@zoes_story

Let's chat about Disability in the media shall we? I'm sure we've all seen the meme 'There's been a miracle in the Alcohol Isle' where a person is stood up from a wheelchair to reach a bottle from a high shelf. The newspaper headlines about 'Benefit Fraudsters' 🙄 Today's Disability Pride month post is literally just that Ambulatory Wheelchair users exist. We aren't faking, looking for sympathy or somehow too lazy to walk... Trust me out if the 2 options, the ability to walk easily and get to wherever you like is absolutely the more desirable over literally getting stranded half way up a slope because you don't have enough strength to get to the top. Because who wouldn't want to experience discrimination, loss of job opportunities, and the exorbitant cost of wheelchairs right? All for that sweet sweet Disability money which, oh wait, is an incredibly time consuming and difficult thing to get in the UK. The amount of proof you have to provide is incredibly dehumanising, and literally hundreds of people a year are wrongfully denied a right to receive PIP, and later granted it after an appeal. 15% of Appeals result in PIP being awarded to the claimant, statistics which in no way supports the fallacy that you get these magical handouts on demand because you wave a walking stick about. Government reports show "Just 42% of new PIP claims are successful." according to the DWP as of March 2021 (Source: www.benefitsandwork.co.uk) If that wasn't bad enough "Claimants with psychiatric disorders are most likely to have their award decreased or disallowed (43%)" (Source: www.benefitsandwork.co.uk) Nobody gives you a handbook on how to be Disabled in the UK, anything I know about the welfare payments and financial assistance like 'Access to Work' I've found out myself online or have been told by a fellow Disabled person. Half the time we ourselves have no idea what is available to us. So stick that in your pipe and smoke it Daily Mail! . . Dress is me made Commissions are open @zoes_story_designs . . #BabeWithAMobilityAid #CripplePunk #AdaptiveFashion #cottagecore #HotDisabledSummer #DisabledAndCute #PetiteStyle #UKfashion #BritishFashion #DopamineDressing