Callout from Disabled People Against Cuts:

“We are slowly coaxed to believe we are too expensive to keep alive and it’s kinder if we are convinced to die.” (From an article Penny Pepper and I did last year on the government’s attacks on disabled people).

The future of the Independent Living Fund – the fund that severely disabled people use to pay for extra carer hours so that they can live independently in their own homes – will be debated in the House of Commons for the first time this Wednesday 18 June from 11 to 11.30am.

As many MPs as possible need to know this is happening and will be there to stand up for the ILF and the future of independent living support for disabled people.

The fight for the ILF is far from over.

In March, the Minister for Disabled People Mike Penning announced a new decision to permanently close the ILF in June 2015. He did this despite a ruling by the Court of Appeal in November 2013 which quashed this government’s previous decision to close the fund.

Last week ILF recipients launched a fresh legal challenge which you can read about here.

Meanwhile, #SaveILF supporters have been busy contacting their local councillors and MPs collecting sign ups to the campaign statement and spreading the word with the brilliant ILF postcard campaign: www.facebook.com/ILFpostcard

One supportive MP Nic Dakin MP for Scunthorpe has managed to get a debate on the future of the Independent Living Fund for this Wednesday: 18 June 11 – 11.30am.

It is only half an hour, but it is the first time that the ILF and the fundamental question of the removal of disabled people’s right to independent living which its closure represents, has had a debate in parliament.

This is an opportunity to make sure politicians know what the ILF is and why it is so important.

We need to take urgent action to write to our MPs, urging them to attend the debate, telling them why it matters and most importantly sharing your stories and experiences that show why we need not only to keep the ILF open but to reopen it to new applicants.

You can find your MPs email address and post address here.

Here is a briefing about the ILF you can download and send them as an attachment. ILF briefing 13 June 2014 (this link opens the briefing).

If they can do it in Scotland, why not here?

See Disabled People Against Cuts for more.

ILF recipient Penny Pepper on the threat to the fund:

“There is this bizarre idea coming our way that you can eat sandwiches, lie in bed and use incontinence pads. If that happens, then that is, in effect, the end of my career. The basic idea of having a separate pot of money like the ILF did give you choice and control. Now, we’re being forced backwards into having to go on about how pathetic we are as individuals – you know, with your poor legs and your this and your that. The idea of choice is being narrowed and narrowed and narrowed. If the council ever tries to put me in a care home [because it cannot afford to fund independent living costs ] I will take it to court.”

“I need support to do most things of a physical and practical nature – from getting out of bed, using the bathroom, getting dressed and food preparation to moving from A to B, getting into my wheelchair and getting out of my wheelchair. I would not be able to work without that funding. This is what is terrifying to me.”