Tweet block…men and their frail ego’s.
Before I start I feel that I ought to declare my own credentials. I’m a working class lesbian with disabilities. I was born into a mining family and community in the late 60’s. My disabilities are in part a result of growing up with a violent father, poor gene’s and a system that puts women’s health at the bottom of every list.
I live in council house where I’ve just won a 13 year battle to have rotten windows replaced to find out that every single room where I live is covered in Asbestos and currently waiting to find out if I am going to lose my home because of it. My home has not and is not subject to improvement works under the Decent Homes Scheme despite the rotting windows, illegally out of date wiring and heating but I’m lucky because my kitchen was changed by Social Services in 2005 and bathroom replaced in 2013 because it wasn’t fit for purpose. I live in Lambeth a borough that has been under Labour control for too many years to count.
I started a degree in 2006 and despite a crash with a mega bus, death of my mother, catastrophic injury to my nephew and rape of my niece passed it in 2011 with a 2.1 . Throughout my studies despite registering with my uni I was given no help or support bar an extra 15 mins in exams and the ability to use a word processor because of my dyslexia. I did though at least have access to the Disability access fund that I believe is no longer accessible to students with dyslexia
I have experienced the conscious cruelty of the Work Capability Assessment… fit for work in 12 weeks, 16 months then finally placed in the Support Group. The transfer from DLA to PIP took 48 weeks and saw me cured of my ME, spinal stenosis, congenitally narrow spinal cord, sjorgrens and asthma but kindly they do recognise that I am incontinent (as a result of some of the above)
A few other things about me, in the recession of the 80’s I chose to do full time volunteering rather than sit on my bum, I worked with various different people and for various different people including but not limited to young homeless people, Drug and Alcohol users, Refugee’s and children in Local Authority care.
When I was 21 I applied to legally foster twins through the High Court to stop the Local Authority dumping them and writing them off as just more mixed raced kids in care. I was given custody by the court despite the objections about my sexuality somehow indoctrinating the kids.
The reason why I’m telling you all this…. Because whilst you and your ilk are talking and writing and tweeting (and blocking) about things people like me are the ones who are living it and are never heard. We don’t fit in with the right cliques, have enough energy beyond what we are doing to expend it on becoming spokespeople, nobody would listen to us anyway because we are the people that you lot talk about not the people that are heard.
I’ve noticed you around for a little while now and whilst some of the things you say I agree with others I just think as stupid political point scoring made to make you look better. Two tweets today annoyed me enough to tweet back.
1. Grenfell Towers being a ‘line in the sand’ and;
2. The Queen somehow having guts to turn up.
You see I and people around me are being terrorised on a daily basis, wondering when we will be called in to be grilled about our claims for social security and whether or not we can be tricked out of it.
Many of us have been made worse from the violence that is the Assessments for benefit, many of us have died, many many more people than have lost their lives in the appalling and horrific Grenfell Towers fire. But this never seems to be acknowledged unless you want to highlight something about the Tories, you see it’s not genuine concern for those of us on the bottom of the pile no it’s political opportunism to use us to make your point.
As in your line in the sand tweet, why is this your line, why isn’t it the thousands of disabled people and families left to deal with it? Is one death by this current government more important to you than another, because that’s what if feels like when I see things like that and it reminds me again that we as a group ‘disabled people’ are being used for political expediency.
Don’t think I’m just having a go at you I’m not as I said I’m sick and tired of all of it and all the cliques around. Those of us who can’t attend demonstrations and meetings have no voice and are in fact denied a voice because who do we think we are when they (you) have been putting in the hard work. You see how it goes.
I voted for Corbyn, twice in the leadership contest and then the general election but make no mistake this goes for him and his team too, including his son. I am tired of white middle class people, more often than not men being given the right to talk for people like me when they haven’t earned it and can only ever experience it on an academic level.
Fed up to the back teeth of political point scoring at the cost of someone else’s experiences and then ridiculed or shut down when we dare to say…hold on a minute I don’t’ think that ‘s quite right. You see you write and talk about it be we are the ones who are living it and our voices are never heard unless it’s a little snapshot for the news or to prove a point such as what is going on about Grenfell Towers. But again it seems to be those that shout loudest that they are being given airtime and newspaper columns, most of them men.
If we really want things to change have a look at yourselves as well as the Tories, your alternative commentariate isn’t that different from what you are shouting about and making cheap political points doesn’t do anything for people like me except turn me away and off because too many egos spoil the broth….
Solon New Road 