ATOS Kills: Mass 'Die-in' in Cardiff against Benefit Cuts
DPAC Cardiff | 25.08.2012 18:03
The campaign group, Disabled People Against Cuts (DPAC) will be holding a mass 'die-in' at the Aneurin Bevan Statue, Queen Street, Cardiff, at 5.00 pm on Wednesday, 29th August, as part of nationwide protests against ATOS, the French IT company that carries out Work Capability Assessments for the Department for Work & Pensions (DWP).
The ‘die-in’ is intended to represent all the disabled people who have been driven to suicide after ATOS has found them ‘fit for work’ and stopped their benefits, or for other reasons associated with the draconian ‘welfare reforms’ introduced by the UK government.
DPAC says: ‘A Channel 4 documentary recently revealed that the DWP requires ATOS to reject the benefit claims of 7 out of 8 disabled claimants, resulting in immense suffering, homelessness, or death. The mark of a civilised society is how it addresses the needs of its most vulnerable members. Given what is happening to tens of thousands of disabled people in Britain today, we can no longer claim to be a civilized society.
‘Our campaign in Cardiff is part of a national campaign supported by the trade unions, and goes by the name "Atos Kills". This is based on well-documented evidence that approximately 32 disabled people a week die after their Atos Work Capability Assessments deem them "fit to work" and their benefits are stopped (the evidence for this was first obtained through FoI requests by the Daily Mirror and all this can be found on the DPAC website). This is in addition to the people who have been driven to suicide as a result of the welfare reforms.’
‘Please come along next Wednesday and be a “corpse” – after all, it’s not often that you get the chance to fight injustice by lying down!’
DPAC says: ‘A Channel 4 documentary recently revealed that the DWP requires ATOS to reject the benefit claims of 7 out of 8 disabled claimants, resulting in immense suffering, homelessness, or death. The mark of a civilised society is how it addresses the needs of its most vulnerable members. Given what is happening to tens of thousands of disabled people in Britain today, we can no longer claim to be a civilized society.
‘Our campaign in Cardiff is part of a national campaign supported by the trade unions, and goes by the name "Atos Kills". This is based on well-documented evidence that approximately 32 disabled people a week die after their Atos Work Capability Assessments deem them "fit to work" and their benefits are stopped (the evidence for this was first obtained through FoI requests by the Daily Mirror and all this can be found on the DPAC website). This is in addition to the people who have been driven to suicide as a result of the welfare reforms.’
‘Please come along next Wednesday and be a “corpse” – after all, it’s not often that you get the chance to fight injustice by lying down!’
DPAC Cardiff
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