I’m disabled, here’s the truth about the Motability scheme.

The Labour party has capitulated to right wing demonisation of the most vulnerable minority group in the country, the disabled. I’ve pointed this out before but it bears repeating. The disabled are the only minority group that anyone can become a part of at any time. Anyone can become involved in a serious accident that leaves them with life altering injuries, anyone can suffer a serious and debilitating illness, anyone can have a stroke which leaves them with significant and serious physical, sensory and cognitive impairment. An attack on the rights and protections of the disabled is an attack on the rights and protections of everyone.

In October 2020, after a lifetime of good health, out of the blue and with no real warning or displaying any apparent risk factors I suffered a massive ischaemic stroke which almost killed me. Overnight I joined the ranks of the disabled. It happened to me, it could happen to you, it could happen to Rachael Reeves, any of those Labour MPs defending their party’s attacks on the disabled – one of whom is my supremely useless MP – Elaine Stewart the Labour MP for Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock, who has never – not once – spoken out in favour of her disabled constituents. It could happen to any one of the right wing trolls who infest social media spreading lies about disabled people. I normally say I wouldn’t wish a stroke on anyone, but in the case of those disability mocking right wing trolls I’ll cheerfully make an exception.

Buried away in Rachel Reeves’ budget this week was a measure targeting disabled people who use the Motability scheme. This scheme has recently become the target of right wing lies and disinformation, including false claims that the Motability scheme ‘gives’ luxury cars for free to people with social anxiety of ADHD. One far right troll even went so far as to launch a website allowing anyone to check a vehicle’s licence plate number in order to check whether it’s a Motability car, an open invitation to the harrassment and abuse of a disabled person.

In the Budget, Reeves announced that ‘luxury’ cars will no longer be offered by the scheme, The Chancellor, who this week created a tax break for wealthy former non-doms, also removed tax exemptions on parts of the Motabilty Scheme, which will increase the financial burden on disabled people who apply for a vehicle through the scheme.

The first point to bear in mind is that Personal Independence Payment and its Scottish equivalent the Adult Disability Payment are NOT out of work benefits. They are benefits paid to disabled people to assist with the additional financial burden that comes with being disabled. Approximately one sixth of those in receipt of PIP or ADP are in work. Their disability benefit often assists them with the extra costs needed to ensure that they are able to work.

To be eligible for the Motability scheme a disabled person must be in receipt of the higher rate of the mobility component of PIP or ADP, currently £77.05 per week. Disabled people who receive the lower rate of the mobility component, currently £29.20 per week, are not eligible for the Motability scheme even though they have significant issues with their mobility.

I have significant and serious physical disabilities, my mobility is gravely compromised, and I know from personal experience how difficult it is to get PIP or ADP. You don’t get it unless you can prove that you have substantial disabilities which have a marked impact on your ability to live your daily life. If your mobility issues are deemed serious enough for you to qualify for the Motability scheme, you must typically pay the entire amount of your mobility component towards the scheme, £77.05 per week. You must also pay a down payment which depending on the specification of the car can be as much as £2500 or more.

No disabled person gets a Motability car for free, and no disabled person gets a Motability car unless their mobility issues are serious.

High end vehicles are often needed by disabled people as substantial vehicles are required in order to install the equipment for lifting a wheelcar in and out of a vehicle. High end features such as heated seats or power assisted doors are necessary for disabled people with circulatory problems who must keep warm in order to avoid painful muscle cramps. Many disabled people lack the physical strength to open car doors by themselves. These are are issues I suffer from myself.

But there is also the issue of dignity here. Why should a disabled person who is in work and who can afford the hefty up front payment that the scheme charges for a high end vehicle have to make do with a lower quality car? Or do we now live in a society in which the disabled must be restricted to lower quality in order to remind them of their subordinate status?

Some on the far right, such as Reform MP Lee Anderson, have demanded that the Motability scheme be abolished and the UK returns to providing invalidity vehicles for the disabled, as was the case until the 1970s. The light blue Invacar was a common sight on British streets from the late 1940s until the 1970s. These three wheeled vehicles were dangerous and unstable and the last remaining examples were banned from British roads in 2003 due to safety concerns.

Yet an updated and modernised version of the Invacar would not be suitable for many disabled people. In my own case, I lost my driving licence after I had my stroke as I only have the use of my non-dominant hand, meaning my reaction times are very slow. I have poor spatial awareness on the left and tend not to notice what’s appearing in the left of my visual field. This all makes me a danger on the road and renders me unsuitable even for an adapted car. Even with a disability scooter which does not require a driving licence I’d be a danger to myself and more importantly to other road users.

For disabled people like me who cannot drive at all, the Motability scheme allows up to three named drivers to be insured to drive a Motability car. There were reports that Reeves was going to remove this and restrict the scheme to one named driver, but she seems not to have gone through with this. A disabled person with significant mobility needs who cannot drive themself at all can often needs more than one other person to drive them. Were they to be restricted to a single named driver, the disabled person becomes completely dependent on that single person for their mobility. Yet that person may have other commitments, a job, kids, or disability or health issues of their own, and not be available seven days a week to act as a driver. That’s why it’s important for a disabled person whose mobility needs are such that they cannot drive or use public transport to have access to a pool of drivers who are insured to drive the disabled person’s mobility vehicle.

It is however galling that a supposedly Labour Chancellor attacks disabled people in the same budget in which she offers a tax break to the extremely wealthy, and not one Labour MP from Scotland calls her out for it. Labour has become a disabled bashing party of the right.

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