Disabled people everywhere still reeling at the result in the Lords tonight.
Result: Contents (supporting Lady Tanni Grey-Thompson's amendment calling for a pause to the change of DLA to PIP): 213
Not Contents (voting with the Government) 229
Baroness Grey-Thompson refused to back down in the face of Lord Freud's bullying and haranguing, and took it to a vote. While that vote was narrowly lost, not least because of the Lib Dems (only two of them had the backbone, compassion and wisdom to vote against the Tories' speeding train of crushing Welfare Reform), the voice of the disabled, now focused through the breathtaking sacrificial efforts of all involved in the "Spartacus Report" has started to be heard. Started to rock the belligerent boat that is the Government's plan for the sick. The blundering amoral machinations of Lord Freud can temporarily muffle those clear, brave voices. We've seen that tonight.
But we will never now lie down and be silenced.
Now we know the score.
We can gradually, spoonily, make Lord Freud eat every single one of those ingratiating false promises he made in order to "win" and keep us quiet tonight. As if!
For we are Spartacus.
We have one another and we are one another's strength.
We have the moral high ground the Government has long given away in its scramble to scratch its own back and feather its own grubby nest.
We won't give in.
We go on with gratitude and thankfulness to those who deserve it.
From our sickbeds and our forgotten corners, we can move forward in hope and determination to be exactly who we need to be. With fluctuating conditions, mental health issues, deteriorating and terminal illness, every type of disability and health challenge.
No. We might not fit in your assessment tick-boxes. We might not be conveniently "fit for work".
But we are here. One way or another, we won't be going away just because it makes you uncomfortable in your ivory tower!
There is still everything to play for! We are Spartacus, and we aren't about to roll over and give in. Disability means living with challenges every day, and the Welfare Reform Bill is yet another one to build up our wobbly muscles on!
We've so much to build on, now. So many new friends and champions.
Onwards and upwards, spoonie Spartaci! xxx
I love this! Such a positive stance on such a gloomy evening. You're right; the fight's not over yet. Just been bringing a friend up to date on Facebook - she new very little of what's gone on. As news of the changes starts to spread, more and more will join our corner.
ReplyDeleteI truly believe in karma - Lord Fraud (I love that!) will not sleep soundly in his bed tonight or for a very long time to come!
Go, spoonies! Hugs and XXXX
Thanks so much! I really believe that Spartacus is a big step forward to showing us who battle daily with illness that when we feel most powerless, if we keep our humour, determination, integrity, we can encourage each other, shouting with our combined croaks and whispers! We're more used than the rich and comfy to struggling when the odds stacked against us, with no option to give in. When our backs are against the wall, with Fraud's smug face gloating over us - ugggh, that's just given me heartburn - we now have a huge hidden army of friends around us in similar situations. Fraud and his phoney cronies know it too, which is such a triumph! Like the ME community that first brought us two together, the wider spoonie and spartacus circle need never feel alone again! Whatever happens! Bring it on! Huggles & love xxxx
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