I’d be the first to agree that disabled people in the UK, despite what the DWP might claim, really don’t have equality of access to employment. Anyone who says different is either very lucky; not disabled; or a government spokesperson with an agenda. Frankly, even if you have a diversity-aware employer, and full reasonable adjustment, your chances of advancement within your chosen career are pitifully low compared to those of your non-disabled colleagues.

But I’m not complaining. Not today. And I don’t think you will be, either. Not after reading this .

Yesterday, twelve disabled men in Varanasi, India, publicly drank pesticide in a desperate protest against the city administration which had taken over their shops. Without those shops, the men had no way of making a living. This morning, five are dead and the remaining seven are in critical condition.

This is what Tribhuvan, one of the protesters said to a journalist:

'' The administration said they would listen to our demands within 24 hours. But even after two days nothing was done. We had said give us space so we can earn a living. But the municipal officer said even if you poison yourself we will not listen and we will demolish your shops. So to give them a little happiness we consumed poison''.

Tribhuvan died in hospital a few hours later.

Whatever the ins and outs behind this story – and it only appeared online an hour ago, so there hasn’t been much opportunity for a rebuttal as yet – disabled people have died because their way of earning a living was taken away from them.

Ok, so there are news items from around the world on an almost daily basis which report the discriminatory treatment of disabled people. If you wept every time you read one, you’d risk drowning in your own tears. But this is the worst one I’ve seen for a while. And, distressing though it is, I think it merits the widest possible coverage.

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