nowherefille:

“The [British] government’s focus on alleged fraud and overclaiming to justify cuts in disability benefits has caused an increase in resentment and abuse directed at disabled people, as they find themselves being labelled as scroungers, six of the country’s biggest disability groups have warned.  Some of the charities say they are now regularly contacted by people who have been taunted on the street about supposedly faking their disability and are concerned the climate of suspicion could spill over into violence or hate crimes…Some disabled people say the climate is so hostile they avoid going out, or avoid using facilities such as designated parking bays if they ‘don’t look disabled.’  David Gillon of Chatham, whose chronic back condition forced him to give up a job with British Aerospace, recounts walking on crutches past a pub in the middle of the day and receiving shouts of, ‘We’re going to report you to the DWP [Department of Work and Pensions].’ He said, ‘When there’s a bad article in the press, the next day you think, do I really need to go out of the house?’”