Why was this woman forced to CRAWL up stairs to a disability benefit assessment?
Campaigners at disability charity Scope said Ms Quinn’s case highlighted the difficulties disabled people face in trying to attend assessments [Image: Maria Quinn/Facebook].
That Act of Parliament requires ministers of the Crown to, among other things, “have regard to the desirability of reducing socio-economic inequalities… to prohibit victimisation in certain circumstances; [and] to require the exercise of certain functions to be with regard to the need to eliminate discrimination and other prohibited conduct”.
It is the direct successor of the Disability Discrimination Act and, like that Act, requires service providers to make ‘reasonable adjustments’ for disabled people, such as providing extra help or making changes to the way they provide their services, and in relation to the physical features of their premises to overcome physical barriers to access.
I would say that anything requiring a disabled person to crawl into a government building is a “physical barrier to access”, wouldn’t you?
If the Conservative government is requiring people claiming benefits due to disability to carry out tasks which are impossible to them, because of that disability, then it is breaking the law and should be prosecuted accordingly.
Are any lawyers reading? How about it?
Disability campaigners have called on the Government to end “humiliating” benefit assessments after a disabled woman was forced to “crawl” up stairs to attend an appointment.
Maria Quinn, who is partially sighted and walks with the aid of a wheeled frame, described how she was left feeling “mortified and panicked” after finding there was no step-free access for her consultation at a disability benefits centre.
With her solicitor carrying her mobility aid and her sister holding her breathing equipment, Ms Quinn, 32, managed to enter the building on Glasgow’s Cadogan Street by “crawling up the two split-level stairs”.
She said she was refused the portable ramp which can be used to cover the entrance stairs as it was intended for wheelchairs only, and if she had returned to her flat to collect her chair she would have been late and missed the appointment.
“There is no ramp or flat entrance to the disability assessment building…that’s right folks! You read it correctly,” Ms Quinn wrote on Facebook.
They really are a load of sphincters…..and they want to run the entire NHS??
This may seem extraordinary, but consider the venue procurement process, & the hierarchical overseers. Who, would lease/rent a venue for this type of undertaking without ‘purposely’ selecting difficult disabled access? The procurement remit would shed truth on the despicable motives of the civil servants whose overarching intent is to encumber the ‘clients’ they are meant to serve.
It makes me so angry and so sad to read of the sheer inhumanity which is deliberately and vindictively instigated by the Nasty Party.
I am sick of reading how people are being treated by unqualified people after they have been accessed by consul tens and doctors these people lie and are told to throw you off your benefit
Disgusting nasty tories.
If the government stopped sending millions of pounds to people abroad who don’t get it anyway there might be a lot more money for disabled people
That’s a total DISGRACE! My 20 yr old daughter is also disabled. She wears a leg brace & sometimes even an air cast if the RA pain is thst bad. Occasionally even a wheelchair is her only choice to get anywhere. Theres no way she’d make it up even ONE flight of stairs… ever. Not every “physically disabled” person is confined to a wheelchair… and to think that there’s a DISABILITY building without proper amenities is mind blowing. NO WONDER so many people have trouble receiving disability benefits! The ppl who work there HAVE NO CLUE!! SMFH. Why don’t they hire PHYSICALLY DISABLED people to work there to help with asessments.
That is absolutely disgusting. My heart goes out to this lady. I myself am disabled and not to the severity as others but I am disabled and I experience Prejudice and also lack of help from government entities such as housing authorities when asked for help I was told we don’t give special attention to disabled people yes yes people that’s what I was told so I struggle with that so when I hear a story such as this it really upsets me even further disability is disabled you cannot do what you the things that you once were able to do when you’re asking for help and to be denied this is Ludacris especially what she had to go and experience in a government facility what the f people get real as if life isn’t already difficult for her and others with a disability others are given special treatment such as the AIDS military veterans they get special privileges but being disabled well that’s a fine line because it’s not that the help isn’t there is that the people don’t take the time to make it happen for those that are disabled or need assistance things need to change fast because this is getting old
If only they could trade places.
That’s Teresa May for you the will give all government a BIG Rise this year on the Backs of Disable Shame on you
Unbelievable disgusting vile country we exist in , kids starving , disabled people left to struggle to death , mentally ill not cared for , elderly abused in so called care homes , maybe the government want us disabled or mentally ill to commit suicide , get rid of us eh
The pip assessments are not about seeing how disabled you are or how much help you need, they are about changing the points system so they can cut your disability payments in their favour. To the Tories there is nothing as worthless as a disabled person. This is the future of our ” great ” country. Couldn’t make it up. ?
I do wonder whether any of the buildings they use for assessments are suitable for access by the disabled. Over the last few years I have read various stories of people not able to get into the buildings.
How about we gather this information together?
My local assessment centre is Sheffield. The same building has been used for years and originally access was via an outside staircase up to the first floor. The staircase has been changed to a ramp, equally inaccessible for anyone with walking difficulties. The ramp winds round and round, steeply uphill to the same first floor entrance.
The building is at the end of a cul-de-sac, no car park. I get dropped off at the bottom of the ramp by a friend who has driven me there. They have to stop on double yellow lines, help me out, leave me there, turn the car round and drive off to find somewhere to park – (Sheffield City centre). I have to wait at the bottom of the ramp for my friend to return, they have to climb the ramp, go to reception and tell the staff I am outside and cannot access the ramp. Last time, I stood in the rain and was wet through by the time I gained access to the building. They let me in the staff door – ground floor – at the bottom of the ramp. I was led along corridors and then they wanted me to climb stairs to the first floor. I refused and asked to use the lift we had just passed. They kindly allowed me to use it.
Full points for insistence, but how many, in an attempt to be ‘helpful’ struggle to do as they are asked, only to be told, well you did that, so you must be OK.
Do you think they chose these types of buildings deliberately just so they can film the claimants trying to deal with their obstacle course challenge and provide the evidence they need to prove that some of the claimants are fabricating their disablements? Would these low lifes sink that low??. Any readers out there
who have experience of such a deed?.