I’m disabled. It wasn’t my fault.

I was born with cerebral palsy. And if you became disabled because of an accident, an illness or a disease, that wasn’t your fault either.

Yet sometimes it feels like disabled people are constantly being asked to apologise for existing.

We work. We try our best. Some disabled people work full-time. Some work part-time. Some are self-employed. Some volunteer. And some people simply cannot work.

All of those people still have value.

This is what people don’t always see about the disabled community.

There are around 16.8 million disabled people in the UK – roughly one in four of the population.

And despite what you might read on social media, millions of disabled people work. In 2024/25, 55.3% of working-age disabled people were in employment, compared with 82% of non-disabled people.

That’s an employment gap of nearly 27 percentage points.

So instead of constantly asking why disabled people aren’t working, perhaps we should be asking:

Why are there still so many barriers stopping disabled people from working?

Stop Blaming Disabled People

Stop listening to people who tell you disabled people are draining the government’s wallet.

It’s not true.

Some people genuinely cannot work. Some can work a few hours. Some can work if they have the right support. Some have good weeks and terrible weeks. Some volunteer because traditional employment doesn’t work around their disability.

And some of us create our own jobs because nobody else will give us the opportunity.

That’s me.

I joke that I work seven jobs.

Okay, most of those jobs don’t pay very much – and some don’t pay me anything!

But I’m doing something.

I’m trying to build businesses. I’m trying to make a living. I’m trying to get respect in a world that sometimes won’t even respect me enough to believe that I’m sober.

I’m a comedian. I’m an MC. I run Blue Badge Bunch. I run Disabled Cants. I perform children’s shows. I create artwork and woodwork. I work on a farm.

I’m working.

So please, open your eyes, open your ears and listen.

“But You Work…”

Over the past two weeks, since coming back to England from Edinburgh, I’ve had several conversations with disabled friends.

Some of them have cried talking to me.

They’re fed up.

They’re fed up with opening social media and seeing people looking for somebody to blame for everything that’s wrong with this country.

Too often, disabled people and vulnerable people become the easy targets.

Then somebody says:

“Oh, but you work.”

Yes!

We do work!

That’s the bloody point.

Disabled people can work.

We might just need adaptations.

We might need flexible hours. We might need somebody to help us. We might need somewhere comfortable to sit. We might need more time to recover.

And some disabled people cannot work at all.

That doesn’t make them worthless.

I Need Support – But I Struggle On

Sometimes people see me live on TikTok working in my shed and say:

“He shouldn’t be in that shed. He needs support.”

Well, do you know what?

I do need support.

But I can’t always afford the support I need.

There were 66,700 outstanding Access to Work applications in February 2026. Behind statistics like that are real disabled people trying to get the support that could help them work.

So I struggle on.

I struggle to be independent.

That is how I was brought up by my parents and grandparents: to stand on my two wobbly feet, fight for who I am and fight alongside those who can’t fight for themselves.

But why should disabled people constantly have to fight just to be accepted?

I’ve Just Done 60 Shows

I’ve just come back from doing around 60 shows at the Edinburgh Fringe.

Sixty.

I worked bloody hard.

But while I was there, I was repeatedly mistaken for being drunk because of the way I walk and speak.

That’s cerebral palsy.

I wobble.

My speech can become more slurred when I’m tired.

That doesn’t mean I’m drunk.

It doesn’t mean I’m on drugs.

It means I’m disabled.

And after pushing myself through Edinburgh, I came home and my body basically shut down. I spent a lot of time in bed recovering.

That’s the bit people don’t necessarily see.

They see the gigs. They see the photographs. They see the shows and the reviews.

They don’t see what it takes out of my body afterwards.

But I’m Back

Last night, I did a gig for Luke Harrower, and it was great.

I closed the night.

After working on myself for a month in Edinburgh, I could feel the difference in my comedy. I’m really looking forward to getting more work.

How do I get it?

I don’t know at the moment.

I’m looking. I’m asking. I’m applying. But sometimes I just can’t find the gigs.

So this month I’m going to email as many companies as I can and try to get Blue Badge Bunch into more workplaces.

Because companies need disability awareness.

People need to understand that disabled people deserve respect.

Disabled people can work. We just might need our access needs met.

Let’s Work Together, Not Against Each Other

Disabled people have been fighting all our lives to be accepted in this world.

Enough is enough.

If you’re angry about your taxes, don’t blame a disabled person.

If you’re angry about the government, blame the people making the decisions – not somebody receiving support because they need it.

If you hate your job, don’t vent your anger at somebody you think is weaker than you.

And if you’ve never experienced disability, listen to those of us who have.

We don’t need pity.

We need access.

We need opportunities.

We need reasonable adaptations.

We need employers to look at what we can do, instead of immediately looking at what we can’t.

And above everything else, we need respect.

I’m disabled.

It wasn’t my fault.

But I’m certainly not ashamed of it.

I work. I volunteer. I create. I make people laugh. I educate children and adults. I’m trying to build businesses and earn a living.

Just like millions of other disabled people are trying every single day.

So stop fighting against us.

Let’s work together, not against each other.

Because disabled people don’t need society to carry us.

Sometimes we just need society to stop putting obstacles in our way.

Benny Shakes