Melanie Reid and her Audience

It’s not exactly a secret that the right are intent on dismantling the welfare state.

Which is why the disconnect between Melanie Reid's excellent articles on her slow recovery from a riding accident for The Times newspaper and its editorial content are so jarring. 

Ms Reid writes eloquently of the physical and psychological struggles of living with SCI – but for anyone less talented in their profession, spinal injury often brings with it the prospect of a lifetime of impoverishment as they lose their employment. This is an aspect that is entirely missing from her narrative, and one to which her readership should be exposed.

Meanwhile the paper continues to support the dismantling of the sort of NHS care she has received, and cuts in benefits which will leave anyone in her position – but without her connections or privilege - more destitute than ever.

For many, the disability is the easy part – it’s the stress of the public stigmatisation of benefit claimants living in a ‘dependency culture’ that really demoralises.