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Remember Satre when deciding on Freedom Pass
• IT has come to my attention via your letters pages that the future of the Freedom Pass may be under threat in Camden for pensioners and disabled people (Freedom Pass is still under threat, Mar 22).
Yes different boroughs have long had different policies regarding allocation of these cost-savers for people on very low incomes.
Nearly 20 years ago, my GP advised me that Camden’s policy on Freedom Pass allocation was the stingiest. Thus although I had a Green Card as a disabled person but no mobility impairment or communication problem, it would be pointless for me to apply for one. If I lived in the borough of Islington, I would be much better off regarding affordable travel.
On Jobseekers Allowance for several years, my income has long been less than the basic state pension – a matter which has minimised my financial resources in actively pursuing paid work.
‘Cost-cutters’ have a lot to learn about true ‘efficiency savings’. At a time when public authorities in the UK now have a duty to promote the equality of disabled people under Disability Discrimination Act legislation, Islington Council has cut funding to Camden and Islington PCT-funded jobsearch project St James’s House (SJH) in Camden. The service-users of St James’s House have mental health difficulties, and therefore have rights under the DDA. How, dear cost-cutters, will the loss of a service at SJH and the witnessing of reduced employment prospects advance the mental health and equality of service-users as jobseekers with mental health difficulties? In the words of Jean-Paul Sartre, “Those who give the order seldom see the mess it makes.”
ALAN WHEATLEY
Green Party of England and Wales Disability Spokesperson
Croftdown Road, NW5
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