WITH inflation at a 40-year-high of 9.1%, fuel and energy costs continuing to rocket and the gap between the richest and the poorest in society widening, Scots in all margins of society are struggling to cope.
The impact of this continuing crisis are devastating for many – and for some communities, this is especially deeply felt.
In Scotland, one in five people define themselves as disabled. A 2020 report from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation revealed that nearly half of everyone living in poverty in the UK is either a disabled person or lives with a disabled person – seven million people in total.
Impoverishment and disability need not go hand in hand, but a combination of circumstances faced by disabled communities in Scotland have led to the situation we face today.
Even prior to the cost-of-living crisis, everyday costs for disabled people are on average higher in comparison to non-disabled people.
Sara, 60, tells me she worries about being able to afford rising energy costs. She explained: “I use a wheelchair and I can’t get up and move about and keep warm that way. So we tend to have our heating on much more than we would if we weren’t disabled.
“I also need to use additional electricity in comparison to non-disabled people, as I need to charge various assistance and mobility aids, like my powered wheelchair. To me it feels as though people are being penalised for being disabled.”
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Having to already weather additional costs, the spiralling cost of living risks pushing even more disabled people into financial difficulties. Sara tells me the rising cost of energy is even more sharply felt in the Highlands, where she lives.
“The price of gas here is in excess of a thousand pounds more annually in comparison to people in the central belt,” she explained.
She added that she can no longer go out to meet people and socialise.
For some, public transport is inaccessible and not designed to accommodate their mobility needs, so they are reliant on taxis and this adds additional expense.
“If you’re stuck inside and can’t afford to go out, that can affect your mental health as well,” said Jane, 30. “When I’m stuck in the house my mental health takes a dramatic decline.”
Many disabled people are also hit with rising costs for essential care, paid to their local councils in what some have deemed a “care tax”.
Ian Hood, from Scotland Against The Care Tax, an alliance of disabled peoples’ organisations campaigning to an end for social care charges for disabled people, said: “What we call the ‘care tax’ is a charge on those who receive social care support, who are asked to contribute to anywhere between 20% to 100% of their essential care above a certain level.”
While the Scottish Government have recognised this burden and pledged to end these charges by 2026, Hood tells me that the unprecedented cost-of-living crisis means it is essential that existing commitments transform into action – fast.
Lucy, a single parent of two children, one of whom has special needs, explained: “I’m struggling as it is. Paying care charges on top of everything else is a nightmare. I worry whether I’m able to feed myself, whether I can pay for the electricity.”
Jane agrees. “I pay care charges of £225 monthly,” she said. “I’m scared if I can’t pay it, the support I rely on will be taken away. I got a letter last month telling me that the charges are going up, and now sometimes I have to go without gas for weeks because I can’t afford to put money into the meters.
“The stress can make you really unwell, when you have to deal with this on top of everything else.”
The UK Government have decimated social security support, with 66,000 households with disabilities in Scotland deprived of vital income in cuts to Universal Credit in 2021.
However, many campaigners are calling for the Scottish Government to use the powers Scotland does have to improve our existing social security support, which they say is especially vital in the context of the cost-of-living crisis, which disproportionately harms disabled and other minority groups in Scotland.
Brian Scott, head of employability and anti-poverty at Glasgow Disability Alliance (GDA), said: “We’d like to see disability and health related benefits upgraded so that they are more adequate to meet the additional costs faced by disabled people.”
GDA has more than 5000 members and operates a welfare rights service specialising in disability and health-related benefits, providing accessible support at every stage of the benefits application process.
Access to existing support is key, he explained. “We’d like to see more disabled people being able to access welfare benefits, advice and representation services to make sure people get all the support they are entitled to.”
Employment can also, in some cases, present a barrier to financial security for disabled communities in Scotland, he added, and there is a need for action to be taken to reduce the disability employment gap.
Scott emphasised that space must be given for disabled people in Scotland to have their voices at the front and centre of informing any change.
He said: “Policies around reducing poverty have to explicitly speak to the needs of disabled people. They must engage with disabled people to find out about the challenges they face – and also their suggestions for solutions.
Sara added: “There can be an attitude that disabled people have something ‘wrong’ with them. No, we don’t.
“We’re born to be the people we are. We have a right to be able to participate as equals in our own communities, and in society.”
Names have been changed to protect confidentiality.
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