Stop portraying disability as just a costly burden

Disabled people will face even more hostility if the welfare debate rages on, says Melanie Reid

- Melanie Reid

Something much bigger than government plans on welfare reform was in jeopardy in the Commons last week. When disability is turned into a noisy political football, kicked around in public for what seems like weeks, there’s a real danger the electorate will start to resent disabled people.

The more often the figures are repeated - £22bn a year on personal independence payments, 3.7 million people receiving it, another 1,000 every day putting in claims - the more your average hard-grafting voter is going to lose sympathy.

Disability has never struggled with a surfeit of understanding. The very last thing it needs is to be portrayed as a problem that must be tackled to stop the country facing bankruptcy. Even today, at best, disabled people are catered for with a quiet sigh; at worst they are regarded as second-class citizens.

Now, with this daily hammering about what we “cost” the taxpayer, expect growing cynicism.