Abstract
This chapter is about the demonstrations that took place against the French IT company Atos in Britain during 2011 and 2012. The protests were led by disabled people and their supporters and were directed to draw attention both to the company’s government contract to assess the work capabilities of disabled people and to Atos’ simultaneous sponsorship (‘partnership’ in the Olympic lexicon) of the Paralympics, the next Paralympics being due in London in September 2012. The chapter will outline the political background to these protests first of all by tracing the fashioning of a new governmental approach to disablement back to the 1980s; it will then describe the enactment of new ‘welfare-to-work’ policies for the disabled and the political furore that resulted; thirdly, it will discuss the attitudes to disablement that were aired around the time of the Paralympics of 2012 and the protests, running parallel to this debate, by disability activists over Atos and government policy; finally, it will attempt to judge the consequences for the politics of disablement of the Paralympics—a vital consideration since both the British Prime Minister and the Chairman of the London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games argued that these Games had had a transforming effect on public attitudes towards the disabled.
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Notes
- 1.
AEGIS operated between 1946 and 1976. Its papers are held by the British Library of Political and Economic Science. Details at: http://archiveshub.ac.uk/data/gb97-aegis
- 2.
Originally said in an interview with Woman’s Own magazine, 31 October 1987; it was reproduced on Mrs Thatcher’s death, by The Huffington Post website 4th August 2013: http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2013/04/08/margaret-thatcher-dead-controversial_n_3037335.html Access 20th July 2015.
- 3.
‘Losing More Ground’, unattributed, New York Times 3 February 1985. Available at: http://www.nytimes.com/1985/02/03/opinion/losing-more-ground.html (Access: 25 June 2015).
- 4.
Lilley’s speech can be seen at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FOx8q3eGq3g (Access 27 June 2015).
- 5.
- 6.
Foot’s article is reproduced at: https://beastrabban.wordpress.com/2013/08/12/paul-foot-on-the-insurance-company-unum-and-cuts-to-disability-benefit-in-private-eye-from-1995/ (Access 28 June 2015).
- 7.
A full transcript can be read at: http://blacktrianglecampaign.org/2011/08/20/bbc-10pm-news-6th-november-2007-transcript-news-article-unum/ (posted 20 August 2011; access 29 June 2015).
- 8.
Lucy Glennon had epidermolysis bullosa, a condition that causes the skin to be very fragile. She died in 2015, aged 29.
- 9.
For further examples of the individual hardships visited on disabled people via these assessments, see Mendoza 2015: 61–8.
- 10.
- 11.
It can be seen at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tuAPPeRg3Nw (Access 2 July).
- 12.
UK Uncut formed in 2010 in response to ‘austerity’ measures announced by the newly formed coalition government in Britain. Their title implied resistance to cuts in public expenditure which the government styled as ‘savings’. They specialised in direct action—usually the occupation of buildings—against prosperous organisations known to pay little tax. Companion organisations were formed in the USA and Portugal.
- 13.
At the time, Atos held £3 billion worth of contracts across ten British government departments (see Addley and Malik 2012).
- 14.
See, for example, ‘Did GB Paralympians choose to hide Atos branding?’ on the Channel four website: http://www.channel4.com/news/did-gb-paralympians-choose-to-hide-atos-branding (Posted 30 August 2012; access 3 July 2015).
- 15.
See http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/344172/Coe-plays-down-medal-ceremony-boos (Posted 6 September 2012; access 3 July 2015).
- 16.
‘Lord Coe hails Paralympic’s ‘seismic effect in shifting public attitudes’ to disability’ London Evening Standard 9 September 2012 http://www.standard.co.uk/olympics/paralympics/lord-coe-hails-paralympics-seismic-effect-in-shifting-public-attitudes-to-disability-8120539.html (Access 4 July 2015).
- 17.
- 18.
https://www.politicshome.com/articles/opinion/scope/paralympics-showed-what-disabled-can-do (Posted 10 September 2012; access 4 July 2015).
- 19.
Daily Record 4 September 2012 http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/two-faced-cameron-praises-disabled-athletes-1301957 (Access 4 July 2015).
- 20.
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Acknowledgements
I’d like to thank Viji Kuppan, Ashley Hardwell, Jon Dart, Gerard Goggin, Delva Campbell, Bob Williams-Findlay and Kayleigh Garthwaite for their help in the composing of this chapter.
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Wagg, S. (2016). ‘The Atos Games’: Protest, the Paralympics of 2012 and the New Politics of Disablement. In: Dart, J., Wagg, S. (eds) Sport, Protest and Globalisation. Global Culture and Sport Series. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-46492-7_12
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