who are due to vote on massive changes to our NHS in a few days time.

They state that if enough people email now, it could tip the balance. To find out how to do this, click on this link.

38 Degrees’ independent lawyers have identified two major problems in the new legislation:

1. The Secretary of State’s legal duty to provide a health service will be scrapped. On top of that, a new “hands-off clause” removes the government’s powers to oversee local consortia and guarantee the level of service wherever we live. We can expect increases in postcode lotteries – and less ways to hold the government to account if the service deteriorates.
2. The NHS will almost certainly be subject to UK and EU competition law and the reach of procurement law rules will extend across all NHS commissioners. Private health companies will be able to take new NHS commissioning groups to court if they don’t win contracts. Scarce public money could be tied up in legal wrangles instead of hospital beds. Meanwhile, the legislation lifts the cap on NHS hospitals filling beds with private patients.

So who are MPs going to listen to when casting their vote – you, or lobbyists from private health companies? This is our NHS, and it’s up to us to defend it. Email your MP now by clicking on this link.

Crippen's Atos appeals cartoon

Several web sites and blogs carrying information about ATOS, the french owned company who undertake the ‘work capability assessment’ for the UK government have been forced to close down after receiving legal threats.

ATOS, whose parent company is run by a former French finance minister, Thierry Breton, have thrown the full weight of their legal department against several disabled groups and individuals who have been attempting to share information about their experiences during the assessment process.

Click here to access the link to one such blog.

So, here are some unequivocal facts about ATOS, based upon both their own and the UK government’s published figures, information from a cross party select committee, along with information published by various investigative journalists. Let’s see what their legal department make of this?!

Cross party select committee savage ATOS

Last month ATOS, the French-owned company who are paid by the government to assess people claiming disability benefits, was savaged by a cross-party work and pensions select committee after it found that many people had “not received the level of service … which they can reasonably expect” when undergoing the government’s controversial ‘work capability assessment’.

It is understood that these concerns over the treatment of “vulnerable people” will add to fears over the pace and radical agenda behind the government’s welfare-to-work policy, a policy which led to protests in Westminster earlier this year by thousands of disabled people.

MPs further claimed that a combination of the company’s conduct and the test itself had prompted “fear and anxiety among vulnerable people throughout the country”.

The true cost of ATOS

ATOS, who have just been granted a three-year extension on their contract to assess people claiming disability benefits, are currently being paid £100 million a year to assess around 11,000 benefit claimants a week.

But the true figure is half as much again, as almost 45% of those people who are denied benefits by ATOS have them reinstated on appeal, a process that costs the taxpayer an additional £50m a year.

Therefore, if I’ve got my maths right, it’s currently costing the british tax payer £150 million to have about half a million claiments processed a year – four out of ten of which are later found to have been assessed wrongly!

ATOS doctors under investigation by GMC

Twelve doctors employed by ATOS are under investigation by the General Medical Council (GMC) over allegations of improper conduct. The doctors face being struck off if they are found not to have put the care of patients first.

The Observer newspaper claims that seven of the doctors have been under investigation for more than seven months. The other five were placed under investigation this year following complaints about their conduct.

Crippen's Puppet Man cartoon

According to conservative MP Philip Davies, disabled people should not expect to be offered the same pay rate as non-disabled individuals.

Davies, who has previously referred to people with learning, developmental, and physical disabilities as “scroungers,” said that they should accept less than the minimum wage in order to secure a job and stop having to be dependent upon benefits.

Davies claimed “people with disabilities” or who had “mental health problems” were disadvantaged in the workplace because they had to compete with able-bodied candidates for jobs.  He stated that it was inevitable that the employer would take on the person who hasn’t got any health problems given that they were both going to be having to be paid the same rate.

“Given that some of those people with a learning disability clearly, by definition, can’t be as productive in their work as somebody who hasn’t got a disability of that nature, then it was inevitable that given that the employer was going to have pay them both the same they were going to take on the person who was going to be more productive, less of a risk, and that was doing the disabled a huge disservice.” he told the House of Commons.

Naturally enough there’s been a massive response from disabled people throughout the UK. Most point out that the ten million disabled people in the UK already face countless ingrained prejudices in the working world. By describing us as a source of cheap labour, Davies is making it even more difficult for us to overcome these prejudices.

Even the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) have felt the need to responded (having been conspicuous by its absence in most other disability related issues recently!). A spokesperson for the EHRC commented: “This is nonsense. It shows a total lack of understanding of the abilities and aspirations of Mr Davies’ disabled constituents. Disabled people have the right to work and to be treated equally in the workplace … We will be writing to Mr Davies in due course to remind him of his responsibilities.”

Davies, MP for Shipley and ‘parliamentary spokesman’ for the Campaign Against Political Correctness lobby group is no stranger to the EHRC. Over the past several years he has bombarded the government’s equalities watchdog with a series of extraordinary letters about race and sex discrimination, in a one-man campaign against ‘political correctness’.

What is interesting though, is that Davies never seems to be rebuked by the party leaders. Almost as if he’s the litmus paper they occasionally use to test out the public’s attitudes around possibly sensitive issues?!