The government has failed disabled people like me – now to top it all off they want to make us work for free

This is a government spending billions preparing for an ideologically driven no-deal Brexit which will be disastrous for the nation. Yet it can’t find a few hundred grand for the combined cost of nine salaries

Pardon me for saying so, but no one who takes the interests of Britain’s disabled people remotely seriously should have any truck with this exercise (Getty)

“Hey disabled people! We know we’ve kicked away your crutches and white canes, smashed up your wheelchairs and hearing aids, and would have shot your guide dogs were it not for the fact that a charity provides them. We know our austerity policies led no less than the UN to issue a report accusing us of the ‘systematic violation’ of disabled people’s rights.

“But we’re going to put it right. We’re launching… could someone see if there’s a set of drums knocking about please? No? Oh well. This is so super it shouldn’t need them. We’re launching a ‘Regional Stakeholder Network’.

And we want you to join it. Applications to either chair or be a member of the nine of them – there’s going to be one for each English region – have been put up on the government’s website by our Office for Disability Issues.

“What we’re after is super people with lots of different disabilities who are united by their desire to make a difference. You’ll talk about what the government does, and how it could work better for disabled people, and you’ll feed back to the Office with the aim of getting the government to think about disability in its work.

“We’ll give you a nice little theme to talk about every three months and there’ll even be a Ministerial Advisory Group for you to attend. If you’re really lucky, Sarah Newton, the minister for disabled people, might find a window in her diary to thank you for your interest.

“What’s that? You want to know how much this pays? Sorry bud, we’re not paying a bunch of cripples. Oh, I see, the PIP people have taken your transport away. Well, how about we throw in some travel exes? Sound good?”

Pardon me for saying so, but no one who takes the interests of Britain’s disabled people remotely seriously should have any truck with this exercise. The only sensible response is to boycott it.

Does that sound harsh? Would it not be better to say something like, well, at least they’re making an effort and it’s good to talk?

Sorry, no dice. Or should I say no deal, because that’s what the government of Theresa May is shaping up to kick us with next.

I genuinely looked at the proposal, when it was forwarded to me by a friend with disabilities who works in the sector, with an open mind.

Not that I don’t love my job with The Independent, but I even toyed with the idea of chucking in a CV. Having pitched up at Earl’s Court’s step-free tube station only to find that it wasn’t, in fact, step-free at all, with those needing the bust lift to get off the westbound platform advised to head on out to Hammersmith and then take a train back in the opposite direction, it was only too clear to me that disabled people need to have more of an input into policymaking.

The problem is the lack of pay. And it is a big problem. As Sue Bott, from Disability Rights UK, said to me, it’s hard to take the government’s stated aim of reducing the disability employment gap seriously when it expects us to work for nothing on government projects.

Reading the description of the role of chair, I saw a full-time job if it were to be done properly, one involving reading, and meetings, and liaising, and running – or rather, in my case, wheeling – around like a blue arsed fly. Bzzzzz.

It could, said my friend, very easily “just suck all the time you have away from you”.

How many disabled people would have that sort of time? Certainly not those in full-time employment (like me) or those desperately banging on doors in an attempt to secure it.

So, while I could be proved wrong, I imagine the pool of candidates will be quite limited, perhaps to those in retirement, or those in self-employment capable of scoring high quality amphetamines.

This is a government spending billions preparing for an ideologically driven no-deal Brexit that many ministers have publicly admitted will be disastrous for the nation. Yet it can’t find a few hundred grand for the combined cost of nine salaries, and perhaps some stipends to compensate panel members for their time.

In refusing to offer anything at all, in refusing to make at least the panel chairs full time, with full-time civil service salaries, the government is sending out the clear message that it doesn’t really value disabled people or their input.

Were these panels to incur meaningful expenditure you can bet someone would be motivated to ensure the taxpayer was getting their money’s worth from them. OK, OK, perhaps I’m being a bit optimistic there given the way ministers like to waste money. But you get my drift: work that doesn’t cost anything just isn’t valued by government in the same way as work that it pays for.

The lack of investment in paying the people working on these issues strengthens the impression that these panels are being set up not so much even as talking shops but as PR sops that can be used at ministerial questions to counter criticism of Britain’s shameful neglect of its disabled citizens. Or that can be thrown back at the UN the next time it comes to do a report on how the UK is failing to live up to the Convention on the Rights of Disabled People that it signed up to.

Disabled people who apply should therefore be aware that they are running the risk of their good intentions and hard work being cynically exploited.

Yes it’s good to talk, and disabled people certainly need to have a louder voice in public affairs.

But not like this.