Unbelievably, I am writing an update for the #SaveWILG campaign – something that I have been working on since November 2016. After highlighting the campaign on national television, newspapers, radio and across social media, I was delighted when the Deputy Minister for Health and Social Services visited my comrades and I back in February 2019, to announce the Welsh Government’s decision to protect former recipients of the ILF throughout Wales.
I felt that my tireless activism had been worth it. Countless visits to the Senedd, a meeting with Shadow Chancellor John McDonell in Westminster, pushing through a motion at the Welsh Labour Conference in April 2018 where I also met Jeremy Corbyn, working closely with the Petitions Committee at the Senedd and a whole host of other events, such as an art exhibition at Theatr Clwyd and an awareness day in the centre of Wrexham, had resulted in an opportunity to meet with an independent social worker instead of having to rely on unscrupulous local authorities, who were more concerned with the bottom-line than the welfare of disabled people.
It felt like I had achieved something, but I am still waiting to find out what the future holds, while I am stuck under a cloud of uncertainty. I have had my final reassessment with ICS – the independent company appointed by the Welsh Government to reassess former WILG recipients – but I am waiting for a final meeting with ICS and WCBC.
It is true that the pandemic has caused problems in arranging this meeting. I wanted to wait until we could set up a face-to-face meeting, rather than struggle to hear and be understood over video-conferencing. I also wanted to wait until I had had both of my Covid vaccinations. I had my second vaccine at the beginning of May, and I have finally set up a meeting with ICS and WCBC for July 16th.
This cannot come quickly enough. Unfortunately, my progressive disability is weakening my body at a rate of knots, meaning that I cannot achieve the goals I have set myself, without the adequate support. There is so much that I still want to achieve in life, but I am having to spend all my time and energy on fighting for nothing more than a level playing field for disabled people in Wales.
The problem as always, is money. I will never stop believing that people should come before profit…
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It is not only me that finds themselves in such a situation. Indeed, I am probably one of the lucky ones (!), as I have a team of advocates and supporters around me. I know other WILG recipients who are being pushed tot he edge by hostile local authorities. I cannot help but notice that the people who are being punished at this stage, are the passionate people who were determined to see justice served, and proved a nuisance for having the audacity to stand up against the Welsh Government and local authorities.
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Independent living is a problem for disabled people across Britain. Please see the letter below and consider signing and sharing the petition, plus composing an email to your MP. Solidarity and best wishes to John Abrams.
Dear Friends,
Thank you for signing the petition to Scrap Social Care Charging.
Please can you write to your MP to fix social care which is unfair and a post code lottery. The first step is to urge the government to introduce free home care and scrap care charges.
Take action today and email your MP here Act Now – Scrap care charging and introduce Free home care – Action Network
Thanks,
Jon Abrams
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