I HEAR everyday from people with a disability who are marginalised, not listened to. They say why us?
They have been disproportionately impacted by the unfair and unjust Westminster welfare cuts, as well as increased charges and changes to local authority services.
These policies and decisions maintain and reinforce the social, physical, cultural and economic barriers which prevent disabled people taking up our rightful role as full equal citizens.
Major concerns include unfair benefits cut, the shameful assessments and now the cost of living crisis - yet many people say we should not have a referendum on Scotland's future.
READ MORE: How the cost of living crisis is impacting disabled people in Scotland
We should take control of our own future, in the people of Scotland's hands and create a new independent way of life.
We should set our own path, our own destiny, with it at the top of the agenda to abolish the unfair assessment process.
As a disability campaigner over the years working with various disability organisations, and as chair of my disability action group, I hear first-hand about inequality and discrimination all the time.
But a new Scotland could mean better access to transport, housing and employment. There are still barriers today.
One of the basics of human rights is access to food, yet in today's society we have food banks on a worrying increase.
There are food banks in Scotland today in more than 130 sites, operating in 26 local authorities.
More than 62% of the working-age people referred to foodbanks in early 2020 were disabled. That alone is shocking, but when you understand that it's more than three times the rate in the general population, it is damning.
This isn't right. Perhaps in an independent Scotland we would not have this - people pushed to foodbanks feeling undermined and not in control of their lives.
READ MORE: Applicants for disability benefit can expect 'compassionate process', says minister
Over the years, myself and many others have been involved in something called The Experience Panel.
The panel was designed to help create the Social Security Scotland Bill, passed in 2018 by the Scottish Parliament.
It is the first Scotland-wide social security agency in the nation's history. With independence we will get full benefits and be in control of our own system.
We need to redefine "Great Britain", because many people aren't given the very basics of human rights like choosing when and what to eat.
Right now in Scotland we are being set back centuries.
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