Annie Makoff

I’m keeping this short, because my message needs to be heard.

We have just under three days left to pressurise the government into pausing the Welfare Reform Bill. Three days, 72 hours, 4,320 minutes. It’s not long, but I believe it’s possible.

After all, we’ve already done the impossible, haven’t we?

We, the disabled community shouted until we were heard. We were heard by the media, we were heard by the public and we were even heard by the government.

The Spartacus Report, produced so lovingly and with such determination by so many amazing, awe-inspiring people (often from their sick beds) had such an impact that it helped us win six government defeats in the House of Lords.

And on Saturday, hundreds of disabled people chained themselves together in Central London, shutting off London’s busiest roads – Regent’s Street and Oxford Street for several hours.

Who would have thought we could have done this? Us: the vulnerable, the sick, the ill. The disenfranchised, the dependents. We did it, because we had to.

Yet we need to do more. This week (2^nd February) the government intend to overturn the will of the House of Lords so that disabled people will be pushed further and further into poverty.

They want to abolish DLA. They want to take over 500,000 sick and disabled people off disability benefits. They want to cap every kind of benefit so that disabled people become ever poorer.

They want to take away our independence, our dignity, our voice.

We can’t let them do this.

The petition, which calls on the government to pause the Welfare Reform Bill, has to reach over 100,000 in three days if we are to make a difference. When that happens, parliament HAVE to listen to us.  Again.

Currently, there are over 25,000 signatures to this petition. We have three days to get 75,000 more. It’s a momentous task, but we’ve got to do it.

Tweet the petition, retweet it, put it on Facebook. Ask your family, friends, colleagues, social workers. Ask the man on the bus, ask the checkout assistant. Ask your nurse, ask your dentist. It doesn’t matter, as long as they sign.

Disability can happen to anyone at any time. No one is immune to disability.

This Welfare Reform Bill has to be stopped in its tracks and it has to be stopped now.

Thank you for reading.

Annie