'End indignity of making us walk for our money:' Edinburgh woman with MS protests outside Holyrood over '20 metre walking rule'

A woman with MS is protesting outside Scottish Parliament against ‘inhuman’ treatment of disabled people under current benefits system.

Cat Johnson, 33, from Edinburgh joined 20 other activists outside Holyrood yesterday afternoon to campaign against the 20-metre-rule which is enforced under Personal Independence Payments (PIP) which replaced the old benefit, Disability Living Allowance (DLA) and states that people who can walk 20-metres or more do not require the highest rate of mobility component.

According to protesters, thousands of people with MS have been stripped of their Motability cars and left trapped in their homes and unable to work, seen their health deteriorate, and been forced to face lengthy appeals to get their benefits reinstated.

'Made to justify my disability'

Cat was diagnosed with relapsing MS in 2007 and was later diagnosed with the secondary progressive form of the condition.

She said: “The 20-metre rule doesn’t account for how conditions like MS can affect people in different ways or how walking 20-metres more than once is going to affect your symptoms.

“For someone my age with MS, I have a higher level of disability than others and I think the assessors came into it with a preconceived idea of how my symptoms were going to affect me.”

Cat has been assessed twice since 2014 after PIP took over from DLA. She said it felt like she was being “dragged over the coals” and “made to justify my disability.”

“Quite frankly, it’s harrowing and I dread it every time. Though I have kept the same higher level of support I received on DLA I really had to explain and drive home that my condition fluctuates.

“I felt like there was disbelief that I couldn’t walk 20-metres because I only use one walking stick. It seemed as though they thought I was faking it or that I should be using crutches – which doesn’t work for me.”

Cat said that the process needs to be “humanised” because at the moment the process is ‘inhuman’ and individuals “aren’t made to feel like a person.”

She said: “You’re made to feel like you’re scamming the system for asking for support.

“Ultimately, the support you can receive from PIP is really helpful in covering the extra cost of having a disability.

“If you’re denied that support because of the 20-meter rule or for any other reason then all we’re going to see is more people with disabilities living in poverty. Those extra costs won’t be covered and people who need support will have to pay out of their own pocket.”

Urge to reform system

Director of MC Society Scotland Morna Simpkins said: “We urge the Scottish Government to reform the assessment system, including the nonsensical 20-metre rule.”

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said the Scottish Government is: “acutely aware individuals who have a fluctuating condition such as MS are failed badly by the United Kingdom’s benefits system

“We are working closely with the UK Government to ensure that any changes that we want to make would not put at risk access to vital UK benefits and payments that remain reserved."