On Wednesday of this week (11th March 2011), thousands of disabled people will be demonstrating at Westminster and Parliament to express solidarity and anger at the cuts threatening benefits, services, jobs and rights.
This demonstration is widely supported by many disabled groups and organisations and is being overseen by the UK Council of Disabled People, the Disability Benefits Consortium and the Disability Charities Consortium.
The march will begin on Victoria Embankment between Horseguards Avenue and Bridge Street and will assemble at 11.30am. There will be a rally on Victoria Embankment with speeches between 12 noon and 12.30pm before the march sets off. The march will then begin at 12.30pm taking in Victoria Embankment, Parliament Square and Millbank and will finish in Dean Stanley Street.
Following the march the group will be lobbying MPs as the Welfare Reform Bill reaches its critical stage in the House of Commons. The aim is to make sure that Parliamentarians understand the combined impact of the cuts on the lives and futures of disabled people.
Crucially, they will be asking MPs to challenge policies that will push disabled people further into poverty and isolation. The lobby will take place in Westminster Hall and Methodist Central Hall between 1.30pm and 5.30pm.
I fully support this demonstration and hope that the policymakers not only listen to, but actively embrace, the true concerns of disabled people.
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