Independent Living Fight Back.......Protest to Save the Independent Living Fund.

On 12th May, a spirited protest took place at Department of Work & Pensions head office in Westminster, London against the abolishment of the Independent Living Fund. A fund to support severely disabled people.This fund is being abolished as a result of the bank bailouts and the rapid accumulation of national debt as a result. Though it has to be said that it is unlikely that the austerity measures will make any difference to the problem which was the reason behind the austerity. There are still no signs of the national debt ever reducing. The government is living off a fairy tale ending that is just never going to happen! There is inevitably going to be a plan B at some point, which will be after the passing of the current governments. Who ever takes on the leadership role will inherit the national debt problem we have today. It will probably be much worse.But, by then there will be many who will have paid an unnecessarily high price for those failed austerity measures!

The protest began at 3 pm on the afternoon of 12th May 2014.
To start with it began with an attempt to communicate with the people inside the building in order to get a perspective from those who were given the job of carrying out the governments orders. This involved the use of a megaphone and a public announcement system. This equipment was used to communicate the feelings of the many disabled people who were going to lose out as a result of these cuts. Whilst each of the different people took their turn to express their views, they went about this in a polite manner with no bad language.

But to every ones disappointment, the required response never happened. At around 4 pm the group split up to block two exits. A police bus arrived to reinforce the police who had been at the protest from the beginning. Staff began emerging from a fire exit. They were offered leaflets on importance of the ILF. Of around 200 staff, I saw one female member take a leaflet. She thanked the disabled protester who was in a wheel chair for the leaflet. The only other time I think some one from in the building actually spoke had come out for some fresh air.  

Videos of the whole protest were taken. I fear that some one is trying to get them all sensored!

The fight goes on...









So what is the ILF?




As part of the austerity measures, the U.K. government is closing the Independent Living Fund in 2015. The Independent Living Fund helps severely disabled people by supporting them in a way that allows them to live independently.

Disabled people are able to learn, work, volunteer, play and live in a way that makes them full members of the surrounding community.

The government had been taken to court on the grounds that the decision to close the ILF would cause undue suffering to those affected. The government lost the case, but are still pursuing the closure of the fund in 2015.

18000 disabled people claim from the ILF.

One third of these people have severe learning difficulties.

The case for this cut by the government is driven by the austerity measures which are being inflicted on the whole of the U.K.


The protest was organised by "Disabled People Against Cuts"...DPAC.