Join: The campaign group Deaf People against Welfare Cuts

A new Facebook group has been set up called Deaf People against Welfare Cuts. It’s a campaign group looking to help deaf people argue against the cuts that are directly affecting their lives. We asked the campaign group’s managers Tina Lannin (a supporter of this site via her company 121 Captions) and Melissa Mostyn-Thomas to tell us more about their aims and how people can get involved. Read on…

Deaf People Against Welfare Cuts (DPAWC) is a new campaign group against austerity.

This is a not-for-profit collective that aims to give deaf and hard-of-hearing people a voice in the national anti-cuts campaign Coalition of Resistance (CoR), beginning with the People’s Assembly Against Austerity in London on Saturday 22nd June 2013.

Why should deaf people oppose the cuts? The welfare reforms are much more than just benefit cuts. There is strong evidence that Britain is in a position to invest and borrow its way out of the recession, but the government’s strategy is to invest less – thus protracting the austerity regime for longer than necessary – and instead try and do away with welfare, human and equality rights, therefore cutting manufacturing and labour costs and bringing foreign money back into the UK. We need to stand up and take action NOW.

Check out this post by Melissa Mostyn-Thomas on why we should join the war on welfare. A BSL video and plain English version will be uploaded soon.

The Coalition of Resistance is a national anti-cuts campaign that unites ALL campaigning groups. We work with them to enable deaf and hard-of-hearing people to speak out on their own terms and help influence an alternative national agenda in opposition to the on-going cuts. This is our opportunity to make ourselves heard. If we don’t voice our concerns, the CoR won’t know how to support us.

‘Like’ us on Facebook

Follow us on Twitter (@dpawc)

Email deafpeopleagainstwelfarecuts@gmail.com

In addition Tina Lannin, with the support of 121 Captions, has set up the LSP Fund. This has two fundraising aims:

(1) To support Language Service Professionals (LSPs) with costs of equipment hire, travel expenses etc at public events
(2) To assist with the costs of training, with the aim of increasing the number of STTRs in the UK.

The LSP Fund exists to fundraise for communication support relating to both DPAWC and CoR and other public events. You can donate to the LSP Fund or register your interest in donating time as a LSP on the LSP Fund’s contact page.

Deaf People Against Welfare Cuts (DPAWC) will be registering 20 delegates for the People’s Assembly on Saturday 22nd June 2013. If you’d like to be one of them, please email deafpeopleagainstwelfarecuts@gmail.com to book your place or to find out more.