Members of the Poverty Truth Network’s Disability and Social Security Amplify Theme Group recently came together for a powerful workshop using Theatre of the Oppressed methods to help shape their submission to the Timms Review.
The Government review is taking evidence around the Personal Independence Payment (PIP) assessment process, and the group have been exploring creative and relational ways to communicate the realities of navigating the system.
Commissioners from four Poverty Truth Commissions across the North East gathered for the session, facilitated by Rachel Griffiths, Participatory Theatre Maker, using drama techniques and movement to reflect on complex experiences connected to disability and social security.
“Everyone agreed it was great to meet up and work in this way,” shared one participant. “Using drama techniques and our bodies was an unusual way to think about complex issues, but it was good.”
The workshop explored many of the realities people experience when applying for PIP: the waiting, the stress and anxiety that builds over time and the stigma often attached to disability. Conversations also reflected on the emotional impact of assessment questions, the complexity of the forms, and the feeling that people are often expected to use the ‘right language’ or have professional support to be believed.
Participants spoke about the contradiction at the heart of the system, that while PIP is intended to support disabled people to live fuller lives, the process itself can discourage people from trying new things or taking small steps forward, for fear of reassessment or losing financial support. The group also reflected on the bureaucracy involved in repeatedly reassessing people with lifelong conditions.
One exercise in particular stayed with Sarah, Partnerships Manager at the Poverty Truth Network, who attended the session:
“A participant, stood in the centre while we all took on different roles and stood around her, representing the agencies and systems involved in someone applying for PIP. It really made you think, why do you need another civil servant to decide whether she needs PIP?”
The session was filmed by My Pockets, with footage now developed into a video submission for the Timms Review. You can watch the film in full here…