Disabled Man Takes Hunger Strike To Atos
DPAC Caerdydd | 05.11.2012 00:35
PRESS RELEASE FOR IMMEDIATE ISSUE
DISABLED PROTESTOR TO STAGE VIGIL & HUNGER STRIKE OUTSIDE OF ATOS OFFICES IN CARDIFF
DISABLED PEOPLE AGAINST CUTS (DPAC) CAERDYDD
DISABLED PROTESTOR TO STAGE VIGIL & HUNGER STRIKE OUTSIDE OF ATOS OFFICES IN CARDIFF
DISABLED PEOPLE AGAINST CUTS (DPAC) CAERDYDD
A disabled person in his 30s will lead a five-day hunger strike and vigil outside the ATOS office on St Agnes Road, Gabalfa, Cardiff to protest a letter from the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) declaring him fit for work and cutting his benefits.
Christos Palmer, who has both mental and physical health problems, including depression, self-harm and mobility issues, hopes the protest will highlight the suffering of disabled people caused by current government policies.
ATOS, the French IT company that carries out the controversial Work Capability Assessments assessments for the DWP has been the subject of widespread condemnation from disability charities and the British Medical Association who call for the s to be scrapped completely. The firm has been accused of target chasing for cutting the amount of people found eligible for benefits.
Rob Marsh, a protest spokesperson said,
“Earlier this year a Channel 4 Dispatches documentary revealed 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 is part of a national campaign that goes by the name “Atos Kills”. This is based on well-documented evidence that approximately 32 disabled people a week died last year after their Atos Work Capability Assessments deemed them “fit to work” and stopped benefits. This year the figure has risen to 73 deaths per week including suicides”
A spokesperson from Disabled People Against Cuts in Cardiff said,
“While we support the protest aims we are extremely concerned about Christos’s physical and mental well-being. He often suffers from extreme fatigue and is housebound on some days. That somebody so unwell has been driven to this shows the desperation that the sick and disabled are being driven to by this government. We are urging him to end his hunger strike”
The protest begins on Monday [5th November] at 8 am and end on Friday afternoon.
Christos Palmer, who has both mental and physical health problems, including depression, self-harm and mobility issues, hopes the protest will highlight the suffering of disabled people caused by current government policies.
ATOS, the French IT company that carries out the controversial Work Capability Assessments assessments for the DWP has been the subject of widespread condemnation from disability charities and the British Medical Association who call for the s to be scrapped completely. The firm has been accused of target chasing for cutting the amount of people found eligible for benefits.
Rob Marsh, a protest spokesperson said,
“Earlier this year a Channel 4 Dispatches documentary revealed 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 is part of a national campaign that goes by the name “Atos Kills”. This is based on well-documented evidence that approximately 32 disabled people a week died last year after their Atos Work Capability Assessments deemed them “fit to work” and stopped benefits. This year the figure has risen to 73 deaths per week including suicides”
A spokesperson from Disabled People Against Cuts in Cardiff said,
“While we support the protest aims we are extremely concerned about Christos’s physical and mental well-being. He often suffers from extreme fatigue and is housebound on some days. That somebody so unwell has been driven to this shows the desperation that the sick and disabled are being driven to by this government. We are urging him to end his hunger strike”
The protest begins on Monday [5th November] at 8 am and end on Friday afternoon.
DPAC Caerdydd
e-mail:
dpaccaerdydd@gmail.com
Comments
Hide the following 7 comments
Message of Support from Sonia Poulton
05.11.2012 11:22
"Today Christos Palmer is on hunger strike outside the ATOS office in Cardiff. This strike is a continuation from last week. He feels he has no choice because he is watching disabled and sick people treated as if they have no worth.
Christos knows only too well how bad things are because he is also subject to the same heinous Government fit-to-work test - Work Capability Assessment - which is not only inaccurate but costly both to human life and the tax-payer.
Please support him in any way you can. Tweet the vigil, get there or scream at the top of your lungs to your MP that this Coalition''s treatment of some of our most vulnerable must stop. And now."
Members of the executive of PCS Wales also visited Christos this morning.
Adam J
ATOS kills, and is still killing.
05.11.2012 21:29
Dave
same here
05.11.2012 22:17
alan
solidarity
06.11.2012 19:05
We need to show real solidarity, whether we are disabled or not yet disabled (most of us will probably become disabled in some way, at some point in our life). People have already died, committed suicide or suffer agonies of worry, sleepless nights over an uncertain future.
anon
row the boat mate
06.11.2012 23:15
I work fulltime, yet I very much doubt I would have the strength or mental perseverance to go on a hunger strike for 5 days whilst stuck outside an office.
With a history of 'self harm' - isn't this person's self starvation just part of that symptom?
convinceme
grow up
08.11.2012 13:50
alan
not usefull
16.11.2012 23:06
gera rhiannon
e-mail:
jazrhiannon@yahoo.com