Disability activist -Autism, welfare, mental health, NHS, socialism, chronic disabilities, housing, LGBTQIA+, Film, TV Autistic chronic pain spoonie Queer Enby
London
Joined June 2009
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Hey all
Please find me on other socials
Been posting lots on Facebook, Instagram & threads esp. around welfare, disability
👉catherineedgson
It’s difficult to manage everything with limited energy & capacity
Hope you’re all ok after the recent
announcements 😬
#disability
Catherine retweeted
Here’s a radical thought: disabled kids become disabled adults . Disability doesn’t go away because you get older.
Update:
Recovering after I think was a fatigue crash on Wednesday
Light sensitivity was new and weird
Going to find a light I can have on low dim settings I think
Plus all the additional life stress and continued news
Feeling bad for not having capacity
Will be back soon 💜
Catherine retweeted
Disabled people deserve better than media that questions whether we are worthy of rights, support or independence, while excluding us from the conversation about our lives.
Advertisers have choices about the media they fund.
#DisabilityMediaAction👇🏻 inclusionlondon.org.uk/campa…
Dear anti poverty campaigners, please create reports and responses to counteract this “inquiry” because we really need your support rn & I think these guys are wrong
Happy to collab
@jrf_uk @TrussellUK @Z2K_trust @resfoundation @CitizensAdvice @The_TUC @InclusionLondon
Our Welfare 2030 inquiry has uncovered over 3,000 areas where the majority of working-age people are on out-of-work benefits.
See them on our interactive map at welfare2030.org.uk🔎
State of Dependency, part one of the inquiry, set out the principles of a new welfare system that stops this tragedy of wasted potential👇
Catherine retweeted
Another big fib - there are zero cash incentives.
On the contrary- autism is a quarry for nearly sharing their journey with it.
Time to stop the prejudice.
An estimated 1.2% of young people have autism but the diagnosis rate has soared to over 4%. That's what Prof Fonagy's report says.
Whether overdiagnosis or misdiagnosis - support is not going where it should.
We need system-wide change to remove cash incentives for a diagnosis and ensure therapeutic support for those in genuine need to learn, work and contribute to the economy.
The blog I did with @Rethink_ might fit in with this
Disability benefits should not be dismissed for adhd, autism, mental health just because they’re not obvious or physical or the costs seem to be less likely
People with these conditions still have living costs, rent, bills etc
#DWP
There are growing signs of a DWP push to claim that conditions like ADHD, autism, anxiety and depression are less likely to lead to significant additional costs and, therefore, should be treated differently by the benefits system
benefitsandwork.co.uk/news/a…
rethink.org/news-and-stories…
Ignore the random picture which isn’t actually me 😬
PIP must remain for people with mental health, autism, adhd
They are not “cost free conditions”
@JoePJRobertson
@patmcfaddenmp
@DWPgovuk
Tories want to remove benefits from autistic people and still think that it’s overdiagnosed even though the report showed there was no evidence for overdiagnosis
We don’t want therapy
We need financial security
That doesn’t involve work btw
pip is not an out of work benefit
An estimated 1.2% of young people have autism but the diagnosis rate has soared to over 4%. That's what Prof Fonagy's report says.
Whether overdiagnosis or misdiagnosis - support is not going where it should.
We need system-wide change to remove cash incentives for a diagnosis and ensure therapeutic support for those in genuine need to learn, work and contribute to the economy.
Catherine retweeted
Part 2
Let’s get out this mindset of money or services
We need both
People still need to live, pay for food, rent, bills
Stop talking about cuts as if it’s the safe alternative because it isn’t
We know what happens when benefits are stopped
People die
@thetimes
F off!
Catherine retweeted
Why is @Helen_Whately using the right wing think tank @csjthinktank to push rhetoric about disabled people that echoes some of the darkest times in history? Why is this being allowed, and why is it being pushed so relentlessly? @andyburnham @bphillipsonMP
So benefits get stopped for vulnerable people inc those who are addicts
Slot in mental illness or neurodivergence…
Watch crime and suicide rates skyrocket!
Support should exist, and we need more of it
But don’t take away money that could be used to support their independence
I have said for 18 months that giving people with conditions like this cash - not support - is wrong. It fuels addiction, not recovery.
Now charities tell @thetimes these policies cause needless deaths. We are literally killing people with so-called kindness.
@Conservatives will stop this farce.
Great reporting @daisyeastlake and @katieotoolee
Catherine retweeted
Disability benefits are under attack through headlines and the media, not facts. @thetimes
"Revealed: Nearly 2 million on sickness benefits are left unchecked"
Many claimants have severe, lifelong conditions. Many will be waiting on a review to be completed.
"Too many people on benefits", "work is the cure", "spending is spiralling"
These are political arguments, not facts.
A single exceptional case does not prove widespread abuse of disability benefits.
#Disability #Benefits #ChallengeTheNarrative
thetimes.com/uk/welfare-inqu…
Catherine retweeted
The Nazis’ murder of disabled people was an atrocity, not a lesson in cost-cutting.
Any argument that measures human worth by economic productivity should be challenged… not accepted as common sense.
#DisabilityJustice
Hey CSJ & other think tanks
Stop pitting taxpayers against benefit claimants as if we’re the enemy
They’re releasing a report tomorrow apparently and complaining benefits are too high
Here’s a thought
RAISE MINIMUM WAGE
38% on UC are working! @UKLabour
centreforsocialjustice.org.u…
Catherine retweeted
There needs to be a party that speaks up for disabled people.
We keep being shown who is not that party. We need to see who it is.
Disabled people aren't a different species. We need to hear politicians giving them a voice, on the issues that impact 1 in 4 people in the country.
Catherine retweeted
If the system only responds when someone reaches crisis point, it is not an effective support system.
We autistic and ADHD people deserve timely, preventative help… not years of neglect followed by emergency intervention.
#DisabilityJustice
Completely and utterly false Helen
The report has nothing on benefits and whoever wrote this is being disingenuous
You don’t even show the publication 🤦🏼
These conditions are not overdiagnosed
We need more support not less
We need earlier support which is what the report said
Sad but true. The Fonagy report confirms…
Diagnosis has become a route to benefits, never mind whether it helps the child involved.
We need to stop handing out cash for these conditions. @Conservatives new welfare system will invest in support instead.
