Thread by @ShaniDhanda

I don’t know why so many people working in wealth management keep requesting to connect and speak with me.
If you work in wealth management, I think you should know:

👉🏽 Nearly half of everyone in the UK that lives in poverty is disabled or lives with a disabled family member.

👉🏽 More than 600,000 disabled people in the UK are estimated to have £10 or less per week to pay for food and other costs.

👉🏽 Disabled people have to pay more to try and live the same lives as non-disabled people, but we have less or no choice due to inaccessibility, ableism and stigmas against us.

👉🏽 On average, disabled people face unavoidable extra costs of £583 a month due to living with a condition or an impairment.

👉🏽 1 in 5 disabled people face extra costs of over £1000 per month.

👉🏽 We are twice as likely to be unemployed and have to apply for 60% more jobs. 25% of UK employers would not consider employing a disabled person. (Maybe they think we live on air?)

👉🏽 For every £100 a non-disabled person has, is only equivalent to £68 for a disabled person.

👉🏽 The disability pay gap is so wide, that disabled people work two months of the year for free.

👉🏽 The pay gap is even wider for disabled women and disabled people from ethnic minority backgrounds. I am all of these identities.

👉🏽 The pandemic disproportionately affected disabled people. 71% have been impacted by a loss of income, furlough, unemployment or other damaging effects.

👉🏽 Disabled people were nearly twice as likely to be long term unemployed compared to non-disabled by the end of 2020.

👉🏽 62% of working-age people referred to their food banks in early 2020 were disabled. 

👉🏽 We are currently in a cost of living crisis, on top of the one many disabled people have always been in, but nobody knew/bothered/cared/did anything about it - so a double whammy for us.

👉🏽 With a triple whammy coming in October as the cost of living crisis is set to get worse. For disabled people who already spend more than average on bills, it's catastrophic.

👉🏽 Inflation is at 9%, and disabled people are three times more likely to struggle to afford food.

👉🏽 Disabled people are twice as likely to be unable to heat their homes. But at the same time, support for disabled people struggling to pay their bills is being cut, affecting at least 300,000 disabled people.

👉🏽 If you’re still reading, you must think that disabled people are rolling in money from the government; you're mistaken.

👉🏽 The High Court declared that the Government’s National Disability Strategy is unlawful due to inadequate consultation with Disabled people.

👉🏽 The assessment for disability benefits isn’t fit for purpose. Assessors do not know about the conditions or impairments claimants have; therefore, it's a humiliating and dehumanising experience.

👉🏽 70% of claimants are winning disability benefits appeals.

👉🏽 For context, 22% of the UK population is disabled.

👉🏽 Currently another 2.7% of the population are self-reporting long-covid, so it’s safe to assume 25% of the UK population could be experiencing disability.

👉🏽 Disabled people are the largest minority group in the world.

I understand wealth doesn't mean being a millionaire, but read the room.

It's a terrifying time in a global pandemic that is not over.

Many of the facts and statistics I’ve shared above are out of many individuals' control.

Your ability to get out of poverty is primarily based on your capability to work, but people judge our ability based on health or appearance, deeming us less productive or ‘risky hires’.

The government and it’s system that is supposed to help and support you, make life harder for disabled people.

They simply don't value us, as was made very clear during the height of the pandemic. 6/10 deaths In relation to covid were of disabled people; many were avoidable.

Did I miss anything? @Jamestaylor2 @scope @LeonardCheshire @DisRightsUK @ShawTrust @Valuable500 @DisabilitySmart @wearepurpleorg

*UK Figures based on pre-pandemic data, so stats likely to have increased. Dramatically.

#Disability #DisabilityTwitter
#DisabledPeople #ExtraCosts #Poverty #CostOfLivingCrisis #DisabilityPriceTag #Ableism #Exclusion #Oppression #Help #Covid #Government #DontForgetAboutUs #WealthManagement #Ironic