The accessibility of infrastructure like pavements and railway station platforms shouldn’t be fought for by those with disabilities and other mobility issues this disability pride month.
I know what those reading this will be thinking ” it’s just about celebrating members of the LGBTQIA+ community who also have a disability, in actual fact it is not about that at all.
Each July the disabled community come together from all 4 nations and promote the different abilities that we live with on a daily basis. It was first started in the United States of America (USA) back in 1990’s
As someone living with Cerebral Palsy and Hydrocephalus I started thinking about ” why do we as a community have to fight for what our able-bodied counterparts take for granted.
In recent years have had to fight for equal access to both the pavement and rail networks because I have struggled to navigate them independently using my wheelchair.
That fight wasn’t an easy one, let me tell you because the organisations who I was attempting to engage with (Herefordshire Council and West Midlands Trains) were not very fourth coming with regards to engaging with me about the issues that I was trying to raise with them at the very beginning of my campaigns.
Unfortunately I was forced to enlist the help of Free Radio (who are now known as Hits Radio) and ITV News Central to highlight that a couple of roads in Hereford were what I defined as an ” accident waiting to happen”.
This led to the local authority spending upwards of £68,000 on creating a number of dropped curbs across 4 different locations in the city.
Personal Independence Payment (PIP) has been a hot topic within the disabled community in recently weeks and months after the government decided to introduce the Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment bill into law.
The bill would have detrimental impact on the lives of thousands of people living with disabilities and other health conditions as they rely on the funds that they receive from the Department for Work and Pensions on a monthly basis to live as independently as we can.
These are just 3 things from a long list that we as a community have to fight for on an almost daily basis in some cases which shouldn’t be happening in 2025.
I have the following message for all members of our community and any ally’s who maybe reading this, “Please listen and learn from our community both this month and moving forward as it will help to combat any prejudice that we currently receive from society”.
Hate has no place within society in 2025 and I am personally fed up of receiving negative comments for standing up for what I believe in.
A local newspaper published an article recently with my reaction to the second reading of the Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment bill passing through the House of Commons onto the third and final reading.
There was one comment on the article in question that talked about ” Yawn. why do people with clear and obvious disabilities who need support keep speaking out about the matter?. They were never going to affected.
There is a short answer to the comment is this, no we didnt know if our benefits would be cut as part of the bills implementation, allowing the government to save an estimated 5 billion pounds.
It is also important to note that it was only when the Prime Minister decided that one of number concessions made so that the bill would second reading would be that current claimants of PIP would not be affected by any of the proposed changes.
This still isn’t good enough Prime Minister!!!!!!!!!!
Do you enjoy reading my latest posts each week once they have been published?, if the answer is yes then why not subscribe (if you haven’t already) and receive future ones direct to your inbox within just a few short minutes of publication.
Subscribe: https://just-being-cp.co.uk/
Thank you to each and everyone of my loyal readers and social media followers who continually take the time out of your busy schedules to read my latest post, it doesn’t go unnoticed and is of course very much appreciated.
Cam
Leave a Reply