The Disability Book Archive

[ID: A book cover. The background is dark red. Down the centre of the book, the red figure of a person can be seen. They are using forearm crutches and are missing their left leg below the knee. White text in front on top of them. It reads:
The title “The War on Disabled People” in large caps
The subtitle “Capitalism, Welfare, and the Making of a Human Catastrophe” in smaller writing
The author’s name “Ellen Clifford” in slightly bigger caps. /end]

---

Content Warning:

• Ableism
• Politics

---

Summary:

In 2016, a United Nations report found the UK government culpable for “grave and systematic violations” of disabled people’s rights. Since then, driven by the Tory government’s obsessive drive to slash public spending whilst scapegoating the most disadvantaged in society, the situation for disabled people in Britain has continued to deteriorate. Punitive welfare regimes, the removal of essential support and services, and an ideological regime that seeks to deny disability has resulted in a situation described by the UN as a “human catastrophe.”

In this searing account, Ellen Clifford—an activist who has been at the heart of resistance against the war on disabled people—reveals precisely how and why this state of affairs has come about. From spineless political opposition to self-interested disability charities, right-wing ideological myopia to the media demonization of benefits claimants, a shocking picture emerges of how the government of the fifth-richest country in the world has been able to marginalize disabled people with near-impunity. Even so, and despite austerity biting ever deeper, the fightback has begun, with a vibrant movement of disabled activists and their supporters determined to hold the government to account—the slogan “Nothing About Us Without Us”has never been so apt. As this book so powerfully demonstrates, if Britain is to stand any chance of being a just and equitable society, their battle is one we should all be fighting.

---

Notes:

There is an ebook/Kindle edition.

---

Archivist Comments:

I forgot this book was on my list if I’m being entirely honest, but, I think given the current political climate, it’s quite relevant.

I keep referencing it but earlier in the year (2023) there was a news story about the continued forced institutalionsation of disabled people in the UK. They alluded to it in a few news broadcasts, and, there’s been a lot of stuff recently (forcing people back into work, the quiet scrapping of the disabled cost of living payments, increasing fears about NHS privatisation, the handling of covid and the lockdowns etc. etc.) that has been shining a bigger light on the plight of the country’s disabled community.

I could go on, but I’ll save you the headache, and instead tell you that most of the reviews I have seen have been fairly praiseworthy of this book and its contents, with a few declaring it as a “must read”. Though a couple have said it was a bit “heavy” on the theoretical side.

---