{"id":34816,"date":"2016-12-05T09:52:35","date_gmt":"2016-12-05T09:52:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jomec.co.uk\/altcardiff\/?p=34816"},"modified":"2016-12-05T09:52:35","modified_gmt":"2016-12-05T09:52:35","slug":"in-depth-disabling-poverty","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/altcardiff\/2016\/12\/05\/in-depth-disabling-poverty\/","title":{"rendered":"In depth: Disability and poverty"},"content":{"rendered":"

There are over 60 Million\u00a0people living in Britain. 10 Million\u00a0of them are living\u00a0with\u00a0disabilities. 5.1 Million of them are disabled and\u00a0living in poverty. 33%<\/a> of them live in Wales.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Forget programmes such as Location Location Location and A Place in the Sun, many people living with a disability struggle to afford basic necessities such as food, never mind a holiday home along the coast of Spain.<\/p>\n

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Cut to the less glamorous country of Wales.<\/p>\n

Famous for both its beautiful culture and unforgiving and relentless weather, of which we have all\u00a0fallen victim\u00a0to at one time or another, Wales is home to at least 90,482 disabled people.<\/p>\n

Of these people, at least 83,000<\/a>,\u00a0that are aged 16 and\u00a0upwards, are not receiving paid work and are considered to be in income poverty; with 44% of all young disabled people being considered as having a high poverty rate.<\/p>\n

Therefore inevitably they must result to claiming benefits.<\/p>\n

However Bob Ellard, researcher for Disabled People Against Cuts<\/a>\u00a0(DPAC), claims “28% of people are unable to live off their benefits,” and with nearly one in five<\/a> people in Wales living with some form of disability, this affects 18% of the population across England and Wales.<\/p>\n

Basically, a disturbingly large amount of people.<\/p>\n

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“28% of people are unable to live off\u00a0their benefits”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

As if that wasn’t enough, Professor Anne Lawson of the Centre of Disability Studies<\/a>, recently revealed\u00a0that budget cuts targeting people with disabilities are nine times higher than any other groups. Within that group, 24.9% of the people affected are young people aged 16-24.<\/p>\n

Disabled people and their allies<\/strong><\/p>\n

DPAC is a UK based organisation that was born in 2010 following mass protests in Birmingham. They campaign against austerity cuts and their impact on disabled people.<\/p>\n

They quite literally don’t take no for an answer in the face of adversity, so much so, that they recently triggered a UN inquiry into the rights of people with disabilities as a result of their protests.<\/p>\n

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“Disabled people should have full human rights”<\/i><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

A spokesperson for DPAC says “DPAC is for everyone who believes that disabled people should have full human rights and equality.”<\/p>\n

DPAC in action:<\/strong>