John Pring's Disability News Service - Week Beginning 25th May 2012

5/29/2012 07:37:00 am BenefitScroungingScum 0 Comments

• A GP whose patient tried to kill himself after a “fitness for work” test is urging the government to introduce a way to allow doctors to report such cases to the Department for Work and Pensions.
• GPs have piled new pressure on the government after unanimously calling for it to scrap its controversial “fitness for work” tests.
• Campaigners are to ask a judge to declare that the government’s controversial “fitness for work” test is unlawful because it discriminates against people with mental health conditions.
• The coalition appears to have ordered a lengthy delay to the publication of its cross-government disability strategy.
• A judge has sparked concern after refusing to treat a three-year campaign of cruelty in which a disabled man was repeatedly beaten by relatives as a disability hate crime.
• The sports body that represents Britain’s Paralympians has suggested that it is planning to take a more active stance around disability rights issues.
• Organisers of the London 2012 Paralympics have put on sale a further one million tickets, as they marked 100 days until the games begin, and announced that the British band Coldplay would perform at its closing ceremony.
• The lack of severely-impaired swimmers in the British team at this summer’s Paralympics could mean a missed chance to highlight sporting opportunities for other people with similar conditions, according to a leading athlete and activist.
• Nine leading disabled activists have backed a new “contract for the future”, which lays out the 15 changes that need to be made to improve the lives of people with learning difficulties.
• A group of thalidomide survivors from across Europe are hoping to share the knowledge they have gained from half a century of living with their impairments through a new online community.
• Disabled activists are planning a high-profile protest that will highlight the inaccessibility of the public transport system, and demonstrate the problems that will be caused by the government’s cuts to disability living allowance.
• A new disabled-led theatre company is setting out to hear the voices of some of the artists most often excluded and sidelined by the arts world.