UK: Don't Cut Funds for Disability Arts!
Cuts to Access to Work, a grant program that helps finance support for people with disabilities in England, Scotland and Wales, is threatening disability arts in the UK.
These budget cuts are devastating to people like Jenny Sealey, a deaf woman and co-director of the 2012 Paralympics in London. Sealey runs the internationally-recognized theater company Graeae which employs about 80 people with disabilities a year, but her projects and her employees jobs are all threatened by severe budget cuts that take away 70% of their support. Strangely, Access to Work's application is now available only via telephone, making it inaccessible to deaf individuals like Sealey. This is an example of the barriers put up as a result of such drastic budget cuts.
Like everyone else, people with disabilities want to reach their full potential and do work that helps them build confidence and develop a sense of purpose. Being born with different abilities than everyone else, they need some help to reach these goals. Please sign the petition to urge the UK government to restore funding to Access to Work.
We, the undersigned, are concerned with the UK's decision to cut funding for Access to Work, a grant program that helps finance support for people with disabilities in England, Scotland and Wales.
These budget cuts are devastating to people like Jenny Sealey, a deaf woman and co-director of the 2012 Paralympics in London. Sealey runs the internationally-recognized theater company Graeae which employs about 80 people with disabilities a year, but her projects and her employees jobs are all threatened by severe budget cuts that take away 70% of their support. Strangely, Access to Work's application is now available only via telephone, making it inaccessible to deaf individuals like Sealey. This is an example of the barriers put up as a result of such drastic budget cuts.
Like everyone else, people with disabilities want to reach their full potential and do work that helps them build confidence and develop a sense of purpose. Being born with different abilities than everyone else, they need some help to reach these goals. We respectfully urge you to restore funding to Access to Work. Thank you for taking the time to read and consider our petition.
