Callout from Disabled People Against Cuts:

Video: Mary Laver (who was an Olympic torchbearer last year) requires round-the-clock care assistance, because of her severe arthritis. She explains why the Independent Living Fund is so vital to paying for her carers.

Join Disabled People Against Cuts tomorrow (Monday October 14) in support of disabled claimants challenging the government’s consultation on the closure of the Independent Living Fund. The vigil and press call will take place from 12.30pm outside front entrance Royal Courts of Justice, the Strand, London, WC2A 2LL

On Monday, the Court of Appeal will be asked to overturn the decision of the High Court handed down in April that found that the consultation had been lawful and the Department for Work and Pensions had met the Public Sector Equality Duty.

The ILF was set up in 1988 to support disabled people with the highest levels of support need to live in the community. Since then it has helped thousands to live active and full lives.

The government decision to close the Independent Living Fund and instead devolve responsibility to local authorities follows a consultation that disabled people claim is unlawful.

Whereas support received through the ILF has transformed thousands of lives, local authorities are not able to provide the same level or range of support through their current systems. With central funding to local authorities being cut this can only get worse. Disabled people fear that the alternative will see them sent against their wishes to live in institutions or surviving trapped in their own homes.

The closure of the Independent Living Fund has major significance for disabled people’s equality and position within society. Disabled people fought for decades for their right to live in the community independently and with choice and control. The closure of the Fund signifies an end to the right to independent living.

Join DPAC to show support and solidarity to those disabled people taking the appeal on an issue that is importance to everyone who cares about social justice and the rights of disabled people to live independently, equally and with dignity.

Supporters will gather outside the courts at 9.45am and then try to get into the court room. By lunch time we will know if the appeal has been granted, in which case it will be heard over the Monday and Tuesday 15th, or if it has been turned down. Whatever the decision we will hold our vigil and press call at 12.30pm outside the courts in support of the claimants and in defense of the Independent Living fund.

You can listen to how this vicious attack will affect disabled people at these links:

http://www.dpac.uk.net/2013/02/a-nasty-cut-people-affected-by-the-closure-of-the-independent-l5142/

For more information about the vigil contact: mail@dpac.uk.net

Travel: the tube stations around the Royal Courts are not accessible (nearest accessible tubes are Westminster and LondonBridge and both are a bus journey away).

Please check www.tfl.gov.uk for more travel information

Accessible toilets around the royal courts:

–         There is an accessible toilet outside Embankment tube station and inside Charing Cross station.

–         There are toilets opposite the Royal Courts but these are not accessible

–         There are also accessible toilets inside the Royal Courts themselves – see page 10 of this booklet: http://www.justice.gov.uk/downloads/courts/rcj/facilities-and-access/Facilitiesservicesleaflet2011.pdf