Nov 272014
As almost 20 000 disabled people across the UK wait to hear the decision in the latest round of High Court battles(1) over the Governments callous decision to close the Independent Living Fund (ILF), the #SaveILF Campaign is going on a tour of the most popular hash-tags in the UK over the next few weeks to highlight this callous attack on disabled peoples right to independent living.Following on from the massive support we have already received for our ILF Postcard Campaign from the stars(2) of ITV1 soap Corrie, BBC1 soap Eastenders & BBC1 hit drama Silent Witness, #SaveILF will go on a Hashtag Hijack, hijacking some of the most popular TV shows, sports and leisure events, and viral hits every week. And you can help us to tell the nation why ILF is so important, and what the can do to support the campaign to save it.
Beginning tonight with BBC1’s Question Time, we are asking all our members, friends and supporters to join us as we Hijack the hashtag:
#BBCQT from 10.00pm until the end of the show at 11.30pm. The ILF was setup in 1988(3) to provide support outside of Local Authority Care to disabled people with high support needs. The fund was closed to new applicants in 2010, and the Coalition Government announced in 2012 it was to be closed altogether, and Local Councils would be expected to meet users needs. This is despite mounting evidence of the biggest cuts to Councils(4) (whose biggest cost is Social Care) ever seen. With Councils unable to meet peoples needs in the community, many face being institutionalised in residential homes. Users challenged this decision, and earlier this year the High Courts(5) backed them, overturning the Governments decision. Lord Justice McCombe said:“It seems to me that what was put before the minister did not give to her an adequate flavour of the responses received [during the consultation period] indicating that independent living might well be put seriously in peril for a large number of people.”
However, the Government haven’t accepted the Courts ruling, and we now await the Courts latest decision.
So lets not sit back and wait for the next line in the story, LETS BE the next line in the story.
Remember to also use #SaveILF (& #bbcqt) also in all your Tweets. You can follow @Dis_PPL_Protest, and share ours, or you can go here: https://dftr.org.uk/Songbird.php?TweetFile=SaveILF and select from some of our favourites.
Linda Burnip, a founding member of DPAC and part of the #SaveILF Campaign said ‘we have beaten the previous Minister on this already. This new case represents the last desperate act of a desperate department which hasn’t got a single decision right since this Government came to power‘.
Our homes NOT residential homes!
1 – https://disabilitynewsservice.com/2014/10/ilf-users-back-in-court-for-fresh-attempt-to-stop-regressive-closure-decision/2 – https://www.pcs.org.uk/en/news_and_events/pcs_comment/index.cfm/corrie-stars-back-ilf-campaign
4 – https://www.centreforwelfarereform.org/uploads/attachment/354/a-fair-society.pdf5 – https://www.theguardian.com/society/2013/nov/06/disabled-people-win-living-fund-appeal
