It's not over yet...

The Olympics may have finished, but the Paralympics are coming...

If like us, you are furious that Atos is a sponsor and organises logistics, there is plenty you can do.

From 27th-31st August DPAC have organised a week of action against Atos to coincide with the start of the Games. You can find more details here.

Atos Stories will be at Greenbelt Festival that weekend and hope to get a slot at the Open Mic to read from the Atos Monologues.

And ANYONE of you can download our plays for free. You can read from the Monologues, do a bit of Street Theatre (including a Paralympics Fit to Work Race) or get in touch about putting on Atos Stories. Let us know if you do it and send us photos we'll put them up...

It's time we all acted against Atos.

Please join us!

Jump up!

So, today, I was in London for my uncle's funeral. Up until the last minute, I wasn't sure if I was going, or how I'd get there, but looking at the hotspots expected on the roads, last night I decided to take public transport. It was one of those last minute choices that sometimes create unexpected opportunities. Naturally enough, signs of the Olympics were everywhere, bringing with them the pleasure/pain that I've been experiencing for the last six months.  I'm passionate about athletics and I love the sport, but I've been increasingly downhearted by all the rubbish accompanying the games, too much security, too many awful sponsors, suppression of free speech. On the up side in London, it was good to see cheery volunteer Olympics ambassadors, pointing tourists in the right direction, making me feel glad to be a Londoner by birth. On the downside, a woman wearing an Atos badge, presumably on her way to Olympics HQ. "Bloody Atos,"I growled inwardly, as I headed to the tube, where I made another last minute decision which would change my day

Alerted by my sister that a train to Romford would be quicker than going to Hornchurch by tube, I decided to head to Liverpool Street. I had my laptop with me, and as I got on the train, I found myself opening up the Atos Monologues instead of the piece I was working on. Next time I looked up, we were at Stratford, and blow me, there was the Olympic Stadium to my left. Perhaps I was being sent a message. I looked down at my laptop, I looked up at the train. Perhaps I should do an impromptu reading? Trouble is, I'm a writer, not an actor, I wasn't  sure I could do justice to Karen and Kate, and all the other fabulous people who wrote to us. The train moved off, the moment passed, and I headed to the funeral.

But the thought stayed with me throughout the service. I should go back that way and be my very own flash mob. As I sat in Church listening to first my brother, and then my cousin talk about Uncle Andrew: a little bit bohemian, a little bit of a wordsmith, a little bit of an actor, a little bit of a communist, I thought my action could also be a little bit of a tribute to him. On my return journey, I pulled out my laptop, opened up the Monologues and chose two short passages by Kate, and the sadly recently deceased  Karen Sherlock. The train came closer and closer to Stratford, and I began to sweat. I don't mind public speaking but addressing a carriage of strangers was something else. The train pulled into Stratford. Lots of people exited, but I still had an audience of 15 or so. The doors closed. It was now or never. I jumped up, said I hoped people wouldn't mind, talked a bit about Atos, and read the stories to the somewhat bemused carriage. I finished by telling them about Karen's untimely death and by urging them to watch Dispatches on Tuesday (8pm Channel 4) and sat down, legs shaking. Much to my relief, nothing happened, nobody objected, nobody called the police and I left the train at Liverpool Street, heading for home.

I was considering whether to repeat the experience on the Hammersmith and City Line, but I didn't need to. Shamefully on the first day of the Olympics that have cost this country £10 BILLION, a young man with disabilities was so broke, he was forced to board a train and politely beg from us. For the second time in an hour, I jumped up from my seat to applaud him, and followed up by telling the carriage that this is a disgrace. He told us that up until a tumour appeared on his leg he'd worked and paid taxes. The doctors had hoped to fix it so he'd turned down the opportunity to apply for benefits two years ago. And now he is too sick to work, he cannot get support from the State. IN London. IN 2012. ON the first day of the greatest show on earth.

I've no idea what people made of my speechifying, or of my companion on the Tube. But one thing I am clear about. Unless we all start jumping up and saying our bit, nothing will change, nothing.

Now my protest is done, I do feel able to sit back and enjoy the only bit of the games that is worthwhile...the best sports people in the world striving for excellence. I'm off on holidays tomorrow but I'm glad to say, DPAC will be doing a proper reading of The Atos Monologues at the Counter Olympics Network protest in East London. We writers of the Monologues won't be there to see it, but it's great to know the words will be getting out there. As my Uncle Andrew knew, there's nothing so powerful.

(A Personal Post from one of the Collective)

First Acts

The most exciting thing about writing a play is when people start preparing to put it on.


We are delighted to announce the premiere of The Atos Monologues will take on the 28th July. Our friends in Disabled People Against Cuts and Our Olympics have organised a reading to take place as part of the Counter Olympic Network demonstrations in East London. We hope that lots of you will be able to get along. If you can't  we hope to have a link on this blog to livestream on the day.


We can also announce that Act Up, a small theatre company in Newham are well into rehearsals of Atos Stories. We'll keep you posted on progress


We're in conversation with people in Oxford and hope to have some news soon.


This is just the beginning, we'd love to hear from more of you...So any thespians please do get in touch atosstories@gmail.com


We are dedicating both plays to the memory of Karen Sherlock, disability campaigner and victim of the inhumanity of the work capability assessment system.

Beyond Angry

We started this project in response to the stories we heard about people dying after being found fit to work. Today we've heard that @pusscat01, one of the contributors to our Monologues has just died of cardiac arrest. She was awaiting dialysis, yet Atos found her fit enough to be placed in the work related activity group. She lost her ESA several weeks ago, and sent us and others on twitter anguished tweets about the impact this had on her life and finances. We couldn't help her, but we could listen to her story and use it in the play, and hopefully make something happen with that. She was terrified of her real name being revealed, so we promised to use the pseudonym "Pussycat". Although her real name is out on twitter, we're respecting that by reproducing her story below:

"At my medical the nurse made several statements with
regard to my health and capability regarding which group I should be placed in, these are as follows:-

·        “The people who check the forms, I believe are quite understanding and will have your best interests at heart
and be sympathetic to your needs and place you in the right (support) group.  If they do not place you in this group appeal it and you will win.”

·        “You are a genuinely ill person and are unemployable due to your multiple medical conditions.”

·         “You have been working for 22 years and have done your bit.  You are not the sort of person they are trying to single out.”

·        “When filling in the form do it more thoroughly.  I understand you find it vague but you can always fill in the white boxes and explain why you think this applies. This
will increase your chances of being placed in the correct group.”

                                                                                               

She also chose not to perform a physical examination or do a blood pressure test due to the pain and distress they may cause me.

I have greater than 50% visual loss and severe continence problems. I also suffer from chronic tiredness among many other problems, which is caused by a combination of Vitamin B12 deficiency, anaemia, kidney disease and long-term diabetes.

The report said I did not look tired. But the medical was
carried out late in the afternoon and I had spent the morning
in bed before I got up to be sure I could attend the medical!

With all that I thought I’d have enough points for the support group. I cannot believe I got placed in the Work Related
Activity Group.  My 1st tier appeal was lost and my rep let me down on the 2nd tier so it never got that far.

My experience is that depending on what doctor you see
every outcome seems to be different.  The fact that the
person I saw at the assessment actually said I should be
in the support group and then it changed when I got the final decision is amazing to me.  It would seem as though what
they say to you in the room does not transfer when it leaves that place."

Last we heard from Pussycat, she'd not had her benefits restored and was becoming increasingly worried and anxious. We're glad to hear from Sue Marsh at Diary of a Benefits Scrounger  that she was put back on ESA two weeks ago.
But the stress and anguish she was under for the past few months cannot have helped her deal with the physical problems she faced every day. We're beyond angry  to know that yet again someone so ill, so vulnerable has been treated so shamefully by the State. 

RIP Pussycat. We won't forget you.

The Play's The Thing...

We can't quite believe it but we actually have three plays to distribute to the world. And thanks to the magic of Scribd you should be able to download them for yourself. We doubt whether we'll be catching the conscience of any of the current kings and queens of welfare, but we do hope you will be able to use one or more versions of the play in your local communities to raise awareness.

Atos Stories - A Drama With Music 
http://www.scribd.com/doc/93380043/ATOS-STORIESVersion5May   (This version references a couple of cartoons from the 1940's. The Beveridge one is here & the Zec one here)
The Atos Monologues  http://www.scribd.com/doc/93379959/The-Atos-Monologues
Atos Street Theatre  http://www.scribd.com/doc/93380024/Atos-Stories-Street-Theatre

We want to try and log people's interest so PLEASE get in touch with us at atosstories@gmail.com, if you are up for this. At the moment we have no money but we are looking at ways we can get some to share around. We'll keep you posted.

We would also like to take this opportunity to thank all the people who contributed their often painful stories which have helped create these plays. We are sorry you have had to go through it, but grateful that you have enabled us to use the stories to help change the future:

David, Aletheia, Mary, Tim, Kate, Yvonne, Adam, Nelson, Elizabeth, Sam,Vincent, Pussycat, John, Adrian, Martin & all the fabulous people who took part in our Facebook and Twitter games.

We would also like to thank the following for their help:

Amelia Gentleman - The Guardian
Patrick Collins
James Ivens, Flood Theatre
John McArdle Black Triangle
Jon Peace News
Kaliya Franklin  Benefit Scrounging Scum
Sue Marsh Diary of a Benefit Scrounger
Nelson  DWP Examinations

And a huge thanks to Eve Ensler for The Vagina Monologues and Margaret Atwood for dramatising The Flood which inspired this work.

Dear Minister...

The results of another Facebook/Twitter game

We asked : Dear Minister the impact of YOUR welfare reforms on MY life...

And you said...

Will be 20% cut in DLA. Barstewards

Will not affect you in your ivory tower. Lidl beans for me on out of date bread

Is crushing me under fear, stress and hopelessness.

Is making life unpredictable, fearful with a dread of brown envelopes through the door. Humiliated and scared for the future

Has made being disabled a crime. 

Is making my daily struggle even harder, leading to me becoming even more ill than when I fell onto benefits with the thought of being up and running again a distant dream. 
Is bollox
Is causing me pain and misery                             

Is making me want to take stemetil just to get through the day with out throwing up when I see how seriously ill people are being maltreated in this society purely for profit, otherwise I consider myself to be in good health.

I’m really not keen on using dear for that nasty Tory bastard

Thanks again to all who took part (and sorry). Do feel free to add more below, they'll go in the monologues

Work Hurts

One of the key questions asked by our Atos Stories play is - what is wrong with getting disabled people out to work? After all, isn't that what disabled people want? Minister after minister will often preach these points, the reforms of the 2012 Welfare Act are all about enabling, empowering,preventing people from languishing on sickness benefits.

The answer is, of course it is, except that...

1. Despite the Disability Discrimination Act many employers still will choose a non disabled person above a disabled every time This is worse in times of high unemployment.

2. The nature of many disabilities (Crohn's Disease, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, mental health) mean people have periods of good health, and periods of poor health. For such individuals to be able to hold down a job, they need sympathetic employers. Employers who enable part time working, flexible work arrangements. Employers who ensure that the employee is not overloaded with work so they spiral into ill-health, and who are supportive when employees need time off due to a flare up of their condition. How many employers do you know like that?

3. Many work places aren't physically adapted to the needs of individuals with disabilities, chairs, lighting, ventilation can make a sick person sicker.

4. Some people who are just too sick to work.  According to the DWP's own figures 32 people a week died between January and August 2011 after Atos found them fit enough to be in the work related activity group. In other words, they weren't languishing on a benefit deprived of the right to work. They were being provided with sufficient finances to live out their days in dignity and peace.


Without the right supports, without the right environment, without the right attitudes, work ALWAYS hurts.

It is time the wealthy millionaire non-disabled ministers in the Cabinet woke up to the fact. Otherwise people will continue to be put through an endless cycle of continual reassessment, and oh yes, they'll keep on dying too..