Day 295: Defending ‘the principle’ of what that Mr Lord You’reNotWorth£2I’mWorth£300adayexpences said.

You didn’t think this blog was defending………Lordy & indeed Baron WhatNotNastyPartysback£2ajobthankyoupleaseI’mgrategul…….no, no, no….read on sausage.

There’s a few things bugging me.  These bugs are about what commentators are saying in the way of defending ‘the principle’ of what that Mr Lord NotWorth£2 and so somehow the principles are right. These comments are going unchallenged and as so many friends and colleagues have so eloquently said how I feel on the Lordy Iwouldn’tgetoutofbedforlessthan£2 matter, I thought I’d tackle some of these bugs in this blog, so they don’t get completely away with it. I guess by ‘commentator’, here essentially I mean media/political commentators and a few silly billy types along the way. Well done to Ian Macrae, Nikki Fox & Penny Pepper who did address some of this imbalance that I did see (and obv to others who did, but I didnt see!!).

Still sausages, before the rant, a little chuckle first….I’m loving the new fb campaign #2fingersto£2 (photo’s not mine, they are from facebook, used here for illustrative photographic and pictorial stimulus purposes). Brilliant to my mates, Ted, Stephen & Caroline:

Now for my little rant:

Commentators 1st defence: “There are a group of  ‘severely’ disabled people who can’t work/aren’t worth the minimum wage”

– A few things on that one…..Purpose in life is surely first in all our lives so as equally important/unimportant as money & payment, work for payment is both everything to some and nothing to others, doing something you believe in is as important as payment.  As a society its about equality and respect to find and achieve those purposes.  Having said that, and not to let these abhorrent views slip off, money is as important to disabled people as you and when we go into a job we are realistic and we go for jobs we believe we can do….and for……at least the flippin minimum wage so don’t patronise us by somehow judging our capital input/power as less. Finally on the ‘severely’ note…..oops just looked at all the official labels given to me….I’m sure you would argue “of course he didn’t mean ‘people like me/you…..same label…..same wrong label to judge people by.

Commentators 2nd defence: “Disability charities in the past have supported businesses paying lower and then that being topped up by the state”

– This for me is why organisations  run and controlled by disabled people is so important and I’m so proud of what organisations like MertonCIL achieve. We need to end this kind of patronisation that takes away our autonomy.  We need to have more Disabled People representing our own views and recognising that charities don’t necessarily all reflect our beautiful diverse selves……Yes to non-disabled Allies and colleagues but its time for us to have our own voice and to be heard, its 2014!……..We are not worth less….#BecauseWe_R_WorthIt…….to add, apart from when we have been put down and so de-valued by society and so we begin to believe that clap-trap hype, Ive never heard a disabled person say “my work/input is worth less”!  The critical matter I’m trying to express here is that charities named by commentators have not been organisation of or led by disabled people. They are organisations, who like these views, still use “The language of limitation”…you know…achieving all you can within your abilities…do your best but not quite as good….almost but not quite. We all come in touch with lots of charities and I’m not knocking all….they tread a thin line, many charities forget their purpose, values and beliefs and get it wrong and end up doing the reverse of what they set out to do..this experience proves that and we have tried to tell you in the past…..user-led and DPO’s (Disabled Peoples Organisations) I hope wont be perfect, but I hope we never forget our purpose, values and beliefs and I hope we never use the language of limitation. Finally on this point in most commentators research they quote those charities from over ten years ago….things change fast so using those out-dated quotes is a bit…well…outdated!

Commentators 3rd defence: “Business’s and companies are there to make money and keep their stakeholders in profit”

– of course they are,  that is why they have nice staff canteens, a gym, a ping pong table, a chillax staff area…to make money…Unfortunately most business’s/organisations believe the hype about disability despite also knowing in evidence the hype isn’t true. I came to a decision a number of years ago…I realised a few businesses only want to do any Disability Equality Training to tick a box…we can say we’ve been trained…like the government saying we’ve listened to your views…..As a result I now see DET working with businesses who really want to change and engage in equality and diversity as a significant asset of its purpose….the truth is most jobs are created and job descriptions written by non-disabled people with that perspective in mind, of course as a result there are barriers to us fitting in and working that way.  Thats why being freelance works so well for many of us, even though it is harder and maybe less financially secure…..A few businesses in the minority realise this and are beginning to change work practices….until there is stronger equality legislation and a sizemic shift in attitudes and practice where disabled people, diversity  & equality is immersed into positions of power where job descriptions, jobs and decisions are made….these mistakes and discrimination will continue..just take a look at a picture of most governments and board rooms……

Final thought: If Mr Lord “I’mworth£300adayexpences” had said the same thing about any other, he’d be out on his arse till till the storm dies, of course his mates would look after him and bring him in via the back door later on….It just goes to show how far many of us growing number of oppressed people still have to come.

Rant over sausages, peace and calm back.

Note to readers –

New terms used in this blog that mean Lord Freud include:

Lordy & indeed Baron WhatNotNastyPartysback£2ajobthankyoupleaseI’mgrategul

Mr Lord You’reNotWorth£2I’mWorth£300adayexpences

Mr Lord NotWorth£2 (I think this is my favourite term. It’s short, to the point and reflects the key principle)

Lordy Iwouldn’tgetoutofbedforlessthan£2

Mr Lord “I’mworth£300adayexpences”