Today from 12.30pm, there is a vigil to support disabled people who are taking the government to court to fight for the Independent Living Fund. Join the vigil at the Royal Courts of Justice on the Strand, WC2A 2LL.
The ILF is a fund that profoundly disabled people use to pay for the extra carer hours and personal assistants that they need to live independent lives. Without that fund, disabled people face lives in carehomes.
This government is intent – to an extent that defies any logic whatsoever – in closing the ILF. At the end of last year, the court of appeal threw out an earlier government attempt to close the fund. Needless to say, the government is trying again. That’s why people are taking the second court case today.
New film on the fight to save the ILF:
In the Mirror today, there is a feature about the new film I’ve made at False Economy with Ros Wynne Jones, Disabled People Against Cuts, Inclusion London and Moore Lavan Films on the fight to save the Independent Living Fund.
You can watch the film here. Please share!
We’re NOT all in this together: the story of the closure of the Independent Living Fund from Moore Lavan Films on Vimeo.
Disabled People Against Cuts says:
“Whatever the outcome of the court case today, the fight to save ILF is far from over and disabled people refuse to allow themselves to be railroaded into care homes or worse to Dignitas just to satisfy the whims of millionaire politicians.”
“Without the ILF and in the context of the crisis in social care, disabled people will be entirely reliant on already over-stretched local authorities to meet their support needs.
The amount that the government has committed to devolve to local authorities to help them meet their new responsibilities is short of the amount spent by the ILF on direct support for disabled people. It also does not take account of all those disabled people who would have been eligible for support from the ILF before it was closed to new applicants in 2010. Since then disabled people have ended up trapped in their homes without basic needs such as washing or feeding being met.”