The War on Disabled People

Capitalism, Welfare and the Making of a Human Catastrophe

By: Ellen Clifford

Narrated by: Nadia Albina

Length: 11 hrs and 37 mins

Publisher's summary

Bloomsbury presents The War on Disabled People by Ellen Clifford, read by Nadia Albina.

Shortlisted for the Bread and Roses Award for Radical Publishing 2021.

In 2016, a United Nations report found the UK government culpable for ‘grave and systematic violations’ of disabled people’s rights. Since then, driven by the Tory government’s obsessive drive to slash public spending whilst scapegoating the most disadvantaged in society, the situation for disabled people in Britain has continued to deteriorate. Punitive welfare regimes, the removal of essential support and services and an ideological regime that seeks to deny disability has resulted in a situation described by the UN as a ‘human catastrophe’.

In this searing account, Ellen Clifford - an activist who has been at the heart of resistance against the war on disabled people - reveals precisely how and why this state of affairs has come about. From spineless political opposition to self-interested disability charities, right-wing ideological myopia to the media demonisation of benefits claimants, a shocking picture emerges of how the government of the fifth-richest country in the world has been able to marginalise disabled people with near-impunity. Even so, and despite austerity biting ever deeper, the fightback has begun, with a vibrant movement of disabled activists and their supporters determined to hold the government to account - the slogan ‘Nothing About Us Without Us’ has never been so apt. As this audiobook so powerfully demonstrates, if Britain is to stand any chance of being a just and equitable society, their battle is one we should all be fighting.

©2020 Ellen Clifford (P)2022 Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

Critic reviews

"A new book by disabled activist Ellen Clifford could not be more timely. Clifford, who is active in the UK with the Disabled People Against the Cuts (DPAC) looks at the intersection between capitalism and disability and how disabled activists have been fighting against the austerity agenda in the UK.... The courage, commitment and clarity of politics found in Clifford’s book are a resource that anyone who is serious about building a better world can draw on." (Spring Magazine)

"The War on Disabled People is a must-read book on resistance to the 'conscious cruelty' of austerity, which attacks the most disadvantaged.... Clifford's book thoroughly documents the government’s ideological policy agenda of welfare reforms to rip away the welfare-state safety net and put conscious cruelty at the heart of their austerity agenda." (Morning Star)

"A fascinating and well-researched understanding of how, since 2010, the lives of disabled people in the UK have been negatively impacted by political decisions including austerity and capitalism.... The book packs a punch. It leaves the reader in no doubt about how each separate austerity cut has cumulatively affected and eroded the lives of disabled people." (Independent Living)