There are such a lot of insidious, barely noticeable changes happening right now that it’s pretty much impossible for anyone outside of Westminster to keep up. (Personally, I’m not even convinced anyone inside has managed to keep up.)
There’s been a lot of talk about Access To Work recently. Facebook and Twitter keep flashing up the occasional article, rant or essay of despair.
I’ve kind of noticed it and not noticed it; I know that there’s a lot of new barriers to being granted sufficient support, but I’m not entirely sure exactly why.
Interpreter agencies are also coming under fire for being unscrupulous, and a lot of deaf people have less than polite things to say about the very people who are assisting them with communication. I know there are divides springing up, but I’m not entirely sure exactly why.
The NHS is being privatised and generally, slowly, dismantled. Services, staff and patients are suffering from cutbacks, new red tape, and a thousand other small things that haven’t made the news. I know this is going to be bad, but I’m not entirely sure exactly why.
There’s also been some talk about cloning dodo DNA and bringing one back to life. I’m not entirely sure exactly why anyone wants to, but I guess that’s another story.
So, why have I told you all this stuff is out there? Why have I admitted I don’t know enough about any of it, and you probably don’t either, without actually finding the answers and giving them to you?
Well, because it’s not my place. I don’t know the details. I don’t want to run the risk of passing on information that might not be 100% correct. I’m not a campaigner. I don’t want to stick my neck out and risk getting noticed.
And, frankly, none of it has affected me directly yet. Well, it has a little bit. And some of my friends are already suffering quite badly from various cuts and rule changes. But it’s still alright at the minute. If it gets worse in the future, I guess I will just deal with it then.
Except… The future. Hmm. I’ve a sneaking suspicion that’ll be too late. I will sit on the fence and watch indifferently until there’s nothing left to watch. The NHS will be a dodo; dead. Access To Work will be a dodo; dead. The very notion of deaf and disabled people being fully independent, happy and fulfilled members of a society they contribute to and feel welcomed by will be a dodo; dead.
We are in danger of waddling blindly up to the big humans who have all the power but look friendly. They steal our attention towards the tiny morsel of good news in their left hand, and we never notice the musket in their right.
In fact, we are so easily distracted that it doesn’t even have to be good news; we can’t help but forget about the comparatively insignificant changes happening close to home when we are being constantly bombarded by horrific news and images from around the world.
I’m not saying we shouldn’t care about the wider world. But we need to stop being quite so blasé about our own lives. We need to work together, we need to educate ourselves and each other. We need forums and voices and, sorry to be the one to say it, but we need to listen more carefully.
And, more than any of this, you all need to stop thinking like me. You need to stop thinking it won’t affect you, or that you’re only one person and you can’t do anything. Find out what is happening in your world, and if you don’t like it, find out how you can help stop it.
Don’t just let it slide, until that very last bird has been shot. After all, there would have been an easier way to bring back the dodos than DNA cloning; just never to have let them die out in the first place.
Be less dodo. Be more you. Let’s do this.
Emily Howlett is a Contributing Editor to this site. She is a profoundly Deaf actress, writer, horsewoman and new mum. Emily used to be found all over the place, but motherhood has turned her into somewhat of a self-confessed homebody. She now has not one, but four grey eyebrow hairs. C’est la vie. She tweets as @ehowlett
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Linda Richards
August 21, 2014
Hello Emily,
Enjoyed reading this and loved the analogy with the Dodo. Sorry to say this but just writing this piece makes you a campaigner! And, in relation to working together, have you any thoughts or suggestions? Is there a leader or organisation you would like to see at the helm? How can we get to and ‘do-do’ before we become a Dodo?! LMR
Andy, not him, me
August 21, 2014
Well said, Emily.
All that is required for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.
Edmund Burke 18th C philosopher.
The fact is that we ARE vulnerable people. We don’t get the good jobs. We miss out on progressive career advancement. It’s all a matter of getting lucky. Statistically we are poorer than average, we are limited by the hearing world’s inability to cope with the fact that we can’t hear.
One of the things we are going to lose in this latest attack on disabled people is the right to claim P.I.P. Already I am hearing of tests conducted on deaf people which set them up to fail. While we may struggle in most surroundings, the quiet well lit office of a medical examiner is not one of them. Examiners are permitted to make their own judgement about a person’s degree of deafness based on what they can see in just one interview. And so a lot of deaf people are failing to qualify for P.I.P because they haven’t been properly assessed.
This has happened before. In the early 1990’s the Government brought in Disability Living Allowance with the specific intention of boosting the incomes of disabled people. Deaf people were completely left out of this.
In 1997 a young woman called Rebecca Halliday challenged this policy. She had already been getting an earlier benefit on account of her deafness, now she was suddenly ineligible for DLA. With the help of the Council for Civil Liberties she fought the Government all the way through the courts to a decision made in the House of Lords by no less than the Lord Chief Justice.
As a result of this deaf people qualified for DLA and many of us got a much needed boost to our funds. If we had to work at below our potential then at least we got a bit of recompense for doing so!
Now it looks as if, with the advent of P.I.P we are back to square one. Deaf people are being rejected unfairly for the new benefit.
So don’t just sit there, do what the lady says!
Halliday:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/woman-deaf-since-birth-wins-new-deal-for-disabled-1262796.html
Sandra Dowe
August 21, 2014
Maybe need a change of government at next election. This one is dismantling national services and, I think, not good for the Deaf community – or hearing.
Tim
August 21, 2014
Good article and Andy above has some excellent points too.
If we want to avoid becoming dodo-burgers we have to fight. Don’t accept decision-makers’ decisions; appeal, appeal, appeal, right up to the Supreme Court if need be.
M
August 21, 2014
Americanism creeping into UK culture me think…..anyway Emily, as Linda said, you are a campaigner alas a lone wolf like so many of us…..
Do we see the many Deaf organisation becoming dead as a dodo? – yes me think – lacks good leadership with grassroot nowadays – so busy with their Kudos.
Another new dangerous thing as come in by the government and it is called “Vexatious notice” – if you dare to question and continue to question and challenged them – then quite aggressively you get served. Both Statutory and Voluntary sectors are using them now.
We have become conditioned to conform.
Sad that the legal department are not quite there to give support.
A change of any government will not make any different – it is the people that has to change for the better and they are not going to – society is getting too greedy with their self indulgence – it is the Thatcher’s belief and her legacy that has left us in this mess.
It is not impacting just with d/Deaf people but vulnerable people of all kinds while the do able and well able enrich on the back of our inabilities or access needs compromised.
We do need one unity deaf organisation with a good leader. Sorry, I am not one of them but gladly support them but not with those fragmented deaf organisation making things that much more difficult or much worse money wasted.
As my Labour MP – yes A Labour MP! in my constituency said – stop campaigning and just look after yourself. Her comment flummoxed me. She doesn’t care to listen and I am real glad she is stepping down but sadden to see a replacement that much worse and hope she doesn’t get elected next year.
Dan Sumners (@sumnersdan)
August 21, 2014
A thoughtful piece Emily, thanks for sharing it.
I think admitting when you don’t know something is important. It means you know what you don’t know, which in turn means you know what you need to know. And education is at the root of change.
But once admitted, you have to stick with that understanding. If you know you don’t know much about what’s going on, it means you have to be careful about making predictions.
That goes especially for people who have the opportunity to communicate their thoughts far and wide on a blog like this.
For example, in our negotiations with Access to Work, the civil servants seem committed to the scheme and making it work. The government has stated many times they want more people to be helped by it.
Now, that’s not helped by not increasing the budget. And it’s clear deaf people are experiencing many problems with the way the scheme is run.
But we have had no indication the scheme is going the way of the dodo. And even if this scheme does die at some point, my prediction, as someone who has been involved in campaigning for 20 years and working directly with government for 10, is it will be replaced with something else, if not cloned.
DonKey
August 21, 2014
Well said.
Matt Brown
August 21, 2014
There is a LOT more going on than just Access to Work. It’s interesting that there’s more noise about that one issue than some others. I wonder why.
SEN Statements are going and being replaced with EHC Plans and “personal budgets”. There is much that is positive about this change (Martin McLean talks about some of the improvements here on Limping Chicken) but try talking to those in receipt of social services “personal budgets” and you’ll get a very mixed picture. Will it be a new lease of freedom for deaf kids and their parents, or is it an attack on welfare in disguise?
DLA is already a dodo – PIP is rolling out with the help of that most beloved company, Atos.
DSA is also under attack. We don’t yet know how much it will affect deaf university students but the start of the new academic year is not far off so we’ll know soon enough.
Finally, there’s rumours of a National Framework agreement for public service interpreting in general, in the model of the ongoing Ministry of Justice / Capita / ALS disaster which has seen costs double and standards plummet. If you think Access to Work is bad, just wait until that one hits.
Austin Kocher
August 31, 2014
Excellent post.