How I Subverted the DWP’s Motability Propaganda (And Why It Matters)

I have a lot of people contact me because of my activism like sectioning the DWP or delivering SHAME to Andrew Mountbatten-Winsdor, asking me to look into an issue or wanting me to work with them regarding issues. If I can, I do, but I am only one person with caring responsibilities and limited energy and health.

Someone sent me a message on Instagram and asked if I had seen the latest DWP video on Motability. They said the messaging in the video was horrific, inferring disabled people who use Motability cars are some sort of scrounger. I hadn’t seen it so I watched the minute video and was equally disgusted. The government had created a video with minimum intelligence and creativity to stir outrage and hostility towards disabled people.

We know Motability doesn’t give away free cars, that you pay to lease them. That without a Motability car, many disabled people would lose their independence. My wife Alison has one: without it, we wouldn’t be able to access healthcare appointments, or any appointments. Our nearest bus stop is not walking distance for Alison and we are not rich enough to pay for taxis. The nearest bus stop operates a bus an hour, and does not operate on a Sunday.

The government is out and out lying about Motability, so I created a subverted version , which is more truthful about who and what are causing unfairness in this country, and every country as it happens.

It was an interesting process coming up with a creative rebuttal for the government’s dismal and hostile ad. I had two choices: one was to create a very Dolly Sen video or to create a straightforward, informative advert. If I had gone full ‘Dolly Sen’ it would have gone something like this: Why are you having your thinking manipulated by a government that has the depth and substance of a festering micro-penis, etc, etc.

A more moderate version came next:

Do you really believe the government when they say they want to make things fairer?

This is about distracting you from real unfairness by manufacturing your outrage towards disabled people.

They have told you lies about Motability and you have believed them.

Ask yourself why they are trying to control your thinking?

The government is telling you about fairness when health inequality is at its highest, where the ordinary person’s stagnated wages are struggling to meet the rising cost of living. Meanwhile billionaires are taking your assets and not paying tax.

Their wealth has increased 1000% since 1990. Unfairness is the thing that makes them rich.

Disabled people meanwhile hope their independence is not being taken from them, especially if you drive to work and public transport is mostly inaccessible. They could lose their jobs.

The government and media will tell you they are scroungers when this happens.

Disabled people are taxpayers, workers, carers, parents and citizens.

The new DWP ad wants disabled people to feel bad about wanting independence, and the person on the street to hate them.

Don’t let the government and their media lackeys to tell you what to think, feel, or exploit your decency.

This was too long: too many words would cramp the image, and was confrontational. Why make a piece of work just to insult the person on the street? After manipulating some car engine symbols in Photoshop to go with it, I settled on the final version of text and kept it simple.

The whole thinking and making process took about 4 hours, which is the usual time it takes me to make work, but I thought some of you would be interested in me explaining my process. The work always has to suit the audience so another piece of art might be totally off the wall. Believe it or not, there is logic to my process.

The person who pointed me to the video hopes he and I can create other ways to disrupt the government’s bullshit narrative, a very dangerous narrative that has surely contributed to the increase in hate crime towards disabled people. One idea is to make a film where a copper pulls over a motability car and gives the driver a breathalyser to see if they are allowed to breathe, and the disabled person takes no shit.

By the way, my personal view is that the government is a festering micro-penis.