"They threw the wheelchair in a skip": Police violence is spreading fear in disabled communities

A new bill to expand DWP powers could increase the risk of harm to disabled people – by the very people meant to protect them.

An illustration for The Lead by Kaitlan Bachan

When Olivia Johnson was found self-harming by a member of the public in 2017 she hoped help was on the way. When the ambulance arrived the police came with it. Olivia was crying and upset, but compliant – she was still treated with aggression.

“I was ‘crazy’ in their eyes,” Olivia tells The Lead. Instead of asking for it to be handed over, Olivia says the officers snatched the object she had been using from her hand, badly injuring her in the process. “They cut my finger severely.”

In the ambulance, the medics asked about the cut. “The police lied, and as police they were believed,” she says, adding that officers had claimed the wound on her finger was self-inflicted.

Olivia Johnson has a number of neurodisabilities Pic: The Lead

Olivia, from Cirencester, now works as a peer support worker with NHS England, as well as in a training capacity for peer support workers and as a consultant on neurodisability. In her role she sees first-hand how police interactions with neurodisabled people are often negative and harmful.

“They will be treated like shit; the police will be violent with them,” she says. “When handling them and putting them into a police car, they can be really rude, they use restraints that they shouldn't be using, that aren't proportional, that are dangerous.”

The Baroness Casey Review in March 2023 found that ableism was “baked into” the metropolitan police force. One disabled officer interviewed by the report described how, “There is an attitude in the Met about people with disabilities, especially hidden ones, being lazy, and it destroys you.”

Ableism in interactions with police can range from abusive language, to mobility aid destruction, to intentional violence. I saw it happen. While covering a Just Stop Oil protest in 2023, I witnessed an arthritic man put into a ‘pain grip’ by two police officers after he did not respond to a request to walk to a police van, his screams echoed in the street.

“The police are already actively, and have been actively, engaged in violence towards disabled people since long before we had the first Disability Rights Act,” says Mac*, from the Bristol Crips Against Cuts, a local network of disabled activists and allies. “So the idea that there has ever been police non-violence towards our community is, I think, slightly ludicrous.”

Vincent Phillips, a Bristol based drag artist, describes his experience at an Extinction Rebellion Protest in London: “They threw the wheelchair in a skip.” Abuse of wheelchair users is not new. Nick Sheldrick, who has a spinal cord injury, was tipped out of his wheelchair six times whilst peacefully protesting fracking in Blackpool in 2018. Despite complying with police instructions, he was intentionally thrown backwards causing him to hit his head on the pavement. In another instance he was left with severe bruising across both his thighs. Another anti-fracking protestor, Liz Beck, who is a cane user, was pushed to the ground over 30 times. Ultimately the violence escalated with an officer breaking Beck’s collarbone in 2018 in Surrey.

Expansion of police powers

In 2025 the UK stands at a juncture. After decades of escalating rhetoric that has framed the disabled community as a leech on the British public, the Labour government is doubling down on what the Conservatives built.

Massive cuts to disability benefits are now being paired with the ‘Fraud, Error, and Recovery’ bill currently being debated in the House of Lords, which, if passed, would extend powers previously reserved to police to agents from the Department of Work and Pensions [DWP] allowing them to enter, search, and confiscate property from benefit claimants’ homes. The expansion of the number of government agents granted police powers is concerning.

Last month, Steve Darling, a disabled Liberal Democrat MP, warned that the new anti-fraud legislation could open the door to “Orwellian levels of mass surveillance”, exacerbating the challenges faced by disabled people who rely on social security.

Alongside the power to enter and search, the bill includes permission to monitor, freeze, and withdraw funds from bank accounts. The bill will force banks to examine the accounts of benefit claimants for potential breaches of eligibility rules, they can then then pass that information to the DWP. Critics of the bill fear that disabled benefits claimants especially are at greater risk of being automatically treated as suspects.

“I think a lot of people I work with, particularly those who have mental health issues, are quite traumatised, some of which may come from their dealings with the police already,” says Olivia. “Even to hear about systems working with the police or hear about the idea of somebody coming into your home without your consent, is horrible.”

“It’s always a dripping tap, and then you don't notice that your cup is full until it's pouring over,” says Mac, commenting on the deterioration of disability rights represented by the bill.

Another concern is that the new powers proposed by the bill could be used to harass disabled benefit claimants over extended periods of time. There is already precedent for this between police and disabled individuals.

“I have been targeted by the police on so many occasions I have lost count,” Marie Allen, who is deaf, told Disability News Service. Marie says she was kicked, shoved, knocked unconscious, and at one point picked up and thrown over a fence. She reported that officers who knew about her disability would often stand directly behind her and shout orders knowing she could not hear them.

John Pegram, a founding member of Bristol Copwatch, explains how police interactions with disabled people can quickly turn into a campaign of harassment: “There might be continual stop-and-search. It might be a pattern of arrests, but the one thing you should we always look out for is if the same officers are involved.”

The DWP said: “We are bringing forward the biggest fraud crackdown in a generation, turning off the tap to criminals who cheat the system and steal law-abiding taxpayers’ money. The Bill will also include safeguarding measures to protect vulnerable customers. Staff will be trained to the highest standards on the appropriate use of any new powers, and we will introduce new oversight and reporting mechanisms, to monitor these new powers.”

But what is concerning about this response is the regurgitation of the tired stereotype of “cheating the system” to justify the policing of disabled people. The details of what these proposed safeguards would entail were not made clear.

Ableism in interactions between police and disabled people extends to an inadequate response to violent hate crimes against the disabled community. When Mac was traveling by train between Bristol and Bath in June last year, she was attacked by a woman who screamed ableist abuse at her across the carriage.

“She grabbed me by the back of my collar. She started punching me in the back of my head. She was punching me all over my body,” Mac recalls. During the assault the woman’s phone was damaged. In response, the police prosecuted Mac for the damage to the phone, and her attacker walked free.

“When I think about police brutality, I don't just think about them dragging out the DPAC [Disabled People Against Cuts] activists and attacking disabled people at protests. I also think about the lack of care towards vulnerable people, because that's violence too,” Mac explains.

The prosecution rate for violent disability hate crime is just 1 per cent, by enacting violence against disabled people and permitting it from the public, the state frames the disabled community as a group undeserving of physical or psychological safety.

“We cannot accept a securitisation response when it should be one of support. Be it an individual in mental health crises facing a police officer with a taser, or an autistic child referred to Prevent.” Ilyas Nagdee, Director for Racial Justice at Amnesty UK, warns.

In 2021, a 17-year-old disabled Black girl, who asked police for help, was struck “more than 30 times” with a baton by PC Ben Kemp. Video footage of the attack reveals Kemp beginning to beat the girl unprovoked, ignoring her pleas to stop. PC Kemp was dismissed but not charged.

The Federation of Police did not respond to a request for comment.

“For a lot of people who I work with and support, the police really instil fear,” Olivia tells me. Reflecting on the impact of her own experience she adds; “It was just another reminder that I was powerless in that situation.” ■

*Name has been changed to protect identity.

How to find support

There is an ongoing assault on disabled people's basic right to safety and dignity. How can you help? Community operations like CopWatch are a great place to start, recording instances of police brutality and opposing them where possible. Action on the ground is also vital in holding this government accountable. Crips Against Cuts and Disabled People Against Cuts [DPAC] are two of a number of groups pushing for change on the ground.

Outside of direct action, strengthening mutual aid networks is a great way to support community resilience. There is work to do from every angle, with roles on the ground and online, see which groups are active in your local area and reach out to see what is needed. ■

About the author: Kai Charles is a literary journalist whose work focuses on the human detail of injustice. Working across multiple mediums, they draw from over a decade of work in activism to document the stories that lie at the heart of systemic violence. Their work has previously touched on disability justice, transphobia, sexual violence, border justice, and the climate movement.

At The Lead we believe in everyone – regardless of disability or background – having the chance to fulfil their lives to the full. As well as Kai’s work here bringing to light disturbing situations faced by those with disabilities, we have also recently dug deep into what’s disabling the nation with Hannah Shewan Stevens investigation into the causes and the potential solutions and Rebecca Wilks powerful report into how mental health patients are being turned into prisoners by austerity. This kind of reporting, and writing, is often uncomfortable reading but we believe it’s crucial to expose the difficulties in society to find solutions to help move things forward and give a voice to those on the margins. Help support us in doing this kind of independent rigorous journalism by taking a paid subscription to The Lead.