by Sarah McAlpine

It was a running joke during the Atos -sponsored Paralympic Games that athletes would soon have their benefits cut off for being too capable. Sadly, this has become the grim reality for one Paralympian , who has been told that he isn’t disabled enough to receive benefits- despite having only one leg.

Wayne Fisher, who played for the GB wheelchair basketball team, applied for Disability Living Allowance.

After losing his position in a customer services role earlier in the year, Fisher has taken temporary positions that involve standing up for long periods which caused painful abscesses to develop, and he now requires surgery. He cannot currently wear his prosthetic limb.

But the Department for Work and Pensions has now told Wayne he ‘isn’t eligible’ for the allowance- even though he was previously granted it in 2005.

Fisher, a member of the 1996 GB basketball team at the Paralympics in Atlanta, is now surviving on the £109 a week his wife earns in maternity pay.

DLA would have given the family, also supporting a five month old baby, between an extra £20.55-£131.50 a week. The allowance is due to be scrapped by the government in April, to be replaced by a much criticised Personal Independence Payments.

Wayne told the Manchester Evening News: “I’ve worked most of my life and I want to carry on working. I’ve paid into the system all my life and when I want something back from it I feel like they are putting up a brick wall. The Paralympics have changed attitudes, but the government has not changed its attitude about helping those who need it”

He was also hoping the benefit would allow him to apply for an automatic motability car, to assist him in finding employment.

His wife, Emma Fisher, said “We have to live on £109. I bet people in the government spend that on lunch.”

A DWP spokesperson has said “DLA is designed to give severely disabled people who are unable to walk or virtually unable to walk the extra cash support they need to live more independent lives.”

Fisher said: “I know the government is cracking down on benefit cheats and they’re right to do that. But I’m not putting this on. I can’t just grow another leg.”