Currently running on Facebook is a campaign lambasting the Comic Relief 'Red Nose' day because, they say: "(We) are annoyed and distressed at Comic Relief's decision to include David Cameron in the video to this year's charity single by One Direction. They then go on to list all of the atrocities committed by Cameron, aimed at sick and disabled people, and those on benefits or on a low income. Firstly, let me make it clear that I agree wholeheartedly with this group's stance against...

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This week I’ve handed my blog spot over to an artist whose medium is being creative with the airways. Her name is Merry Cross who, apart from being a presenter on Reading community radio, is also well known as a disabled activist and one of the organisors of the Berkshire Disabled People Against Cuts movement. Here’s her contribution: Community Radio for disabled presenters "Years ago, it struck me that radio is an ideal medium for virtually all disabled people, except...

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Several people have commented recently that my cartoons have become more 'dark' of late. I suppose that it's inevitable considering the subject matter to hand these days; disabled people dying after having their benefits stopped, the government disassembling the welfare state and taking equality back to the dark ages, what can you expect? I'm not consciously looking for bleaker material you understand. It's just that it's being thrust into our faces everywhere we turn. Even the so called 'right...

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I read a letter in a local newspaper the other day. The writer was praising David Cameron for reducing the number of people who were on benefits and for making them work for a living instead of scrounging off the state. He seemed to think that some 60% of those people on benefits had now been found work by the government, freeing up a considerable amount of money from the welfare fund. Where on earth had he got this evidence from? Surely he didn't just rely on the government or the right wing...

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Several nights ago, a young disabled woman was at home on her own when a knock at the door heralded the arrival of police officers from the local constabulary. She claims that there aim was to intimidate her into stopping posting comments on Facebook critical of government cuts and specifically the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) and their attacks on the rights of disabled claimants! Several other reports have now filtered in of similiar tactics by police in other areas. It's...

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It is being stated that physical and sexual abuse has been prevalent within mental hospitals, disability institutions and care establishments throughout the UK for the past 50 years. Many of the incidents that were reported were allegedly ignored, either because the resident or patient was not believed or because it was not considered in the 'best interest' of the care community to make such allegations public. Now we have a growing list of statements made by people who were...

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Someone in Parliament has finally found the guts to stand up and accuse the DWP of being totally inept in its dealings with ATOS. I  didn't have much time for Margaret Hodge MP, especially when she was Minister for Disabled People, but her recent statement in the House of Commons as Chair of the Public Accounts Committe will have redeemed her in the eyes of many of us Crips. Pulling no punches, she told MPs: "The DWP's management of this contract has been unacceptably loose...

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It's like a feeding frenzy out there. All the funding that was originally allocated to us Crips to enable us to live and work out in the community seems to be slowly but surely eaten away by the vultures of private enterprise. You'll know about the biggest vulture, I take it? The French company ATOS who've had the contract to get as many disabled people off Benefit as they can. As an added incentive, the ConDems also gave ATOS a bonus for every Benefit payment that they stop. And...

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Disabled people across the country are furious following the Prime Minister's comments at the Tory party conference about his own experiences based on his late disabled son and father. He painted a rosy picture of the lives of disabled people in the UK following the recent Paralympics and that people were now "seeing the person and not the wheelchair". Although as one pundit commented, thanks to his policies people saw neither the person or the wheelchair, but instead saw a...

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Following the sad demise of yet another Disability Arts organisation due to funding cuts, I'm letting my cartoon speak for itself this week ...

RIP dada South/Ardent Hare

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For those of you too young to have seen the 1973 film Soylent Green with Charlton Heston this cartoon won't have the same impact on you that it will to us oldies. It was basically about a futuristic government getting rid of its dissidents and solving a world wide food crisis by turning them into food - Soylent Green! We're being such a pain in the arse to the present Tory government that it's a wonder they haven't thought of this as a solution for us! Remember ... you are what...

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Like hundreds of other disabled people in the UK today, Adam Lotun has experienced verbal and physical abuse, has been spat at, pushed off the pavement in his wheelchair into oncoming traffic and accused of single handedly bringing this Country to the brink of bankruptcy by claiming disability benefits. Now on top of this, like thousands of other disabled people in the UK, Adam has been subjected to the ATOS work capability process and as a result has had his benefits cut and his accessible...

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Beware men from the Ministry wielding paint brushes.

Nothing is as black and white as it appears, especially when Crippen links badger culling to thinning out the ranks of us Crips ... puts a whole new spin on painting by numbers!
 

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For those historians amongst us you'll have realised by now that this Tory government is just another manifestation of the idle rich, raping and pillaging their way through the land with their eyes very much fixed on the short term. As far back as ancient Rome, the various emperors manipulated public opinion and made sure that there were plenty of scapegoats to blame for the decline in the standard of living. They also became very adept at creating colourful distractions in order to...

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When these latest figures hit my in tray this week I couldn't help wondering if this was further evidence of the effect of the government's targeting of disabled people? Police figures for England, Wales and Northern Ireland show that there has been a rise in hate crimes against disabled people during the past two years. Although some of this could be attributed to an increased willingness to report such crimes, more than 2,000 such offences were recorded in 2011, which is up a third...

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Can we dare to believe it ... According to a report in the Daily Mirror on-line, outraged athletes have lined up to slam PM David Cameron and his beleaguered Chancellor George Osborne in a storm that threatens to taint tonight’s ­ Paralympic closing ceremony. It claims that Team GB’s Paralympic athletes have launched a furious attack on the Government over ­savage plans to slash vital disability payments. Last week George Osborne was booed as he appeared in front of an...

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I received an update on the ATOS Games this morning from Mark Baggley of Choices and Rights (additional updates from DPAC are also at the end of this blog). The ATOS Games for those of you who haven't been paying attention are a series of organised protests against ATOS, the principle sponsor of the 2012 Paralympics. Principle organisers of the protests are Disabled People Against Cuts (DPAC) and Choices and Rights Disability Coalition. ATOS is the French based company who have been...

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I've had several messages concerning limited access  to the forthcoming Paralympics. For the most part it's been about poor information provision but other issues are now coming to light, one of which seems to involve a strange interpretation of PA support. A disabled mum of two, along with her husband decided that they would like to go to the Paralympics. Well, here's her story ... "The London 2012 Olympic Games were brilliant. My family - particularly my two children -...

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I found this article in the Guardian archives which may have some relevance to the forthcoming Paralympics and the proposed ATOS protests. Back in 2008 the British Olympic Association (BOA) said it would review its athletes' contract for the Beijing Games after criticism of a clause which had prevented competitors from making political statements in China. The clause, which appeared to go beyond the requirements of the Olympic charter, will be softened although athletes who engage in overt...

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This is an extract from an excellent article in Disability Now (DN) about disabled asylum seekers using art to express themselves through a painted mural in Bristol. In the DN article, Disabled Iraqi Ahmed tells us a disturbing account about their lives and their treatment in Britain. "People in Britain don’t seem to like the disabled. I see lots of disabled people. They drink in the park, they have nowhere to live. They try to kill themselves ... "Britain says Iraq is rubbish...

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So, let's  take the suggestion a little further shall we? We've already decided if disabled athletes AND disabled artists work together then we have a real chance of putting a spanner in the works of this divisive government, even if it's a small one. Because let's face it, some of those disabled athletes out there are only a hair's breadth away from falling into the benefits trap that many of us currently find ourselves in. Disabled athletes are currently the flavour...

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Why is it that the companies that Cameron and his cronies pay to handle such diverse matters as the Direct Payments Scheme (A4E) and now the stewarding of the Olympic Games (G4S), when they foul up, they get let off with little more than a slapped wrist? Nothing about Breach of Contract, Penalty Clauses, or being made to give back the millions that they've been paid! No, the British tax payer coughs up yet again and we bail out yet another balls-up! But what about all of the pieces that...

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Last week at the Shape media conference I had the pleasure of meeting Kristina Veasey. She has taken part in two Paralympics and talked about her own experiences competing as a disabled athlete. For most of us non-athletic Crips, and in particular those of us involved in disability arts, the world of the Paralympian seems remote to say the least. We see them as single minded Super Crips with no interest or involvement in disability politics and protest. What we do hear about are those sporty...

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On Tuesday of this week (the 19th June) I'll be attending the DAO/Shape conference to be held at the Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Centre, in London. The aim of the conference is to bring together both disabled and non-disabled professional journalists and disabled artists and to look at how disabled people are being represented in the mainstream press, specifically during the Cultural Olympiad.  I'll be creating and then presenting cartoons based upon the discussions taking...

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I posted this cartoon on the Crippen Cartoon blog the other day and because I've started to get some interesting comments about it, I thought I'd share it with you on this Disability Arts on Line blog. I'm still amazed at the number of Disabled people who don't know who Atos are. Despite most of them having gone through, or are due to go through the Government's Benefits Assessment programme. The Assessment is, of course, being carried out by Atos. They are paid a handsome...

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