Please read the following link:
http://atosvictimsgroup.co.uk/2013/0…alympic-games/
With respect to the article that I linked above:-
Maybe if a large portion, if not all of England‘s Paralympian superstars had chosen to walk out of the games on day one of the paralympics; (especially as it was sponsored by ATOS) it would have been a great platform, a worldwide platform, to express all disabled people‘s grievances about the cuts to benefits. I think that they would have got a lot more respect for that, than by winning any medals for our country.
Did ATOS sponsor the paralympics on purpose as a political move to ensure that they also got the government contract to do the medical assessments for PIP? There are many huge global and British companies that could have been approached to sponsor this international event. ATOS purposefully pitted disabled people against disabled people, they exploited the paralympians to showcase to the media what (some) disabled people are capable of and then our government let the media run with it.
No-one, including media personnel and their families are not immune to disabilities, what if (heaven forbid) they or their children are born or become disabled, and then they get called scroungers and benefit cheats, but just like the Paralympians who had no way of foreseeing how their achievements would be twisted and used against them and the non-paralympian disabled people, the media also have no way of foreseeing what the future holds for them; except, by what they choose to write next, as most of the population believe what is written in the news and the media are well aware of how they influence public opinion.
I know this is a big ask, but maybe, just maybe, if some, if not all paralympians give back their medals in front of a media spotlight, people might wake up and see how the paralympians were manipulated by ATOS to gain public support for disability benefit cuts? Or is it too late now to show their support? I was quite disgusted that ATOS were sponsors.
With regards to Dispatches Britain on Benefits; one of the things that stood out was that people kept saying the benefits bill needs to be cut, WHY? , shouldn’t we be proud of the fact that we support vunerable people who suffer, to have a decent standard of life. I think it’s abhorrent that a Government has chosen sick and disabled people to fund economic recovery, whilst turning a blind eye to tax evasion etc etc etc………….. I don’t think the programme did anything to change public understanding. A protest by paralympians would have made far more impact to public awareness. Although not on the same scale as the Olympics in regards to coverage but the disabled athletes could walk out or refuse to take part in the Commonwealth games in Scotland in 2014 where again ATOS are one of the sponsors. However, whom would that hurt the government, it would hurt those people who have worked hard to get into the games. What these people now have to work towards is getting the same payments as non disabled. Disabled athlete will get £6,000 a year to pay for his expenses, Non disabled athlete will get £130,000 . The battle is now to be treated the same.
However, if the disabled athletes threaten to walk out of the commonwealth games due to benefit cuts, the government may then offer them more than £6,000 a year to cover their expenses, thus buying them off…..However, one day they will get older and will eventually be unable to compete, and what then, there will be nothing for them……What will they be saying then???? Lessons have been learnt; we are being persecuted??? But they’ll be learnt by the normal non-athletic disabled first, we are already being persecuted by our government and the disabled athletes are supporting them to do so by not taking action now!!!!! If they do not take action by 2014 commonwealth games then it will be too little, too late!!!!!!
It is not just about ATOS being a sponsor (although that really is a knife in the back) even if ATOS’s sponsorship is taken out of the equation, it is the amazing achievements and incredible effort made by our ‘superhuman’ disabled athletes which is then blown out of proportion by the media who expect that all disabled people can achieve these levels so therefore must be scroungers and cheats, and Joe-public believes them!!!!
As I asked earlier:- “Did ATOS sponsor the paralympics on purpose as a political move to ensure that they also got the government contract to do the medical assessments for PIP? There are many huge global and British companies that could have been approached to sponsor this international event. ATOS purposefully pitted disabled people against disabled people, they exploited the paralympians to showcase to the media what (some) disabled people are capable of and then our government let the media run with it.
No-one, including media personnel and their families are not immune to disabilities, what if (heaven forbid) they or their children are born or become disabled, and then they get called scroungers and benefit cheats, but just like the Paralympians who had no way of foreseeing how their achievements would be twisted and used against them and the non-paralympian disabled people, the media also have no way of foreseeing what the future holds for them; except, by what they choose to write next, as most of the population believe what is written in the news and the media are well aware of how they influence public opinion.
FM
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