Today (13/03/19) Marie Rimmer MP was able to attend the disabilities charity Scope event in Parliament. This event aimed to raise awareness of the #DisabilityPriceTag, which highlights that people living with disabilities face extra costs as a result of their disability. Scope has found that on average this is £583 a month, these extra costs increase the difficulties faced by people living with disabilities (which Scope believes to be 13.9m people in the UK and 8% of UK Children). Recent research by Scope has found that on average a family with a disabled child will have to pay £581 to have the same standard of living as a family with a non disabled child, sadly for 1 in 5 families the costs will be greater than £1000.
Marie was able to speak to people living with disabilities and the parents of children living with disabilities about the Disability Price Tag, sharing their real life experiences of the inequality that this creates for those living with a disability. This issue is exacerbated by the fact that people living with a disability are more than twice as likely to be unemployed than those without disabilities. Marie reiterated her support and her commitment to fight for her constituents who are living with disabilities and her support for Scope as a charity and advocate for disability issues.
