As the process of migrating disabled people from Disability Living Allowance (DLA) to Personal Independence Payment (PIP) continues at its own pace, Andy Rickell gives his personal account of the labyrinthine process. Eventually, it arrived. The letterbox flap rattled and a plain brown envelope with a return DWP address dropped to the mat. I knew …
Author Archives: andyrickell
Rights remain aspiration not reality
Looking back on 30 years of campaigning and activism, Andy Rickell says our rights are still too often granted at the whim of governments rather than being a given. One of the disabled people’s movement’s early slogans was “rights not charity”. The parliamentary campaign of the early 1990s that forced defeat on the Major government …
Institutional care creates institutionalised abuse
While Andy Rickell praises the principled stance of one politician, he still fears the law of unintended consequences when it comes to residential care. Rarely will you hear me praise any politician because rarely do they stick their neck out for a policy that would truly improve disability equality. So step forward Norman Lamb MP, …
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Feeling the benefit of benefits
Disabled people need to be proactive on benefit reform not just reactive to cuts, says Andy Rickell. There is no doubt that removing the premium that people who receive Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) get over Jobseekers’ Allowance (JSA) from those in the Work-Related Activity Group (WRAG) in the recent budget is taking money from …
Why benefit beats cost on Access To Work
The Government scheme for supporting disabled people in work should be judged on be benefits it brings rather than what it costs, says Andy Rickell. A long time ago I was asked a question which could have changed my life. I was cruising through the Civil Service Selection Board (“sizzbie”) applying to be a tax …
Wanted: That Vision Thing
The 2015 General Election, like others before it, carries the risk of the needs of disabled people being ignored for political expediency and our voices being drowned out. Andy Rickell explains what needs to happen. “Where there is no vision, the people perish.” So said the writer of the biblical Proverbs 2,700 years ago. When …
Being and doing: a question of value
In addressing questions to do with disabled people and work, Andy Rickell defends the rights of those who are unable to work. I want to unpick a matter of principle in the debate about work and disabled people which is underlying an in-depth online discussion between disabled campaigners fighting for the right to work, and …
All for one and one for all
Adopting impairment-specific identities is bad for all disabled people, says Andy Rickell. Many disabled people think that their impairment is the worst and that the barriers and problems they face are the worst and they should be most entitled to special treatment. In a sense this is an understandable reaction to a medical model view …
Knocking down institutional walls
There are few benefits to austerity. Thankfully, says Andy Rickell, one of them is that closer attention is paid to whether something is really worth the money and resources it uses. Such a case is the Remploy factories. Remploy factories and similar sheltered workplaces, like day centres, special schools and residential homes, are institutionalised provision. …
Disability now 