“Roll up, roll up! Get your vouchers for survival here! Get on board, the train to a better England!”
The song calls out over the speakerphone, and all heads turn to gasp at this sign, spellbound by this new possibility, with all its hope! The wisdom! The lives changed!
The… horror.
The disgust.
The lives destroyed.
It’s painted pretty, The train-already trying to forcibly cram people on board- All bright colours and lights bulbs flashing. It’s all beautiful calligraphy, pretty lights, clean and charming and a masterpiece of machinery. The lyrical song, narrating its words on the tannoy, singing out to make it seem like you’re getting a fantastic deal, rather than the reality, that you’re fighting for your life with people that don’t believe your life is even worth living.
Where the train is going, is straight out of a horror story. But as long it looks pretty, and serves an illusion of control for a better country, right?
Next to this beautiful well lit train - advertising f4sch1sm in a charmingly delightful way - a well dressed person stands wearing a suit, chin up, chest puffed out with self importance , a knowing smile on their face, as they clap their hands encouragingly and nod with self assurance, “these vouchers are the best thing for our country!” They say, with such animation, their words turn into glitter in the air as they sing. People flock, delighted at making the country a better place, and they fall foul for this sirens - I mean - politicians, curse.
Each person, cursed by brainwashing, now are also singing the song of the sirens, cursing us all to dehumanise disabled people, so that we don’t even notice when our human rights are taken away - even making non disabled people believe it’s a good thing because we disabled people ‘don’t deserve’ any better, because we are ‘scroungers’ ‘con artists’ ‘not motivated enough to improve’ ‘lazy’ ‘ambitionless’. ‘Dreamless’ ‘humanness’ ‘a waste of space’
‘A waste of life’
Except they’re clever, those politician sirens-they don’t make it obvious that they are stirring the pot and making us hate and shame and bully and abuse on each other. They don’t make it look like they are conquering and divide us as a community, so that we fight among ourselves - the disabled against the world - the tax payers against the people who can’t pay tax - meanwhile, the politicians are not even on the train to chaos, they’re sat on their high horse, delighting that the chaos means that they get to keep more power for themselves at the expense of the vulnerable.
the vulnerable remaining powerless to make concrete change in a world that favours privilege over anything else, is what allows the sirens to thrive .
The politician sirens words, are not glitter in the skies which paint a tale of care and hope, like they pretend; but rather, their words, are haggard curses; ash, falling from a volcano mouth, erupting its dangerous lava spiteful and full of lies as it floods around us, threateningly. Good job there’s a train to save us, if we want to be saved.
Oh wait.
Choochoo! Where was it that train to a better England was heading again? Because it’s not looking pretty.
It’s certainly not looking better.
It’s definitely not looking safe, either.
(Also, this train lava thing is a metaphor, there’s no train and no lava and this wasn’t a literal quote either… but…)
Guess what alarming and frightening quotes I HAVE legit heard lately?
“If this goes through, I won’t have a choice. I’ll have to commit *******. I cannot survive without actual money. Vouchers will be the end for me”
It’s not a coincidence they’re looking into assisted suicide and changing the parameters of what constitutes as being allowed to apply for it.
In Canada it’s been happening for years / disabled or sick people apply for MAID- not because they want to die - but because they’ve been forced into poverty and trauma for so long they are desperate for any way out. Even death. Because their human rights are routinely ignored and they deserve to have respect and be treated as a human. It’s not for us to judge, and yet the sirens will be pushing disabled people who many are already having mental health issues.
I have read a variation of this phrase over and over this last few days from hundreds of disabled and chronically sick people, in the immediate aftermath of the DWPs proposal to give PIP claimants vouchers instead of money…
That’s horrifying, and that’s where this train to a ‘better England’ is heading.
Vouchers and PIP and the train to chaos
Theres nothing good about these vouchers or the curse they are selling, with their siren song of thinly veiled 3ugen1cs and darkness.
Among the bright colours and appeasing advertisements is the grim reality, queues of starving, disabled people, most too sick to even be in the queue, clinging on to life and their independence as they beg for a small portion of their human rights to remain safe-their survival. Disabled people are begging to not board the train, and instead clear up the lava the siren created, to make it safe again.
The sirens don’t listen to us though, because then they’d have to be accountable for the harm they cause us.
Among this dirt poor world, forced into darkness and poverty- trapped into a cycle we cannot escape - where we beg for scraps of survival, among the brightly coloured beauty of the world beyond our grasp, it should be obvious:
we are not asking for much, - just safe survival, access to a better opportunities, independence and equity (just like non disabled people do)
and yet when the government suggests giving claimants on PIP (personal independent payment) vouchers instead of actual money, they sing out an advertisement that highlighted not only what they think we are worth , but what they hope to brainwash the voters to believe too.
The train to misinformation and stigmatised views...
The song they sing spins a tale on sin, a yarn of many lies, time in deceit well spent:
“These people can’t be trusted to spend money in the best way for them”
“They don’t deserve to have money if they won’t spend it properly!”
“They are burdens and a dredge on society.”
How could someone not Living our lives possibly judge what is best for us? There are physical emotional and mental factors On a accessibility health and wellbeing level that many won’t take into account- but also- if one person is allowed to buy themselves a treat, or to waste their well earned money on defence modes and coping- everyone should be allowed to, because no one is more or less worthy of treats or coping better- especially if their privilege level is not at all their own fault-yes - even the homeless people who use drugs and alcohol as defence modes for trauma - they deserve to spend their money as they wish to too, even if it’s seen as a waste. Yet so many people would think to them selves “what’s the point in giving this human being money to buy food, they’ll only spend it on drugs”
WHO ARE WE TO DENY THEIR HUMAN RIGHTS? We shouldn’t lose our humanity in the chase of them losing or not accessing theirs. We give them money because they deserve access to human rights like we do, they have the perceived option to spend as they feel is safe to-if that decision is forced by trauma defence modes - on drugs or alcohol it’s not for us to judge a defence mode that was probably create by a complex trauma and Trauma we have no right to judge .
The very 3ugen1cs and f4sch1sm dressed up as a delightful song of “let’s give them vouchers! it’s best for our country and our people!” Removes authority and rights and the ability to even exist an adult like other people can.
They think it’s okay to remove our access to money and replacing with vouchers, Because to them, we don’t spend money properly and what better way to save money than to stop giving money to people who have no other way of surviving? To them, we are not part of their country that they are trying to make ‘great’. We are not even people. We have been dehumanised so long that they don’t care if we live or die- in fact this is 3ugen1cs dressed up as a good thing- it’s just hidden and brainwashed so people don’t realise that they’ve been brainwashed to not realise it too. Thats what all bullying and abuse does, it manipulates everyone so they socially isolate the victim to the point that no one would believe the victim if the victim ever had the strength to speak out.
The Reality is that vouchers are going to kill millions of us at some point, in some way, and the scary part of that it feels like -evident by many historic events recent and long in the past- that this is exactly the plan.
Yet, because the vouchers are not directly killing us, they can pretend that our death toll has nothing to do with them and their politics and choices to kill us. It should be seen as the manslaughter 3ugen1cs it is, but hey ho, who would elect a siren politician with the knowledge their train is going straight to manslaughter 3ugen1cs town, and anyone and everyone could fall victim to it because literally anyone and everyone could become disabled and also need PIP to survive, for any reason, at any time.
Vouchers will remove our freedom and our human rights. They also attack the personal independence payments of pip which has nothing at all to
Do with work or ability to work and everything to do with the extra cost (nearly £1000 EVERY MONTH for some disabled people) of existing as disabled. We need extra money to survive. Especially when many of us cannot (not will not) work to earn money to survive. Many of us are forced into poverty we can’t really escape already… but this? This is definitive message that we don’t matter. That we are second class citizens who are not deserving of the same human rights.
Thats the point. It’s a betrayal of human rights . A deliberate betrayal, with the aim to spend less money (ironic that vouchers would cost more in the short run, but in the long run, so many disabled people would die and not need PIP vouchers that maybe the powers at be are hoping it would valence the financial scales?) It’s all a chess game…And sadly, to play the game we have to work out the master move - what they deem as winning. How they win.
Where is this train heading in the near and distant future? How is this political betrayal of human rights now, going to manifest and create change? How will the public react?
Where is this train going to crash and burn? Because it will.
These siren politicians are relying on misinformation and uneducated people to mix the media pot of potions to create a spell of disaster. So many people not only think that disabled people should be working even if they cannot safely work, but they also think we are deliberately conning the system when we could do without it, some even think that all these things that are often not true also take away our humanity and worthiness of nice things or safe things or good things or… life .
Vouchers are likely to be very limited to what they can access and will be used a way to force us to not spend on what they deem as unworthy or unnecessary based on a the ableist view that disabled people are not really that disabled at all and just need to try harder and work and suffer like the rest of non disabled people. They are estimating that vouchers worth less than £168 a WEEK (which is less than full components of PIP) would be paid to claimants instead of the money. Imagine the poverty when they are already struggling to survive?
The Vouchers won’t likely pay for cleaners or hired help or carers, vouchers won’t likely pay for endless medication or accessible foods or preparation techniques. Vouchers won’t likely pay for mobility aids or medical aids or adapted transporters or vehicles. Vouchers won’t likely pay for accessing safe clothing or comforts. Vouchers will however, likely pay for the very LEAST of what they think we deserve-it’ll be limited, and then they’ll monitor what they think we SHOULD spend money on based on ableist beliefs and miseducation and stigma. No takeaways because you are too sick to move and don’t want to starve. No weighted blanket because you’re in so much pain and it’s the only thing that helps. No extra electricity or water bills. No accessible foods- like foods that can be brought in pouches that can be left out the fridge for months, and are still nutritious and safe to eat hot or cold for when your bed bound and don’t want to starve. No more expensive food for allergies. No extra vitamins. No headphones because you’re too overwhelmed and need silence. No sound machine because you can’t have silence. No trips for special interest or hyper focus learning opportunities - museums or general spending. Nothing that could be judged as unnecessary like pre chopped veg or pre ready made meals that don’t even need to be heated - Just whole food you have to prepare yourself but if you’re too disabled to do that? They don’t care. They can blame you for your suffering or even blame you for your death by saying “hey, we gave you means to get food it’s not our fault you starved” not understanding / caring that accessibility is a whole issue which means without actual cash we can’t access those necessities. Necessities that, if we were NOT disabled or NOT needing benefits we would be allowed to access freely with no consequence or judgements.
Our worth is not less valuable than someone who is not disabled and can work.
We are deserving of the same access to human rights and treats like anyone else is!
Is it morally right to villainise all of us, and risk harming all of us while fighting those who slip through the cracks? No. Because thousands of disabled people will die or become more disabled and sick as a result of this, and that will be inhumane.
No amount of money wastage should warrant harm like this, and if people don’t understand the true harm that will come to disabled people, they are not in a position to judge on what helps.
Not to mention voucher overhead would cost SO MUCH money…. It’s not even practical as well as being totally inhumane.
it’s a slippery slope to 3ugen1cs and f4sch1sm, which in the process WILL harm and kill thousands of disabled people. It’s a type of culling, worded to make it seem acceptable.
Accessing vouchers will harm too Many disabled people who can’t work- for genuine valid reasons.
Filling out forms is work, trawling Google and websites and researching how to do vouchers and then do vouchers- is hard work and it is also inaccessible. I faint just googling the stuff I want to, or even scrolling social media- not even posting - even when I am stress free and feeling peaceful and happy. I have no chance of the work involved in either sorting vouchers or looking for jobs or maintaining a job when I’ll be so stressed and burnout and shutdown to the point of not even functioning.
Vouchers, that need to be filed and reimbursed? That’s work. There’s no way I could do that. This is another way they can blame us for our own demise “all you had to do was fill out a form” no caring that the form was inaccessible and there was no way a disabled person without support could do it alone for every little expense they need on a daily basis to survive. But also with support in unrealistic . Who pays for the support? The carers allowance? The vouchers? Nope. Not likely.
Acceptance to a better Britain
We must accept that we cannot force ourselves to get better, & that it’s not within our control to cure an illness or disability, no matter what the sirens sing to brainwash the masses that we deserve less than humane survival?!
We need people to stop implying that we could only get better if we tried. It does not mean we are not also motivated to improve and it doesn’t mean we are not trying everything within our power to better-we just simply can’t magic ourselves better through good intentions alone-it’s not a mental /mind over matter, issue.
Vouchers was never about helping us. It’s about finding a reason to plausibly deny the reasons for our deaths and drum up division and hatred so that later, they can strip the vulnerable of more rights and not risk such a public upheaval because by then everyone will have been brainwashed to believe our rights were not necessary anyway.
How to help:
Roll up Roll up! It’s the end of life as we know it, unless we vote the sirens, out.
🧚🏻♀️ On May 2nd in England- make sure, you make
Your vote count! Vote wisely to get any f4sch1st or 3ugen1cs train off the governing track by removing the sirens from political power; how you choose to do so, is up to you.
🧚🏻♀️advocate, and if it is safe to share stories - but remember - just because the world seems cursed by sirens who stir up hate or information never means you should feel like you HAVE to justify what you spend your money or PIP on or why you can’t work or how your disabled or sick.
🧚🏻♀️Listen to our needs or look out for the signs that we need help or restbite- then provide us with restbite with no judgement or pressure.
🧚🏻♀️remember even quiet advocates are still advocating as loudly as they can safely manage at the time - even you. Avoid making someone who is close to shutdown or meltdown simply “carry on” in that situation if they have expressed discomfort. Take them away & allow them to calm down so they can regain lost mental, emotional & physical capability’s. Remember that, advocacy is not ableist and just because someone does not advocate for big issues like you’d expect does not mean they don’t care or have not prioritised it. Sometimes survival is prioritised over global issues or big issues in life.
🧚🏻♀️Likewise- respect that we should never judge what another person spends their money or PIP on. Let’s be safe people, and not shame or judge. We don’t know what’s best for them, especially if they’re strangers. We don’t know what spending money would best help them. We must never judge, or make them feel like they’re ’bad’ for needing to spend money the way they do.
🧚🏻♀️campaigns, and signing of relevant helpful petitions on change.uk . I’m still searching for some but I’ve fainted 7 times since I started write this and need to stop before I injure myself so can’t research any more! Sorry!
🧚🏻♀️don’t apologise for being disabled like I just did. There’s nothing Wrong with you, your good intentions or potential to Try your best - it’s not your fault other people fall foul of a sirens spells and don’t recognise what your best actually looks like.
Peace x