DISABLED athletes are being forced out of sport because of the UK Government's welfare reforms, their national body has warned.
With only three months to go to the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games,
Scottish Disability Sport (SDS) said athletes who had been through work
capability assessments were finding they could no longer afford to
compete or train because of benefit cuts.
The organisation told MSPs its staff and associates from across the
country had reported the impact of assessments on the sportsmen and
women. Even board members of the governing organisation for disabled
sport north of the Border have been affected.
Elite athletes preparing for Glasgow 2014, which runs from July 23 to
August 3 and includes five disabled sports, are not thought to be
affected. However, sources claim welfare reforms are hitting potential
stars at grassroots level. The changes, designed to tighten criteria for
sickness and disability benefits, have seen hundreds of thousands of
people judged to be fit for work and ineligible for Government support.
But the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) said it was a
"world-leader in support for disabled people", pointing to its role in
the Paralympics.
The SDS claim is part of evidence to the Scottish Parliament's Public
Petitions Committee and a submission calling for the scrapping of the UK
Government's work capability assessor Atos as a Glasgow 2014 key
sponsor.
Herald Scotland
