DISABLED rights campaigner Dave Thompson has hit out at Government plans to review benefits.

He fears that means-testing and imposing tax on benefits could severely affect his ability to lead an 'independent' life.

Dave is the Disability Services Advisor for Warrington Community Health Care Trust. He has been in a wheelchair since 1989 when he broke his neck playing American football.

Dave said: "I am often seen as quite independent because I work and drive a specially adapted car, but this is not the case.

"My wife, Pam, cares for me by helping me wash and dress, turning me in the night, helping me on to the toilet, getting me into my car and putting my wheelchair in the boot. I need friends to stay with me if Pam is out.

"At work, a colleague has to help me out of my car and get me into my wheelchair and also support me in work.

"I need assistance to the toilet and although my office is very accessible, going to meetings takes a lot of work and planning.

"These are the things people don't see," he added.

Dave says the benefits disabled people receive give them more independence and enable them to pay for the things others take for granted. These 'extras' may include repairs to furniture damaged by wheelchairs, expensive medication, extra heating, incontinence products or gadgets for the disabled person's home if they don't meet the criteria to get them for free. If benefits are changed, Dave feels he and many others will lose out.

Dave said: "Changes may include means testing, tax on benefits, a review of who gets benefits and changes in the way money is administered.

"Without my Disability Living Allowance and other assistance I couldn't work.

"There needs to be more information about the way DLA is spent. Maybe some people do abuse the system, but to tax the most vulnerable people is against civil rights and puts people in an emotional state.

"If barriers are put up, disabled people won't make it into the employment market and they will be put in a more vulnerable position."

Benefits Agency spokesman Tom Eccleston said: "A review of disability benefits is ongoing.

"The review will look at all aspects of benefits and the way they are delivered. No decisions have been made and full consultation with representatives of disabled people will take place before any changes are introduced."

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