Guardian article by me (with the video interviews) on the closure of the independent living fund:
“High on the list of this government’s god-awful initiatives is a vile recent decision to close the Independent Living Fund and devolve it to councils. You may have been wondering how low things would go with this government. This story should give you some indication.
The ILF was set up in 1988 as a stand-alone fund to which people with severe disabilities could apply for money for added carer hours. That extra money meant that people could afford to pay carers for the help that they needed – round-the-clock, in some cases – to live independent lives. It meant, in other words, that people with severe impairments could look forward to more than a life spent staring at walls in under-resourced care homes. Which is as you’d hope. Anyone who is even vaguely human wants to know that certain support systems are in place. Suffering a serious injury and/or disability, which let’s not forget, any of us might, is surely challenging enough without also finding that your human right to independence is in society’s ever-burgeoning “can’t afford it” category.”