SINCE moving to Scotland, my political activity has increased significantly. Admittedly, before I moved up north I had been driven by the attacks and woe being placed upon disabled people by the Tories, Liberal Democrats, the US government and other horrors the world over, directed specifically at disabled people.

Now, thankfully, I am in a slightly more stable position, and am becoming more involved in the more general fight for our class and oppressed people the world over.

The efforts of groups like Disabled People Against the Cuts (DPAC), Inclusion Scotland, Disabled Rights UK, and other personal efforts by disabled people have comprised a strong force to fight for their rights and against the problems inflicted upon them.

With no criticism intended to any group in particular, disability rights organisations have not had many victories since the crash of 2008. That said, their efforts are still noble and undeterred.

The lack of success for disabled grassroots organisations could be the result of a variety of influences, including lack of broader support, counter-efforts to either diminish the “legitimacy” of disabled activists, the weakening of trade union powers, a broadly weakened working class, and lack of a clear political line to unite disabled people into a broad singular movement.

The lack of broader support takes on many guises. As the Tories, DUP, Liberal Democrats, and SNP have either actively enforced austerity or not used their circumstances to counter it, disabled people regularly hear positive lines suggesting an end to discrimination, increased access, or more compassion from society, but often these are never enforced actively.

One simply needs to observe that Glasgow’s Subway only has one station that’s accessible by wheelchair, or the fact the SNP is pushing back devolved control of disability benefits until beyond 2020.

The counter-efforts do not take long to find. Figures like bloggers Agony Autie, Imani Barbarin and other disabled activists use Twitter as an outlet to highlight injustice or other specific issues facing disabled people.

Almost every statement they put out is countered by people trying to either undermine or ridicule their line.

As an autistic person, the most common complaint is the suggestion that I am too “adapted” to be able to speak for someone’s autistic son or daughter who may be in a much worse position.

The critics who are all too eager to silence disabled activists most commonly speak from an assumption that can be reduced to “disabled people are not the masters of their own lives.”

A comparison can be drawn with men undermining women who defend their freedom of choice; if the men oppressing women saw them as human enough to take the lead on their lives, the question of choice would never arise.

Activists on the left do not need reminding how the weakening of trade union powers has helped destabilise our class as a whole, leading to more precarious workspaces and hours, greater worker discrimination, and broader destruction of communities and lives, producing a huge upsurge in mental health woes, poverty and death.

For disabled people, the trade union movement has an arguably more significant importance, as our successes have been the result of a larger unity.

Austerity has been brutal and horrific. The increase in poverty and decimation of communities has left our broad class movement broken and heavily bruised.

With this environment, it is no surprise that the feminist movement, the disabled rights movement and broader civil rights movements have suffered massively because it is hard to fight for others if no-one is fighting for you.

Disabled people are particularly at risk as often our lives are quite heavily interdependent on others — ie needing a carer/assistant to live more independently.

When trying to counter such a broad selection of problems, disabled people need a clear political line to stick to in order to start gaining victories and spreading from strength to strength.

DPAC’s line of “rights not charity” is clear, concise and perfectly underlines disabled people’s needs and how to fight. This, however, is not seen as a broader line for other groups to support.

More often than not it can be seen that disabled people are used as pawns in activists’ morality gestures. This most commonly appears in those shouting “ableism” on public forums or social media.

With the various bickering between leftist groups, the question of theory often comes into the debate. Often when a vaguely Marxist-Leninist (or what a Trotskyist group would call “Stalinist”) individual suggests someone should read more theory, the rebuttal is: “Demanding people read theory is ableist.”

This line is questionable to say the least. First, the rebuttal is based on the assumption disabled people don’t or cannot read. This is just silly.

The barriers for disabled people to read are often purely on format — for example, dyslexic people may need a different font to stop blurring of text, visually impaired people may either need large format, spoken text or braille.

Also, if all of these formats do not work, you simply need someone to teach you in the correct manner for you. All people learn differently. Having to learn in a certain manner does not undermine your ability to learn.

I understand that the revolution is not won by theory alone, however suggesting that the focus on theory is “ableist” is flawed.

Another common shouting match surrounds activism. Namely, members of political groups often highlight that “moaning on Twitter is not the same as grassroots organising.”

Once again, the rebuttal is that a “basis on physical activism is ableist.” It is correct that our activism is not always physical.

We cannot always do pickets, occupations, leafleting or other public demonstrations. However, those who try to defend us on Twitter accidentally suggest we are too fragile to be active.

Looking at pickets by DPAC, they do have a physical presence, however it is not the be all and end all of disabled activists’ work. Disabled activists the world over have developed ways for us to either mobilise or push our activity without being fully dependent on traditional methods.

Sharing of knowledge has been a key item in defending disabled people against the horrors of personal independence payment and employment and support allowance assessments.

The use of petitioning or solidarity gestures are another common element. As I previously highlighted, our lives are interdependent. This means we know our needs can be addressed by helping others too.

So the strongest disability activists are pretty damn relentless. Yes, it does not always mirror old methods, but it is certainly more impactful that Twitter policing.

The recent debates and online shouting surrounding identity politics have meant that genuine critique is either bandied about as hashtags or discussions are silenced amid a sea of name-calling.

The social model of disability does highlight well the significant problems facing disabled people and how they can be resolved. Disabled people can live happily, our lives are valid ones, and our politics are valid. However, online discussions are often lacking.

We as a class movement are disjointed and suffering because of it. As I have observed as a disabled person, identity politics often fails to support us. The sentiments are nice, or good at heart, however they do not always listen to our concerns.

If you are genuinely concerned about fighting for our rights as an identity, you need to listen to us. Disabled people know their concerns and worries.

Disabled people speak for disabled people. Just like it is not my place to define what sexism is, let those who are at risk define and highlight the discrimination.

In this time of rising fascism, increased poverty and climate catastrophe, we need to fight viciously against the forces trying to suppress us.

Disabled people have a specific fight, but we will always stand with our comrades and allies who stand for us. If you fight for us and fight for rights not charity, you are a strong and worthy ally.

If you try to be morally superior online instead of actively engaging our community, you need to sort yourself out.

Rights not charity — that is what we demand. Fight with us, instead of bickering online.

Ben Lunn is the branch secretary of the Glasgow YCL.