Iain Duncan Smith, usually so sympathetic towards disabled people – he selflessly takes their benefits away to help them into work, after all – has called people without disabilities “normal”.
Speaking during DWP questions in the House of Commons, the Work and Pensions Secretary revealed his sinister mindset about disabled people to the world:
Other MPs picked up on his language. The Labour MP Kate Green told the Guardian:
“Iain Duncan Smith’s remarks about disabled people in parliament are offensive, hurtful and ignorant. It’s completely unacceptable for a government minister to single out disabled people as not ‘normal’. The work and pensions secretary should issue an immediate apology for calling non-disabled people ‘normal’.”
And the SNP MP Eilidh Whiteford tweeted that this was a “shocking insight” into the way the minister thinks:
Did I really hear Iain Duncan Smith talk about ‘normal [sic] non-disabled people’ just now? Shocking insight into the mentality…
— Eilidh Whiteford (@EilidhWhiteford) September 7, 2015