DISABILITY DOES NOT STOP AT 66 YEARS [27/02/13]

The Government’s cynical decision to discontinue the Mobility Allowance and the Motorised Transport Grant is today condemned by Older & Bolder.  Ms. Patricia Conboy, director of Older & Bolder said: “Successive Governments have been acting illegally in the implementation of these schemes for 12 years and have knowingly done so for the past 4 years. This current Government is now achieving legality with an action that defies logic and compassion”.  

Ms. Conboy continued:  “The current recipients of these benefits are exceptionally vulnerable.  We cannot understand why they are being ruthlessly targeted in this way.” 

“Why” she asked “are decisions being taken in advance of the findings of the review of the schemes that the Government has now established”?

Ms. Conboy put these latest cuts in context, saying:  “The axing of the Mobility Allowance and Motorised Transport Grant is the latest in a series of attacks on core supports that vulnerable people rely on. In the past year the Government has moved to cut Home Help and Home Care Packages, the Respite Care Grant, Personal Assistant Services, Senior Alarm Scheme Budget, the value of the Drugs Payment Scheme and is now, without warning, axing the Mobility Allowance and Motorised Transport Grant”. 

She continued: “In some cases an outcry by people with disabilities or older people has resulted in a reversal or partial reversal of intended cuts, in other cases the cuts still stand. In each case, piecemeal changes, not linked to proper planning, have forced those affected to reveal their vulnerabilities publically to try and reverse heartless cuts”. 

Ms Conboy, said that the terms of reference of the Government’s review of the schemes must take account of the needs of people with disabilities of all ages. “Disability does not stop at 66 years” said Ms. Conboy.  She added : “The Government cannot put its head in the sand.  It must plan for the needs of all people with disabilities regardless of age”.