Disability News Round Up By John Pring - Week Beginning 31/10/2011

11/01/2011 10:18:00 am BenefitScroungingScum 2 Comments

• Disabled activists have ridiculed a union’s claims that its members have been unfairly criticised for the way they test disabled people’s “fitness for work”.
• Government figures have revealed alarming new evidence of a slump in the number of disabled people granted funds to make their workplaces more accessible.
• Two disabled people have lost their high court challenge over a council’s decision to slash spending on social care services.
• The number of disability benefits claimants found “fit for work” by the government has fallen sharply over the last two years, according to new figures.
• Researchers are seeking volunteers to take part in a project that will trace how the educational experiences of disabled people have changed over the last 100 years.
• A disabled peer has challenged a minister over whether she is taking account of the views of disabled people in developing new policies.
• Trials of the assessment for the benefit that will replace disability living allowance (DLA) show the test is worryingly similar to the government’s discredited “fitness for work” assessment, say campaigners.
• Thousands of disabled people and other campaigners have taken part in a series of anti-cuts protests in more than a dozen towns and cities across the UK.