What do you think?
Rate this book
The War on Disabled People: Capitalism, Welfare and the Making of a Human Catastrophe
In 2016, a United Nations report found the UK government culpable for “grave and systematic violations” of disabled people’s rights. Since then, driven by the Tory government’s obsessive drive to slash public spending whilst scapegoating the most disadvantaged in society, the situation for disabled people in Britain has continued to deteriorate. Punitive welfare regimes, the removal of essential support and services, and an ideological regime that seeks to deny disability has resulted in a situation described by the UN as a “human catastrophe.”
In this searing account, Ellen Clifford—an activist who has been at the heart of resistance against the war on disabled people—reveals precisely how and why this state of affairs has come about. From spineless political opposition to self-interested disability charities, right-wing ideological myopia to the media demonization of benefits claimants, a shocking picture emerges of how the government of the fifth-richest country in the world has been able to marginalize disabled people with near-impunity. Even so, and despite austerity biting ever deeper, the fightback has begun, with a vibrant movement of disabled activists and their supporters determined to hold the government to account—the slogan “Nothing About Us Without Us”has never been so apt. As this book so powerfully demonstrates, if Britain is to stand any chance of being a just and equitable society, their battle is one we should all be fighting.
In this searing account, Ellen Clifford—an activist who has been at the heart of resistance against the war on disabled people—reveals precisely how and why this state of affairs has come about. From spineless political opposition to self-interested disability charities, right-wing ideological myopia to the media demonization of benefits claimants, a shocking picture emerges of how the government of the fifth-richest country in the world has been able to marginalize disabled people with near-impunity. Even so, and despite austerity biting ever deeper, the fightback has begun, with a vibrant movement of disabled activists and their supporters determined to hold the government to account—the slogan “Nothing About Us Without Us”has never been so apt. As this book so powerfully demonstrates, if Britain is to stand any chance of being a just and equitable society, their battle is one we should all be fighting.
264 pages, Hardcover
First published June 15, 2020
25 people are currently reading
533 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
October 18, 2022
A very good look at the bleak terrain in which the UK disability movement has had to fight relentlessly since 2010. It charts how New Labour fostered and normalised inequality and harmful Thatcherite economics that the 2010 Coalition government then dialled up into an all out war on those requiring support from the welfare state to survive.
The horrors of Universal Credit - the staggering incompetence in rolling it out; the degredation of the new hoops to jump through, the bloodthirsty dehumanisation private companies like Atos profited from; the innumerable suicides and preventable premature deaths (innumerable in part because the government refuses to properly investigate them) - are laid bare. Such an account fills one of the biggest knolwedge gaps in the UK, specifically the fact that although disabled people account for roughly 20% of the population, most people know nothing about their experiences. This is, of course, partly thanks to a vile media climate where disability is only ever presented as: 1) a personal tragedy that should make you pity someone, perhaps to elicit patronising charity; or 2) evidence of a moral failing or scrounger-hood, something to be mocked in an effort to force someone to conform to expectations. The latter of such perspectives tends to be pushed to nothing short of eugenic arguments (such as, to choose a completely random example, then-Mayor of London Boris Johnson rambling about inequality being caused by IQ), even by media that is (laughably) thought of as "impartial" or "respected", partly thanks to the fact that so few journalists ever bother to actually engage with disabled people.
What is the result of this hostile environment and the calamatous rolling out of UC? The UN committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities investigated the UK in 2016, to find that the UK had "systematic violations" towards the rights of disabled people. That callous, ideological austerity measures hit disabled people the hardest was no surprise to anyone who knew anyone that is disabled. What the UN report found was a government policy that clearly segregated disabled people and denied them access to mainstream society (the rolling out of UC saw many disabled families stripped of vital mobility tools such as scooters and wheelchairs, while mainstream schools were defunded to an extent that severely limits their ability to support disabled students), while also forcing disabled families into immense poverty. At the time the book was published, around 5 million disabled people lived in absolute poverty, and the largest foodbanks in the country have warned that they cannot sustainably support the massive increases in usage since the Tories came into power.
Although the government has repeatedly refused to investigate the true damage of its policies (and frequently legislated, stalled, and lied to sweep it under the rug), health economics researchers in 2017 calculated around 120,000 excess deaths caused by austerity in England along - a figure that many estimate to have more than doubled by now. Disabled people make up a large amount of this sum. One suicide due to poverty forced on the public as a political choice should be damning but there have been tens of thousands due to UC (a true figure is unreachable due to the limited resources of those seeking to uncover the truth). Of course, the Tories reject any causal link between their policies and the massive spikes in mental health crises and suicides, though Frances Ryan emphatically reminds us that "Suicide is complex but it is not hard to predict what the impact might be on someone of losing their only income. Remove social security from a disabled person too disabled or ill to work and it's like pushing someone off a cliff and feigning surprise when they hit the beach". Feigning is undoubtedly the right word here, as numerous protest, inquiries, and interventions from groups including the UN has made the Tories well aware of the extreme harm (undeniably tantamount to mass social murder) of their policies. Still, they see the lives of disabled people, and indeed all benefits claimants, as a fair exchange for their neoliberal political project.
After the detailed overview of the post-2010 situated, harrowing and brutal as it is, the book then looks towards the activism that has won small victories in an uphill effort to restore dignity to disabled people in the UK. Charities are rightfully disparaged for their patronising focus on "platitudes about attitudes" and consistently siding with the government rather than activists. Other major political parties, with the exception of the SNP, are criticised for repeatedly refusing to acknowledge this struggle or to platform the plight of disabled activists. The social model of disability is explained and held up as a banner for understanding and uniting activists in the ongoing fight.
I thoroughly recommend the book to everyone who doesn't understand the needs, experiences, and struggles of disabled people in the UK. It is of urgent importance that we fight together to make life livable for everyone in this country, and it will take more than comfortable lip service to charities that do little other than ineffectual awareness campaigns. It is not an easy read - a narrative of staggering cruelty told through a dense web of acronyms, statistics, and emotionally exhausting reports. It is, however, a very important one.
The horrors of Universal Credit - the staggering incompetence in rolling it out; the degredation of the new hoops to jump through, the bloodthirsty dehumanisation private companies like Atos profited from; the innumerable suicides and preventable premature deaths (innumerable in part because the government refuses to properly investigate them) - are laid bare. Such an account fills one of the biggest knolwedge gaps in the UK, specifically the fact that although disabled people account for roughly 20% of the population, most people know nothing about their experiences. This is, of course, partly thanks to a vile media climate where disability is only ever presented as: 1) a personal tragedy that should make you pity someone, perhaps to elicit patronising charity; or 2) evidence of a moral failing or scrounger-hood, something to be mocked in an effort to force someone to conform to expectations. The latter of such perspectives tends to be pushed to nothing short of eugenic arguments (such as, to choose a completely random example, then-Mayor of London Boris Johnson rambling about inequality being caused by IQ), even by media that is (laughably) thought of as "impartial" or "respected", partly thanks to the fact that so few journalists ever bother to actually engage with disabled people.
What is the result of this hostile environment and the calamatous rolling out of UC? The UN committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities investigated the UK in 2016, to find that the UK had "systematic violations" towards the rights of disabled people. That callous, ideological austerity measures hit disabled people the hardest was no surprise to anyone who knew anyone that is disabled. What the UN report found was a government policy that clearly segregated disabled people and denied them access to mainstream society (the rolling out of UC saw many disabled families stripped of vital mobility tools such as scooters and wheelchairs, while mainstream schools were defunded to an extent that severely limits their ability to support disabled students), while also forcing disabled families into immense poverty. At the time the book was published, around 5 million disabled people lived in absolute poverty, and the largest foodbanks in the country have warned that they cannot sustainably support the massive increases in usage since the Tories came into power.
Although the government has repeatedly refused to investigate the true damage of its policies (and frequently legislated, stalled, and lied to sweep it under the rug), health economics researchers in 2017 calculated around 120,000 excess deaths caused by austerity in England along - a figure that many estimate to have more than doubled by now. Disabled people make up a large amount of this sum. One suicide due to poverty forced on the public as a political choice should be damning but there have been tens of thousands due to UC (a true figure is unreachable due to the limited resources of those seeking to uncover the truth). Of course, the Tories reject any causal link between their policies and the massive spikes in mental health crises and suicides, though Frances Ryan emphatically reminds us that "Suicide is complex but it is not hard to predict what the impact might be on someone of losing their only income. Remove social security from a disabled person too disabled or ill to work and it's like pushing someone off a cliff and feigning surprise when they hit the beach". Feigning is undoubtedly the right word here, as numerous protest, inquiries, and interventions from groups including the UN has made the Tories well aware of the extreme harm (undeniably tantamount to mass social murder) of their policies. Still, they see the lives of disabled people, and indeed all benefits claimants, as a fair exchange for their neoliberal political project.
After the detailed overview of the post-2010 situated, harrowing and brutal as it is, the book then looks towards the activism that has won small victories in an uphill effort to restore dignity to disabled people in the UK. Charities are rightfully disparaged for their patronising focus on "platitudes about attitudes" and consistently siding with the government rather than activists. Other major political parties, with the exception of the SNP, are criticised for repeatedly refusing to acknowledge this struggle or to platform the plight of disabled activists. The social model of disability is explained and held up as a banner for understanding and uniting activists in the ongoing fight.
I thoroughly recommend the book to everyone who doesn't understand the needs, experiences, and struggles of disabled people in the UK. It is of urgent importance that we fight together to make life livable for everyone in this country, and it will take more than comfortable lip service to charities that do little other than ineffectual awareness campaigns. It is not an easy read - a narrative of staggering cruelty told through a dense web of acronyms, statistics, and emotionally exhausting reports. It is, however, a very important one.
August 16, 2020
5⭐️’s
An utterly brilliant discussion of the way Conservatives in the UK have stripped away the rights of disabled people. Gives lots of excellent facts, figures and anecdotes to support the theories throughout.
An utterly brilliant discussion of the way Conservatives in the UK have stripped away the rights of disabled people. Gives lots of excellent facts, figures and anecdotes to support the theories throughout.
September 21, 2024
Really pivotal book for understanding the cruel struggles that disabled people face when everyday life is stacked against them. It explores how disabled people are continuously and deliberately denied basic social resources (housing, education, employment) through the underfunding of basic government provisions and the spreading of misinformed stereotypes.
It goes to great length to show the cruel hardships and undeniable indifference which allows this treatment to prevail. On a separate note the price is ridiculously high (and somewhat goes to show how censored information is which really expose how poorly the government treats disabled individuals…) but is a must-need for anyone seeking to understand these issues further. I really appreciated the last few chapters which delved into further recommended/future courses of actions and the need to fight back for better living conditions for disabled individuals. The novel shows that the war on disabled people is ultimately forged through capitalism and a need to mark out the productive from the unproductive. It is a war build up against, not just disabled people but, against anyone who could threaten economic inequalities and the status quo more broadly.
It goes to great length to show the cruel hardships and undeniable indifference which allows this treatment to prevail. On a separate note the price is ridiculously high (and somewhat goes to show how censored information is which really expose how poorly the government treats disabled individuals…) but is a must-need for anyone seeking to understand these issues further. I really appreciated the last few chapters which delved into further recommended/future courses of actions and the need to fight back for better living conditions for disabled individuals. The novel shows that the war on disabled people is ultimately forged through capitalism and a need to mark out the productive from the unproductive. It is a war build up against, not just disabled people but, against anyone who could threaten economic inequalities and the status quo more broadly.
October 31, 2020
It's about time that someone tells the story of 'The War on Disabled People'. About the military taking out any disabled person and deporting them to the Devil's Island. About people thrown out of hospitals when the medical personnel finds out they are handicapped. About groups of Anti-Diabled League hooligans breaking up access ramps at the Police Stations all over the country. About politicians calling up for the exclusion of the Disabled from the Internet.
May 21, 2023
Closer to 3.5
I didn't know this was about the UK ahead of the reading, which is fine, of course, as this mostly serves as a warning of the horror route wrought by austerity politics and bigoted policy. With that said, this is quite repetitive and I wished books like this didn't push all the theory and action that could be done to ameliorate things, but I guess you do need the context.
I didn't know this was about the UK ahead of the reading, which is fine, of course, as this mostly serves as a warning of the horror route wrought by austerity politics and bigoted policy. With that said, this is quite repetitive and I wished books like this didn't push all the theory and action that could be done to ameliorate things, but I guess you do need the context.
February 1, 2023
Well written and argued book methodically looking at changes in society (eg legislation and benefit) impact people with disabilities.
July 4, 2023
Chilling read, should (but probably won't) be required reading in schools. Thank you
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews