Rustington residents will keep fighting cuts

Disabled residents from St Bridget’s, in Ilex Close, have warned potential plans to cut their disability living allowance would have a “life-altering impact” for disabled people in the area.

Nine residents from the home were among an 8,000-strong contingent of disabled people who travelled to Westminster last Wednesday to march against the cuts.

Spina bifida sufferer Jackie Postance, 47, who lives at St Bridget’s, took part in the Hardest Hit march through the capital.

She said: “It was a tremendous achievement for so many people to get down there and show their feelings.

“We’re all over the moon at what we have managed to do. But the war is far from over.

“We at St Bridget’s have always been quite vocal about our opposition to the planned cuts to our mobility allowance.

“The loss of this allowance will destroy people’s lives and leave them trapped inside.

“We have got to keep fighting it.”

A clause in the Welfare Reform Bill would give the government the power to cut a certain percentage of the disability living allowance, if the Bill is approved.

In some cases, it could be a near-50 per cent cut.

Julie Stainton, campaign co-ordinator for Leonard Cheshire Disability, which runs St Bridget’s, said: “If these cuts are enforced, some people could be forced to live on £22 a week.

“There would be no allowance for them to buy electric wheelchairs, which are essential to their freedom.

“Manual wheelchairs simply aren’t good enough.

“This cut would effectively trap people in their homes permanently.”

The Bill is currently in the committee stage and is not expected to come into force until 2013.

However, Jackie is urging the government to think carefully about the cuts it could enforce.

“What we would like to see is a greater correspondence with disabled people, when looking at the Bill,” she said.