Welcome to a new opinion column from Claudette Lawrence, a disabled campaigner and activist from Thamesmead.

She has a strong interest in current affairs and local issues, and is passionate about eliminating the stigma of mental health. She'll be sharing her views on issues that are close to her heart in Claudette's Concerns.

Everywhere you turn now you hear about people having problems with government benefits, such as Personal Independence Payment, Employment Support Allowance or Universal Credit.

I am disabled and last year it was brought to my attention that people on sickness benefits are being discriminated against in the assessment process.

Personal friends and people I know through social media have been asked to attend assessment centres that are too far for them to travel to and also in some cases being asked to pay for expensive letters from their GP to ask for a home visit. These letters are not always accepted. This makes the whole process very stressful and makes people ill.

Last year I decided something must be done, so I took it upon myself to start up a petition calling on the government to stop asking people to travel unfair distances for disability assessments and also not to ask people for expensive letters to prove they need a home assessment. Atos, Capita and Maximus, the people who conduct these assessments, need investigating and they need clamping down on as in the process they are actually indirectly discriminating.

To date, more than 188,000 people have signed the petition and I have heard from many people who have been put through undue stress either by being asked to travel too far or being asked to provide a letter from their GP which can cost around £40. At my doctor's surgery, the cost of a letter is £38 and this is a fee set by the clinical commissioning group and is deemed as “non-NHS” work.

Some people have told me that their GP has waived the fee but the majority of people have to pay. This should not be the case, especially if people have already provided medical evidence and have long-term enduring disabilities.

News Shopper:

Amber Rudd

38degrees, the people I am running the petition with, have heard back from MP Amber Rudd’s office and it has been agreed that we will have a meeting with her team to discuss the issues raised in the petition.

This is an unfair system that is already proving to be discriminative, there are people out there who are on their own with no family and no support and this is another reason why I started the petition for people like that. It is so daunting and so stressful.

This needs to stop.