Thread by @beckidy

omg I forgot I did an interview for somebody's dissertation and they've just sent it to me and it's amazing?!

The title is: "Disabled Enough? An Investigation Into Societal Expectations of Blue Badge Holders."

Okay I'm reading it properly now and I'm going to share some bits here. The researcher is @cloudskinx

To start, Young investigates the idea of "deservingness", which has a lot of parallels to the respectability politics concept in discussions on race, & also recent discussions #onhere about who is allowed to crowdfund/request direct aid

"Disabled people were previously considered more deserving than other welfare claimant categories and as such, society historically operated on a system where those deemed ‘legitimately’ #disabled were excused from a societal obligation e.g., working"

"Stone (1984) argues that disabled persons are labelled ‘morally worthy’ by their non-disabled counterparts and are justified in their need for support from the state."

👀 ooh now we're into the societal hierarchy of disabilities:
"Mental illnesses are considered the fault of the individual and are not given the same social status as individuals with physical disabilities that can be visually identified."

(Goering, 2015; Mills, 2017; Geiger, 2021; Cicca et al, 2022)

Want to be clear that last statement is fact, not opinion!

"This phenomenon does not stop at public attitude but has also been seen to influence healthcare professionals and their approach to care when presented with patients with mental illnesses."

"Judgements can also be passed based on the manner in which a person became ill, for example, conditions like type two diabetes are socially considered to be the fault of the individual caused by their own lifestyles."

"[consider] two autistic people... Person A fits the stereotype of autistic traits which is common knowledge to the wider public and society therefore grants them a deservingness status, whilst Person B presents with more subtle traits and is assumed to need no further support."

"...abled-bodied people assume physically disabled individuals have a lower IQ based on their appearance and will interact with that person differently due to this assumption."

"Invisibly disabled people are more likely to be assumed to be ‘faking’ their conditions to reap the benefits of their physically disabled colleagues e.g., welfare payments, free parking..."

"...it is apparent no matter the presentation of an individual’s disability, associated assumptions and judgements will be passed by society."

Sorry I'm basically tweeting the whole thing it's just SO GOOD?!

"Governmental attitudes towards disabled people have shifted drastically within the past thirty years and are becoming more hostile and suspicious with each new welfare reform."
‼️‼️‼️ innit

'Welfare spending as of 2010 was the single largest figure in the government budget and justification had to be found for the government to legitimately shrink this spending"

"It is from this point that emerging negative governmental narratives surrounding disabled people begin to be made public and unfounded claims begin to circulate."

"The brutal disabled welfare reform in 2012 brought in the Personal Independence Payment (PIP) system which had a set goal of reducing welfare claimants by 20% and aimed to save approximately £2.24 billion in public spending."

"To the date of writing this thesis, PIP has never met its goal of reducing claimants and has saved the government only 1% of its forecasted prediction thus making its failure two-fold."

GET EM COLS! 😤

"Fraud narratives surrounding blue badge users also began to be utilised by government departments post 2010, particularly the Department of Transport (2011) that claimed there are increased levels of ‘abuse and misuse’ of badges. There is no definition in the report..."

"...nor on any future publication made by the Department of Transport that explains their criteria for what behaviour is considered fraudulent."

"There has been a drastic increase of print media stories that focus on the topics postulated from the government, including mass benefit fraud to accusations of ‘undeserving’ disabled populations."

"Tabloids were able to reframe complex social issues into one polarising headline, usually accompanied with an emotionally charged byword like ‘scroungers’, ‘cheats’, and ‘fraudsters’."

"The impact of these stories has been influential in shifting public attitudes, with one study reporting 70% of their participants believed welfare claimants were committing some form of fraud based on stories from newspapers."

SEVENTY PER CENT?!

"...there is clear evidence of stigmatisation of disabled people through several UK institutions – including its media, government, and society."

"Disabled people suffer from stigmatisation from all aspects of social institutions (e.g., employers, healthcare, education) and it fully encompasses the outcomes of a disabled person’s future."

"Research investigating mentally disabled parents found participants to suffer from an intense scrutiny of their capabilities from their social and professional peers, which was not evident in their abled-bodied counterparts."

"Disabled people can expect their devaluation by society and this anticipation can cause distress to an individual’s mental and physical well-being."

"There is an apparent correlation between the steady decline of blue badge holders and the introduction of the PIP reforms that took over from DLA system...of the 2.26 million people eligible for a badge without further assessment, only 42% actively held a badge as of 2021."

Okay now the research questions:

"Q1. What are the motivations and influences for non-disabled bystanders to challenge disabled blue badge holders?

Q2. To what extent do these scenarios impact disabled citizenship in society?"

So Cols did eight in depth interviews with Blue Badge holders who are 18+ and identify as disabled (one of which was me) and then did a qualitative analysis, which I'm gonna dig into 💞

"Data collected from participants with progressive conditions admitted they felt less judgement from the public when they began to use mobility aids."

"Participants who disclosed fluctuating mobility expressed anxiety when they experience ‘good days’ of health."

"All participants disclosed they experience some form of mobility issues associated with their disabilities but expressed feelings of validation (‘properly disabled’) when protected from judgement by their mobility aid."

Hard to pull quotes but the next section discusses how the blue badge application process has been made harder, and how it can be humiliating and traumatic for applicants.

Everyone forced to "prove" their disability every 3 years, even w lifelong/genetic/permanent conditions

"...most participants had experienced some form of harassment from the public when using their blue badges. Six out of eight participants had been directly challenged by a bystander after obtaining a blue badge through the correct legal channels."

The really striking thing for me reading this research is how I can't even tell which participant is me because there are so many similarities in our experiences.

I'm never felt more "really disabled" (in a good way) 💖

"Disabled individuals perceived to be ‘healthy’ are branded as cheating society due to their disability presentation not meeting assumed stereotypes."

"Disabled people are consistently confronted with a world that does not accept their existence outwith a very specific presentation and will punish the individual by removing their citizenship."

"The social demands placed on blue badge holders to fit into accepted stereotypes have significant negative impacts on their physical and mental wellbeing which causes further isolation."

Recommendations from the disabled participants to improve the situation:
- better disability education for all
- simplify process & make blue badges last longer (lifelong if disabilities are)
- update disability symbols to lessen association with wheelchair users as most legit

"Updating the symbol on both the badge and the parking bays that highlight disabilities are varied challenges societal assumptions. It also has the opportunity to re-educate a bystander prior to challenging a badge user and reduce the number of aggressive incidents."

Conclusion:
"Individuals are consistently faced with the stigmatising nature of society that comes from every institution...the concepts of deservingness and stigmatisation act as a cycle that contributes to the dehumanisation and isolation of disabled people."

"There is a crucial lack of understanding from an abled-bodied society surrounding disability...There is opportunity for growth by focusing education and policy reform to reframe...disability and remove the stigmatisation attached with the label."

And that's the end of the thread folks! Thank you so much @cloudskinx, I'm so glad this research exists 💞

"...the actions and decisions made by the governments of the past 12 years have introduced a systematic disregard for the wellbeing of their disabled populations to justify their policy reform."

Direct quotes from disabled people on the UK government: