28 September 2013

10,000 Cuts and Counting event in Parliament Square to remember the thousands of disabled people who have died shortly after a Work Capability Assessment (WCA).

What: Disabled actors, performers and activists join faith leaders, mainstream grassroots campaigners and MPs (Jeremy Corbyn, John McDonnell and Michael Meacher) for a memorial event outside parliament to remember the thousands of disabled victims of the government’s austerity programme. Part of Parliament Square is covered with white flowers, each one representing a disabled person who had died shortly after a WCA.

Why significant: Shows disabled activists again working with the mainstream anti-cuts movement, and the mounting anger over deaths linked to the WCA. The 10,000 figure relates to the 10,600 people who died within six weeks of their claim ending following a WCA, between January and November 2011. There was disagreement over what the 10,600 figure actually showed, as more than 7,000 of them had been placed in the ESA support group, but some disabled campaigners said it showed that many of the 10,600 people died as a result of being found fit-for-work, while others had died due to the impact of constant reassessment.