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In 2010 the Conservative / Liberal Democrat coalition government led by David Cameron and Nick Clegg introduced an unprecedented £28 billion of cuts to disabled people’s incomes. The policies of austerity have resulted in the deaths of an estimated 120,000 disabled people according to the British Medical Journal. According to the BBC two thirds of deaths from Covid-19 have been amongst the disabled community.
In 2016 a live BBC news broadcast showing a parliamentary protest by demonstrators from WinVisible, DPAC and other groups was shut down by a parliamentary official. The protesters were lobbying MPs to scrap cuts to the employment and support allowance and to ensure the proposed budget changes to the personal independence payment (PIP) would not be introduced.
As a response to this existential threat, disabled activists have taken to the internet, fighting back with satire. An example is this PIPS assessment for David Cameron’s disabled son Ivan who died in 2009, which has been circulated online by a group calling themselves The Real RAD.
RAD logos are also beginning to appear once again and have been seen at Extinction Rebellion demonstrations and other events.
This footage shows disability rights protests inspired by Reasonable Adjustment in Bolivia in 2016.
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