Austerity policies affect people with disabilities

Governments in Europe have less money. This means they have to spend less. Because of that, sometimes they stop helping people with disabilities. People with disabilities have more trouble to live independently.

Austerity measures undertaken by governments across Europe have affected the life of millions of citizens. Every day, we are presented with growing unemployment rates, businesses shutting down and increasing number of people living reaching the poverty threshold. People with disabilities are one of the groups drastically affected by these measures which often tends to be forgotten by the mainstream media.

According to the European Disability Forum’s Observatory on the Impact of the Crisis, in some countries over 70% of people with disabilities are on benefits. When it comes to making cuts, people with disabilities are an easy target. With the austerity measures, universal cuts have been made on allowances in nearly every EU country.

Moreover, national recovery plans include an increase in taxation. This exacerbates the burden for people with disabilities and their families.

Finally austerity means reduction of budgets, especially at a local level. This also means a reduction in the provision of services and support to people with disabilities, making community living and inclusion harder to achieve and maintain.

In many countries, disability organisations have been uniting to protest and challenge the cuts that are being made nationally. According to the European Disability Forum, complaints of the situation have been heard from Sweden, the Netherlands, the UK, Belgium, Bulgaria, Slovenia, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Ireland and Greece.

The United Kingdom

The British government is trying to get the Welfare Reform Bill approved. This bill will mean serious losses of benefits for people with disabilities. These include plans to replace the Disability Living Allowance (a payment that enables disabled people to pay for additional costs associated with their disability) with a Personal Independence Payment (PIP) which will be much harder to access. Also, work-capable people with disabilities who are out of work for a time due to unemployment or disability/health related reasons face losing Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) after one year. It is estimated that 400 000 citizens with disabilities will lose out on work support through ESA. All of this, in spite of evidence from the UK's Department of Work and Pensions (DWP - Britain's version of Work and Income) that it takes disabled people a year or more to find work.

A couple of weeks ago, the bill passed through the House of Lords where they tried to introduce some amendments to reduce the effect of this bill. They even introduced an amendment to young disabled people's eligibility for contributory Employment and Support Allowance. Nonetheless, these amendments were mostly refuted.

The Bill has generated a big debate in the media. According to various charities and associations, including Inclusion Europe's member Mencap, ministers and other civil servants have been inflaming public opinion by highlighting supposed mass abuse of the disability benefit system. The case of a lottery winner still receiving disability benefits has been used by the media to portray people with disabilities as “scroungers” and fakers. In the turmoil created by these publications, a rise of intolerance and harassment towards people with disabilities is taking place in Great Britain.

The UK was once seen as one of the pioneers in independent living. Current cuts in benefits, unemployment and negative attitudes threaten to transform independent living into a privilege for people with disabilities, instead of a recognised right. Moreover, the Independent Living Fund·(ILF)·is also being targeted for closure in 2015. The ILF is an Executive Non-Departmental Public Body that provides discretionary cash payments directly to disabled people so they can purchase care from an agency or pay the wages of a privately employed Personal Assistant (PA). This support enables disabled people to choose to live in their communities rather than in residential care.

Italy

According to an article published by Inclusion Europe’s member ANFFAS, Monti’s government is planning to eliminate attendance allowance for dependent elderly and people with disabilities with an income over a certain threshold. This is rumoured to be approved by decree at the end of May. The problem with such a measure, says Cristiano Gori from ANFFAS, is that it will mean the government’s support for long-term care is just something done for the very poor, instead of being a right of the citizen. Welfare will be seen mainly as assistance instead of a service provided to the citizens that need it.

The Netherlands

Among the first cuts undertaken by the Dutch government to bring down budget deficit was cuts in the Bijstand, which are welfare grants for the weakest layers of society, and cuts in the “social workplaces” for people with working disabilities that have almost no prospect of getting a job otherwise. It is said that· by 2014, 117 000 people in the Netherlands will lose their personal assistance budgets.

These are just a few examples of what austerity measures have brought forth to people with disabilities. The situation is the same and sometimes worse all across Europe.· Budget cuts, deteriorating perceptions, tax raises and other issues are making it hard for people with disabilities to exercise their rights. Education, creation of jobs, access to healthcare and awareness rising of the situation will benefit not only people with disabilities but Europe as a whole.