Guest post: Disabled People and the reality of the Grass Roots fight back in Britain
Posted on Mon 27th Aug 2012, 7:20pmThis is a guest post from Debbie Jolly, co-founder of Disabled People Against Cuts (DPAC)
In spite of implicit claims in the Brindle article[1] that there is no ‘fight back’ disabled people have stopped traffic in Oxford Street [2], Trafalgar Square [3], protested against and closed the offices of Atos, protested online through blogs and social media, provided briefing notes and researched and gained significant victories in publicising exactly what is happening -both DPAC and Black Triangle hope they have been an impetus, along with the growing network of allies, user-led disabled peoples’ organisations and key anti-cuts groups across the UK and in Europe –all of us recognise the severe harm that the ‘cuts’ are doing to large groups of ordinary people.
In the very first DPAC protest on 3rd October 2010 disabled people came together to lead the march against the cuts proposed by this Government, liaised with unions and other anti-cuts groups- it poured with rain, but DPAC were the first to have a synchronised online protest too. Disabled people saw a need for early action at a time when many formal disabled peoples’ organisations (DPOs) made few public statements on spending reviews or cuts and when the big disability charities remained silent. From the 100 or so original October 2010 protesters and campaigners –there are now thousands, overall numbers are growing at rapid rate- contra Brindle, disabled leaders are emerging in their hundreds trained by anger and despair at what is happening to their lives and the lives of others under this Government.
The reality of the impact of the cuts on the lives of disabled people are much worse than any of us imagined on that rainy day in October: framed by an apparent media campaign in some sections to demonise disabled people as ‘scroungers (despite administrative error and fraud at 0.04 and 0.5% for disability support) [4], we have seen a rising level of disability hate crime, increasing suicides amongst disabled people [5], more and more disabled people relying on handouts from family and friends because they are being left without any income, disabled people losing their homes, disabled people with paid jobs seeing those jobs removed in a clear ‘cuts agenda’ [6], basic support from local authorities being cut to the bone, a move back to the threat of institutionalisation and away from independent living [7] , and a move away from inclusive education for disabled children[8].
The UK was once a European example of how disabled people’s inclusion, support and equality could be applied. It’s now an example of how fast these basic human rights can be reversed. In two years we have witnessed: the closure of the Independent Living Fund (ILF) to new applicants[9] , disability living allowance (DLA) to pay for the additional costs of disability being stripped from individuals, DLA to be replaced by an expensive and unnecessary round of reassessments for Personal Independence Payment (PIP) with a pre-assessment criteria that 500,000 people will lose all support[10], cut backs and a steep fall in Access to Work applicants[11] with a tightening of criteria and more costs being passed to employers. We see that some individuals pronounced as ‘fit for work’ by Atos are dying days after leaving their assessment centres[12] , while those with terminal illness and less than 12 months to live are being told to seek work, and having income stopped[13].
This regime is not about supporting disabled people nor is it about supporting disabled people into work – it’s about cuts. It’s about erasing the years that individuals have worked and paid national insurance for welfare support. It’s not about saying the social model has failed- it hasn’t, if anything it’s been made stronger. It’s about recognising the imposition of a bio-psycho social model- a model that the Government and its partner companies use to provide a bizarre focus on denying disability, impairment and ill-health each of which are being reconstructed as individual failings brought about by individuals adopting the wrong attitude-thinking yourself ‘well’[14] is cheap-it’s also impossible.
The recent Dispatches[15] and Panorama[16] television programmes on the work capability assessment (WCA) and the regime used by Atos exposed what many of us have known for too long to a wider audience: a system designed to remove over a million disabled people from welfare support that has caused misery, anxiety and the premature deaths and suicides of an estimated 32 people a week[17] . The WCA – a revolving door of Atos assessment, appeal, tribunal, and reassessment has produced horror stories of inhuman proportions. In one of the programs an Atos ‘assessor’ asked someone who had taken several overdoses why they weren’t dead yet. There are stories of people being forced to walk until they collapse and being declared ‘fit for work’ and those that Atos has signed off as unfit for work on employee schemes being declared ‘fit to work’ on the state schemes of cuts under the WCA. Atos have recently been awarded the PIP[18] contract and are official sponsors of the Olympics[19] . These are additional reasons why the Atos games: a week of activities for people to raise the issues of the inhumanity of these ‘tests’ and the callous removal of vital supports is happening.
The use of Tom Shakespeare’s quote in the Brindle piece that ‘… the politics of disability seem to have run out of steam.’ is grossly misleading: disabled people are fighting back in every way we can: Black Triangles’ tireless campaign to secure a total condemnation of the WCA by the British Medical Association resulting in the call for ‘the WCA to end with immediate effect’[20], the Mental Health Resistance Network’s successful case for a judicial review of the WCA[21], the exposure of the ‘tampering’ with the Ministry of Justice’s You Tube video to help people through appeals against Atos decisions’ by Government, the continuing evidence and fight back for Atos assessments to be scrapped[22], the continuing legal challenges, the use of social media to spread information, undercover work with and by researchers, Freedom of Information requests and gains from empathetic media, lawyers, and MPs are all part of the ‘steam’-This is not being led by well paid Charity directors, nor as Macrae suggests by those who see themselves as victims but by disabled people without any funds fuelled by a raging sense of injustice and the will to fight back.
John McDonnell’s words from the opposition day debate on disability benefits and social care in which he stated his support for DPAC, Black Triangle and the Remploy workers warned: ‘…the Government should not think that this issue or these people are going to go away because they are not: these people are mobilising. We now have a disability movement of which we have not seen the equal of before…these people are not going to go away. They will be in our face-and rightly so’[23]
The Atos games are an opportunity for all to show their anger at the disproportionate cuts being imposed on disabled people and the 99%. They are an opportunity to mobilise against the carnage the cuts administered by this Government are causing.
Details and resources including local actions pack and a minute menu of protest activities on DPAC dpac.uk.net
See you on the streets.
In spite of implicit claims in the Brindle article[1] that there is no ‘fight back’ disabled people have stopped traffic in Oxford Street [2], Trafalgar Square [3], protested against and closed the offices of Atos, protested online through blogs and social media, provided briefing notes and researched and gained significant victories in publicising exactly what is happening -both DPAC and Black Triangle hope they have been an impetus, along with the growing network of allies, user-led disabled peoples’ organisations and key anti-cuts groups across the UK and in Europe –all of us recognise the severe harm that the ‘cuts’ are doing to large groups of ordinary people.
In the very first DPAC protest on 3rd October 2010 disabled people came together to lead the march against the cuts proposed by this Government, liaised with unions and other anti-cuts groups- it poured with rain, but DPAC were the first to have a synchronised online protest too. Disabled people saw a need for early action at a time when many formal disabled peoples’ organisations (DPOs) made few public statements on spending reviews or cuts and when the big disability charities remained silent. From the 100 or so original October 2010 protesters and campaigners –there are now thousands, overall numbers are growing at rapid rate- contra Brindle, disabled leaders are emerging in their hundreds trained by anger and despair at what is happening to their lives and the lives of others under this Government.
The reality of the impact of the cuts on the lives of disabled people are much worse than any of us imagined on that rainy day in October: framed by an apparent media campaign in some sections to demonise disabled people as ‘scroungers (despite administrative error and fraud at 0.04 and 0.5% for disability support) [4], we have seen a rising level of disability hate crime, increasing suicides amongst disabled people [5], more and more disabled people relying on handouts from family and friends because they are being left without any income, disabled people losing their homes, disabled people with paid jobs seeing those jobs removed in a clear ‘cuts agenda’ [6], basic support from local authorities being cut to the bone, a move back to the threat of institutionalisation and away from independent living [7] , and a move away from inclusive education for disabled children[8].
The UK was once a European example of how disabled people’s inclusion, support and equality could be applied. It’s now an example of how fast these basic human rights can be reversed. In two years we have witnessed: the closure of the Independent Living Fund (ILF) to new applicants[9] , disability living allowance (DLA) to pay for the additional costs of disability being stripped from individuals, DLA to be replaced by an expensive and unnecessary round of reassessments for Personal Independence Payment (PIP) with a pre-assessment criteria that 500,000 people will lose all support[10], cut backs and a steep fall in Access to Work applicants[11] with a tightening of criteria and more costs being passed to employers. We see that some individuals pronounced as ‘fit for work’ by Atos are dying days after leaving their assessment centres[12] , while those with terminal illness and less than 12 months to live are being told to seek work, and having income stopped[13].
This regime is not about supporting disabled people nor is it about supporting disabled people into work – it’s about cuts. It’s about erasing the years that individuals have worked and paid national insurance for welfare support. It’s not about saying the social model has failed- it hasn’t, if anything it’s been made stronger. It’s about recognising the imposition of a bio-psycho social model- a model that the Government and its partner companies use to provide a bizarre focus on denying disability, impairment and ill-health each of which are being reconstructed as individual failings brought about by individuals adopting the wrong attitude-thinking yourself ‘well’[14] is cheap-it’s also impossible.
The recent Dispatches[15] and Panorama[16] television programmes on the work capability assessment (WCA) and the regime used by Atos exposed what many of us have known for too long to a wider audience: a system designed to remove over a million disabled people from welfare support that has caused misery, anxiety and the premature deaths and suicides of an estimated 32 people a week[17] . The WCA – a revolving door of Atos assessment, appeal, tribunal, and reassessment has produced horror stories of inhuman proportions. In one of the programs an Atos ‘assessor’ asked someone who had taken several overdoses why they weren’t dead yet. There are stories of people being forced to walk until they collapse and being declared ‘fit for work’ and those that Atos has signed off as unfit for work on employee schemes being declared ‘fit to work’ on the state schemes of cuts under the WCA. Atos have recently been awarded the PIP[18] contract and are official sponsors of the Olympics[19] . These are additional reasons why the Atos games: a week of activities for people to raise the issues of the inhumanity of these ‘tests’ and the callous removal of vital supports is happening.
The use of Tom Shakespeare’s quote in the Brindle piece that ‘… the politics of disability seem to have run out of steam.’ is grossly misleading: disabled people are fighting back in every way we can: Black Triangles’ tireless campaign to secure a total condemnation of the WCA by the British Medical Association resulting in the call for ‘the WCA to end with immediate effect’[20], the Mental Health Resistance Network’s successful case for a judicial review of the WCA[21], the exposure of the ‘tampering’ with the Ministry of Justice’s You Tube video to help people through appeals against Atos decisions’ by Government, the continuing evidence and fight back for Atos assessments to be scrapped[22], the continuing legal challenges, the use of social media to spread information, undercover work with and by researchers, Freedom of Information requests and gains from empathetic media, lawyers, and MPs are all part of the ‘steam’-This is not being led by well paid Charity directors, nor as Macrae suggests by those who see themselves as victims but by disabled people without any funds fuelled by a raging sense of injustice and the will to fight back.
John McDonnell’s words from the opposition day debate on disability benefits and social care in which he stated his support for DPAC, Black Triangle and the Remploy workers warned: ‘…the Government should not think that this issue or these people are going to go away because they are not: these people are mobilising. We now have a disability movement of which we have not seen the equal of before…these people are not going to go away. They will be in our face-and rightly so’[23]
The Atos games are an opportunity for all to show their anger at the disproportionate cuts being imposed on disabled people and the 99%. They are an opportunity to mobilise against the carnage the cuts administered by this Government are causing.
Details and resources including local actions pack and a minute menu of protest activities on DPAC dpac.uk.net
See you on the streets.
Let The Atos Games Begin!
Posted on Sun 26th Aug 2012, 5:00pmThis is a guest blog from Disabled People Against Cuts (DPAC)
On your marks, get set… for a week of Paralympic fun and games against Atos!
From Monday 27th to Friday 31st of August, join Disabled People Against Cuts for The Atos Games – five days of action against a company that’s sponsoring the Paralympics but wrecking disabled people’s lives.
We are calling on disabled people, disabled activists, families, colleagues, friends and supporters to come together and fight back against Atos’s attacks. Atos represents as dangerous an opponent as any government, law or barrier the disability movement has faced in its long history. It’s not just welfare, but our very identity and our place within society that is under attack.
And we are asking the whole of the anti-cuts movement to join us in our opposition to the company most responsible for driving through the government’s brutal cuts agenda. Let’s make it Games over for Atos!
We’re not against the Paralympics or the people taking part in it. We’re highlighting the hypocrisy of Atos, a company that soon may be taking disability benefits from the people winning medals for Team GB.
Ever since George Osborne announced he was slashing £18 billion from the welfare budget, the government has paid Atos £100 million a year to test 11,000 sick and disabled people every week, then decide whether they’re ‘fit for work’.
Atos uses an inhumane computer programme to do the testing, and trains its staff to push people off benefits. The government has admitted the tests are flawed, and the British Medical Association has demanded they end immediately.
But Atos continues to devastate people’s lives. Many have committed suicide because of its testing programme, and over 1,000 people have died of their illnesses soon after being found ‘fit for work’.
We won’t let them get away with murder, so join in The Atos Games however you can – online, on the phone, or on the streets!
Monday 27th: The Atos Games Opening Ceremony and spoof Paralympic awards ceremony, with some very special guests… Meet at City Hall, London, at 5:30pm.
Tuesday 28th: Actions at Atos centres all over the country - find your nearest one here.
Wednesday 29th: A coffin full of your messages about Atos will be delivered to its doorstep. Meet at Triton Square, London, at 3:30pm.
Thursday 30th: Phone jam! Let’s flood Atos with calls, and generate a Twitter-storm they can’t ignore!
Then on Friday 31st, join us in London where we’re teaming up with UK Uncut for the grand finale, The Closing Atos Ceremony – an audacious, daring and disruptive action. Last time we shut down Oxford Circus, this time we will be performing miracles…!
We'll be posting daily action updates throughout the week, building up to the action on Friday at Atos HQ. We’ll also be making sure that DPAC members, and disabled or sick people who can’t travel will be able to take part in different and accessible ways.
We need YOU to make this week of action a great success! So time to get one, or all of the above dates in your diary. And don't forget, Atos has offices in most towns across the country, so check out the UK Uncut or DPAC websites for actions at your local Atos on the 28th!
Now is the time to come together and show this monstrous company that we are stronger than them. We won't let them use the Paralympics to disguise their devastating actions, instead let's use it to expose the ghastly truth. They’re the vulnerable ones and they know it.
Let the Atos Games begin!
On your marks, get set… for a week of Paralympic fun and games against Atos!
From Monday 27th to Friday 31st of August, join Disabled People Against Cuts for The Atos Games – five days of action against a company that’s sponsoring the Paralympics but wrecking disabled people’s lives.
We are calling on disabled people, disabled activists, families, colleagues, friends and supporters to come together and fight back against Atos’s attacks. Atos represents as dangerous an opponent as any government, law or barrier the disability movement has faced in its long history. It’s not just welfare, but our very identity and our place within society that is under attack.
And we are asking the whole of the anti-cuts movement to join us in our opposition to the company most responsible for driving through the government’s brutal cuts agenda. Let’s make it Games over for Atos!
We’re not against the Paralympics or the people taking part in it. We’re highlighting the hypocrisy of Atos, a company that soon may be taking disability benefits from the people winning medals for Team GB.
Ever since George Osborne announced he was slashing £18 billion from the welfare budget, the government has paid Atos £100 million a year to test 11,000 sick and disabled people every week, then decide whether they’re ‘fit for work’.
Atos uses an inhumane computer programme to do the testing, and trains its staff to push people off benefits. The government has admitted the tests are flawed, and the British Medical Association has demanded they end immediately.
But Atos continues to devastate people’s lives. Many have committed suicide because of its testing programme, and over 1,000 people have died of their illnesses soon after being found ‘fit for work’.
We won’t let them get away with murder, so join in The Atos Games however you can – online, on the phone, or on the streets!
Monday 27th: The Atos Games Opening Ceremony and spoof Paralympic awards ceremony, with some very special guests… Meet at City Hall, London, at 5:30pm.
Tuesday 28th: Actions at Atos centres all over the country - find your nearest one here.
Wednesday 29th: A coffin full of your messages about Atos will be delivered to its doorstep. Meet at Triton Square, London, at 3:30pm.
Thursday 30th: Phone jam! Let’s flood Atos with calls, and generate a Twitter-storm they can’t ignore!
We need YOU to make this week of action a great success! So time to get one, or all of the above dates in your diary. And don't forget, Atos has offices in most towns across the country, so check out the UK Uncut or DPAC websites for actions at your local Atos on the 28th!
Now is the time to come together and show this monstrous company that we are stronger than them. We won't let them use the Paralympics to disguise their devastating actions, instead let's use it to expose the ghastly truth. They’re the vulnerable ones and they know it.
Let the Atos Games begin!
The Closing Atos Ceremony - (flat subs) from morelikewater on Vimeo.
Press release: Gold winning former Paralympian joins Disabled activists to target Atos
Posted on Thu 23rd Aug 2012, 10:00amFOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Press enquiries:
UK Uncut: Tel: 07415063231 | Email: ukuncut@gmail.com | DPAC: Tel: 07508 983 610 | Email: maildpac.uk.net
Former gold-medal winning Paralympian to join UK Uncut [1] and Disabled People Against Cuts (DPAC) [2] at ‘The Closing Atos Ceremony’.
The two groups have vowed to shut down Atos’ HQ at Triton Square in Central London during the Paralympic Games; promising direct action, creative protest and ‘plenty of surprises’. The action will be taking place on Friday 31st August at 12:45pm.
Tara Flood, a gold-winning former Paralympian [3] has come out in support of the campaign against Atos, saying:
“It is a shocking irony that Atos is a main sponsor of London 2012 whilst destroying disabled people’s lives on behalf of the government.”
‘The Closing Atos Ceremony’ is the culmination of a week of protests organised by disabled activists targeting Paralympic sponsor Atos. The week of action, dubbed the ‘Atos Games’, will also include protests at Atos centres around the country [4], and disabled activists will be delivering a coffin full of messages to Atos from people affected by their much criticised Work Capability Assessments (WCA).
Atos have come under fierce scrutiny for their handling of the Department of Work and Pensions £100 million a year contract, assessing whether claimants for incapacity benefits are ‘fit for work’. Last year 1,100 claimants died while under compulsory work-related activity for benefit [5]; and a number of those found ‘fit for work’ and left without income have committed or attempted suicide [6]. A recent episode of Dispatches [7] revealed Atos staff being pressured into unfairly declaring people ‘fit for work’ in order to fulfil targets.
The British Medical Association [8], disabled groups, and MPs [9] have all demanded the work capability assessments end with immediate effect. The High Court also recently granted permission for two disabled people to bring a claim for judicial review against the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, challenging the operation of the WCA [10].
Paddy Murphy, a spokesperson from DPAC said:
‘By sponsoring the Paralympics, ATOS is trying to give the impression of supporting disabled people. Don't be fooled. They receive hundreds of millions of pounds while many disabled people are being forced to live in abject poverty because of their decisions. This is just another opportunity for them to ‘cash-in’. But we aren't going to let them off the hook. We will make sure everyone knows what they are about.
We are challenging Atos in the courts, in parliament, online, on the streets and now at the Paralympics. The work capability assessment must end now.’
Lisa Cunningham, a UK Uncut activist said:
‘People directly affected by Atos assessments are making their anger and fear heard through an act of creative and disruptive civil disobedience. UK Uncut will be joining them to demand an end to Atos’ inhumane tests. The Government's cuts are killing the economy, and in the case of the cuts to welfare enforced by Atos, they are killing people.
We’re not against the Paralympics. We are against the hypocrisy of Atos’ involvement, when they may soon be removing disability benefits from the people winning medals for Britain.’
ENDS
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Notes to editors:
Disabled people who have undergone Atos’ WCA are available to talk to the media, please contact the UK Uncut media phone for details.
Please contact UK Uncut or DPAC for more details about other events and actions during the week.
[1] UK Uncut is a grassroots anti-cuts direct action network, well-known for targeting corporate tax avoidance: ukuncut.org.uk
[2] DPAC is a volunteer campaign network of and for disabled people campaigning for equality and human rights for all disabled people: dpac.uk.net/about
[3] After representing GB at three Paralympic Games, Tara retired from competitive swimming in 1992 when she achieved a World Record in 50m Breaststroke at the Barcelona Games – a record that still stands. Tara will be available to speak to media at the event on Friday, and at another on Monday 27 August, please contact DPAC for details.
[4] http://ukuncut.org.uk/actions
[5] http://blogs.mirror.co.uk/investigations/2012/04/32-die-a-week-after-failing-in.html
[6] http://poultonblog.dailymail.co.uk/2012/03/people-are-choosing-suicide-to-escape-poverty-is-this-the-states-final-solution.html
[7] http://www.channel4.com/programmes/dispatches/articles/britain-on-the-sick-reporter-feature
[8] http://bma.org.uk/news-views-analysis/news/2012/june/scrap-work-capability-assessment-doctors-demand
[9] http://www.parliament.uk/edm/2012-13/295
[10] http://atosvictimsgroup.co.uk/2012/07/26/judicial-review-of-work-capability-assessment-granted/
Press enquiries:
UK Uncut: Tel: 07415063231 | Email: ukuncut@gmail.com | DPAC: Tel: 07508 983 610 | Email: maildpac.uk.net
Former gold-medal winning Paralympian to join UK Uncut [1] and Disabled People Against Cuts (DPAC) [2] at ‘The Closing Atos Ceremony’.
The two groups have vowed to shut down Atos’ HQ at Triton Square in Central London during the Paralympic Games; promising direct action, creative protest and ‘plenty of surprises’. The action will be taking place on Friday 31st August at 12:45pm.
Tara Flood, a gold-winning former Paralympian [3] has come out in support of the campaign against Atos, saying:
“It is a shocking irony that Atos is a main sponsor of London 2012 whilst destroying disabled people’s lives on behalf of the government.”
‘The Closing Atos Ceremony’ is the culmination of a week of protests organised by disabled activists targeting Paralympic sponsor Atos. The week of action, dubbed the ‘Atos Games’, will also include protests at Atos centres around the country [4], and disabled activists will be delivering a coffin full of messages to Atos from people affected by their much criticised Work Capability Assessments (WCA).
Atos have come under fierce scrutiny for their handling of the Department of Work and Pensions £100 million a year contract, assessing whether claimants for incapacity benefits are ‘fit for work’. Last year 1,100 claimants died while under compulsory work-related activity for benefit [5]; and a number of those found ‘fit for work’ and left without income have committed or attempted suicide [6]. A recent episode of Dispatches [7] revealed Atos staff being pressured into unfairly declaring people ‘fit for work’ in order to fulfil targets.
The British Medical Association [8], disabled groups, and MPs [9] have all demanded the work capability assessments end with immediate effect. The High Court also recently granted permission for two disabled people to bring a claim for judicial review against the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, challenging the operation of the WCA [10].
Paddy Murphy, a spokesperson from DPAC said:
‘By sponsoring the Paralympics, ATOS is trying to give the impression of supporting disabled people. Don't be fooled. They receive hundreds of millions of pounds while many disabled people are being forced to live in abject poverty because of their decisions. This is just another opportunity for them to ‘cash-in’. But we aren't going to let them off the hook. We will make sure everyone knows what they are about.
We are challenging Atos in the courts, in parliament, online, on the streets and now at the Paralympics. The work capability assessment must end now.’
Lisa Cunningham, a UK Uncut activist said:
‘People directly affected by Atos assessments are making their anger and fear heard through an act of creative and disruptive civil disobedience. UK Uncut will be joining them to demand an end to Atos’ inhumane tests. The Government's cuts are killing the economy, and in the case of the cuts to welfare enforced by Atos, they are killing people.
We’re not against the Paralympics. We are against the hypocrisy of Atos’ involvement, when they may soon be removing disability benefits from the people winning medals for Britain.’
ENDS
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Notes to editors:
Disabled people who have undergone Atos’ WCA are available to talk to the media, please contact the UK Uncut media phone for details.
Please contact UK Uncut or DPAC for more details about other events and actions during the week.
[1] UK Uncut is a grassroots anti-cuts direct action network, well-known for targeting corporate tax avoidance: ukuncut.org.uk
[2] DPAC is a volunteer campaign network of and for disabled people campaigning for equality and human rights for all disabled people: dpac.uk.net/about
[3] After representing GB at three Paralympic Games, Tara retired from competitive swimming in 1992 when she achieved a World Record in 50m Breaststroke at the Barcelona Games – a record that still stands. Tara will be available to speak to media at the event on Friday, and at another on Monday 27 August, please contact DPAC for details.
[4] http://ukuncut.org.uk/actions
[5] http://blogs.mirror.co.uk/investigations/2012/04/32-die-a-week-after-failing-in.html
[6] http://poultonblog.dailymail.co.uk/2012/03/people-are-choosing-suicide-to-escape-poverty-is-this-the-states-final-solution.html
[7] http://www.channel4.com/programmes/dispatches/articles/britain-on-the-sick-reporter-feature
[8] http://bma.org.uk/news-views-analysis/news/2012/june/scrap-work-capability-assessment-doctors-demand
[9] http://www.parliament.uk/edm/2012-13/295
[10] http://atosvictimsgroup.co.uk/2012/07/26/judicial-review-of-work-capability-assessment-granted/