Blind people are to march on Parliament in protest at their exclusion from a vital disability benefit.

Blind people protest at exclusion from vital disability benefit
Article in the Telegraph

Extract:

"They have accused the Government of "betrayal" over its failure to allow them to claim a mobility allowance that could fund essential trips for medical treatment.

At present they are ineligible for the Disability Living Allowance higher-rate mobility component, even though it can be claimed by wheelchair users who are more mobile.

The Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) said it had spent 18 months working out a solution with Government officials, only for James Purnell, the Work and Pensions Secretary, to ignore it.

It is now leading the biggest lobby of Parliament by blind people in an attempt to force him to back down.

The charity said it would be a test of Gordon Brown's recent call for fairness.

Steve Winyard, head of campaigns at RNIB, said: "The Government says it wants fairness. What's fair about blind people who can't drive only receiving £17.75 per week when other disabled people who can drive receive £46.75 per week?""

NHS 'must improve services for the blind' Tom Pey, the director of policy for the Guide Dogs for the Blind Association (GDBA) has said.

NHS 'must improve services for the blind'

Extract:

"Speaking on BBC Radio 4's In Touch programme, he said: "We have carried out our own research this time and oddly enough we have gone to blind and partially sighted people to find out what is wrong.

"To give some of the figures: 20 per cent of blind people do not go out on their own because they have not received training to do it; even though 80 per cent of people have received an assessment, only 40 per cent have received the service as a result of it.

"Furthermore, the trauma that one goes through when finding out one is going to go blind is never treated by the NHS."



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