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Disability Arts Cymru

Tina Rogers: ‘You’ll Be The Death of Me’

Art

Audio Description

A large canvas using only two colours, black and white and the tones and shades that come from their mixture.

The canvas is covered in collage and acrylic mediums which make the piece textured and 3D.

The collage is made up from the artists genuine filled in and submitted Personal Independence form (also known as PIP).

Some words are distorted and covered in paint, other words and sentences can be clearly seen – Such as:

Tell us how you manage toilet needs – Poor mobility – Pain in movement – walking sticks – long handled bottom wiper – Overwhelming Psychological distress – wheelchair user – dysfunction – anxiety and severe depression – loss of grip in both hands – suicidal thoughts –- condition has become worse over the pandemic – Trazadone, citalopram, Tramodol – gradual decline – tell us if you think this decision is wrong …..

Intertwined with the collage of deeply personal and distressing PIP text are several human figures of all sexes and ages. Dressed in black or partially clothed, their skin is stark white as they’ve been under deluge for years, their eyes (If open) gaze upwards and their faces are lined and worn, twisted into a grimace of agony and hopelessness at having to constantly prove their disability and go through this tortuous process.

In the background distance, figures free fall through the mire and misery of the Department of Work and Pensions paperwork.

In the forefront larger figures have sunk to the bottom of the piece, their ankles are bound together, their hands tied behind their backs, all the figures are drowning and suffocating surrounded by turbulent fluid paper.

Being stuck ‘In’ for 28 months gives you time to contemplate your life, how you fit into society as a disabled person and if anything has or will change for us after the devastating and continuing effects of Covid.

Most disabled artists rely on state benefits (Personal Independence Payment PIP, and ESA), during the pandemic people on Universal Credit were granted an ‘Uplift’ of £20 a week. This was not extended to anyone on disabled legacy benefits.

As I write the cost of living: food and energy costs are soaring. When winter comes I know I will not be able to heat my house, and possibly may not be able to charge my wheelchair.

In February 2022 I received a renewal notice for PIP -13 months before my award ends. It’s now July and I have heard nothing from the DWP, not even confirmation they received my form.

The Maze of benefits, the constant need to PROVE you ARE DISABLED, and then the refusal, the reconsideration, the endless writing and phoning, always get you nowhere. The Joseph Rowntree Foundation found that in 2017-18 half of people in poverty were either disabled or lived with a disabled Person (Nearly half of everyone in poverty is either a disabled person or lives with a disabled person | Disability Rights UK).

My own journey in navigating benefits have been responsible for a complete breakdown in my mental and physical health, not just over the last 2 years, but since I became ill 16 years ago.

Drowning in the paperwork we can’t cope with, dying because the DWP make it so difficult to claim, and when you do they make the experience and medical so HORRIFIC that you will do anything to not go through it again. In 2016 I contemplated suicide when my migration from Disability Living Allowance to PIP was refused.

Things are not better for the disabled; in fact, they are worse and will continue to sink for us. The government ignore us, they make it as difficult as possible for us to live, while continually lying about how they take care of the most vulnerable (6 out of 10 covid deaths were disabled people Updated estimates of coronavirus (COVID-19) related deaths by disability status, England – Office for National Statistics (ons.gov.uk)

If one person sees this painting and gains some understanding – then this is my Aildanio.

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