protest were not entirely physical ones for me. The barriers were those I had built in my mind and for myself.

I expected living under canvas in London to be hard and for my physical disabilities to be a problem (I have distal symmetrical polyneuropathy meaning I have no feeling other than pain below elbows And knees, plus muscle spasms and mobility problems. I have spent time in a chair and now use crutches.).

There are problems, but they are generally no worse than your average camping trip with the added advantage of good level ground, coffee shops and good toilets ! There are plenty of people able and willing to help and good hospitals within easy reach. My worst problem was getting into and out of a small tent, solved by judicious placement of chairs and plenty of room left by my ‘door’ (plus the occasional friendly elbow).

So why do I occupy?

Is it because I’m angry?

Is it because I’m an anticapitalist (no)

Is it because I’m disabled or inspite of being?

I occupy because, at this moment in time, for now, for the future, it is the least I can do.

As a disabled person, my life is often governed by the decisions taken at a higher level than my voice can reach.

Individually, each of those decisions can be coped with, overlooked, seen past and ultimately forgotton as is a small defeat in a greater daily battle.
But there comes a point when critical mass is achieved – that tipping point. …… the corner around which everything looks different. ……. the point of no return.
This is the point in time from which we can never retreat and from where action of some sort becomes inevitable.

For me, those increments were the probability of my re-assessment for DLA and other disability benefits, the tightening of austerity measures which took away services that I rely on and finally, the cuts within local government that brought the issue of redundancy into my tiny family.

I reached that ‘tipping point’ where sitting and doing what I had been doing was no longer sufficient. I itched to do something meaningful. I needed to demonstrate my frustration and growing dissatisfaction in a real and physical way.

Don’t think for a second that this was the first thing I decided to do. ……. that I went from doing nothing to occupying a tent in London in one broad, clean brushstroke, because I didn’t. It took me over a year to realise that my voice just wasn’t being heard through any of the channels I had chosen.

I wrote to my councillors, my MP, my EuroMP. I wrote and achieved absolutely nothing but polite replies – probably generated by the office of the person in question. I made an appointment and saw my local MP who expressed great sympathy but ultimately believed that austerity measures were necessary and that we, the general public, disabled people and their carers, were the correct people to be paying for the excesses of the banking and finance system.

Because, as far as my short-sight will let me see, the bailouts of the big banks, the failure to control the banks and financial institutions and our over reliance on them to fuel false growth, together with lack of accountability, regulation and the over-influence of large corporations in our governing structure are what caused this mess. Not me. Not my friends. Not my family.

Why then are we paying not once, but twice for these failures?

Our taxes were used to bailout the banks. Now our services are being cut in a rolling three year program of budget reductions to local councils and the selling off to large overseas companies of the service I need most often and most importantly – the NHS.

How does this affect me personally?

It has meant that drugs I rely on have been withdrawn and replaced with cheaper options that don’t work so well for me.

Transport that I rely on to reach hospital, or simply to shop, from my small rural village have been cut back or cancelled completely.

Services such as physiotherapy are now harder to access than ever…… as is the specialist dental treatment I need.

I have watched the devastating effect of local government redundancies, and the resulting depression, in my own house and seen what it does to our support structures and our relationships.

And still I have no answer to the question : Why are all of the consequences ours to bear?

I watch the bonuses handed to managers and staff of the financial institutions that began this mess and wonder whose money they are being paid with.

It would not be stating an untruth to say that I am frustrated, indignant, but above all I am angry. I am burning with anger at the inequality and injustices that I am seeing perpetrated almost daily by people in power and control whose attitude is very much “I’m alright Jack!”.

Well it is very much not alright Jack !!! Not by me and not by the large numbers of people living in tents and under tarpaulins in 30 plus sites around Britain and over a 1,000 sites around the world. They occupy because there is something fundamentally wrong with a system that targets the weak and the poor and the marginalized in our communities.
They occupy because they can see so obviously the gaps in income and the failure to look after the vulnerable and the needy in society. And they want something different. For the world to be a fundementally fairer place where the rich don’t get richer and the poor poorer but where each has according to need.

Idealistic ?

Yes, probably. ………

But it is not unachievable.

The camps are small working models where we try to look after eachother. Where everyone has a voice through General Assemblies – which is how we’ve chosen to govern ourselves.

Most camps are sheltering homeless people and people with mental health issues. …… and they are, mostly, valued and functioning members. Where issues can’t be dealt with on site we have built links with local groups where we can referr our friends for more help if needed.

Disabled people are still not as visible as we could be and this is being addressed, though I have to say that many of the barriers to taking part in this economic protest were not entir