Olympic Sponsors Medalling With The Lives of The Disabled
AS IRONIC AS it is, ATOS Origin – an I.T. company with the prize-winning £100 million deal to cut people with disabilities and mental health problems from their only means of income – has now been given sponsorship of the Paralympics! The tests which the company administer include whether the person can move an empty cardboard box from one table to another, and whether they can stand still or not: this takes around 20 minutes and is undertaken by apparent ‘medical practitioners’, though this does not necessarily mean doctors. In fact ATOS’ tests ignore anything your doctor may think about your condition and don’t take mental health into account at all. 32 people who’ve been kicked off the sick by ATOS, and found ‘fit’ for work, die every week. Not only are the tests ineffective and unfair, but they are very stressful for those forced to take them. It means months of worrying whether you’ll have enough money to live by, while awaiting your test. If you fail, then there is a chance of a tribunal (with one in three being won by the claimant), but as soon as your money is started up again you get asked to attend another medical! And so the cycle continues. The company disgustingly profits from misery, and the way the govermint are rubbing it in the faces of those whose lives are ruined, by making ATOS a Paralympics sponsor, is sick!
It seems that ATOS are trying to link themselves in with the idea of those few disabled athletes with ‘superhuman’ abilities, and trying to persuade us that they have some ethical reasoning. But are we that easily fooled? Most people with disabilities can’t even dream of being part of the Paralympics, just like most able-bodied people can’t participate in the Olympics. Maybe ATOS just want the opportunity to stand at the finish line telling the athletes they’re fit for work! There will be anti-ATOS demos and direct action ongoing throughout the country while the games are happening, including closing down ATOS’ H.Q. on Friday 31st August, joined by some Paralympians like gold-winning swimmer Tara Flood (which ended up being brutally attacked by police, who trashed wheelchairs and broke one man’s shoulder). For more information about ATOS, and for advice if you are being hounded to go to a medical yourself, please visit: http://www.dpac.uk.net.
