The Right to Walk 

"Imagine having to ask for financial freedom in order to be able walk—or even DARE I SAY, run—again? Could that even be possible in modern-day Great Britain?"

It sounds like something from another time, or another country. A place of war, or ruin, or forgotten people.

But it’s not.
It’s here.
And the forgotten person… is you, me and every other disabled person in the UK who doesnt have legs to walk. Whether they be limited with screws, overbearing, hyper fixated or broken;

My Name is James Stuart

And I’ve been waiting for help since 2021. That’s four years of silence from the Department for Work and Pensions. Four years of requesting the same PIP letter to multiple addresses. Four years of being told, without words, that my suffering does not matter.

All the while, I live with a fractured tibia, metal screws in my leg, swelling that won’t stop, and pain that doesn’t ask for your permission to be felt... This isn’t just a limp. This is a battle to walk across a room. Unaided, Unsupported, Without Stumbling, Without Missing Steps, Without Having To Stop, Without Limping In Pain.

And if THAT doesnt qualify you for Mobility on PIP, then is it really a "Personal 'Independence' Payment'? When the DWP Actively seek to prevent its use, in favour, of, supporting itself?

What the System Won’t Do, I Now Must

I've been in a wheelchair twice in my life—once as a child after a cycling accident, and again after I shattered the same leg years later. By all logic, I should have lost that leg. But I didn't.

And now, while still awaiting the outcome of a claim I filed four Prime Ministers ago, I've decided to take matters into my own hands.

Literally.

I am now building a brace—an exo-assisted leg support—inspired by an incredible YouTube engineer. Using rollerpin bearings, cable tensioning, and adaptive limb mechanics, I believe I can redistribute the weight from my damaged bone, relieve pressure on the joint, and walk again with less pain.

Not because the NHS gave me one.
Not because the DWP paid for one.
But because I have no other choice.

Survival Should Not Disqualify You from Support

I shouldn’t have to crowd-fund my ability to walk.
I shouldn’t be penalised because I found a solution.
And I shouldn't be punished for “coping” when the truth is—I’m just BARELY surviving.

Yet this is what the PIP system does. It mistakes invention for independence.
It mistakes “making do” for “no longer in need.”
And worst of all—it delays until you disappear.

But I will not disappear.

TO THE GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED KINGDOM

This is my open letter. My record.
And I ask—not for pity—but for accountability.

I demand:

1. A legal time limit of 90 days on all PIP application responses. No more years of silence.

2. The right for self-built assistive devices to be considered proof of need, not proof of ability.

3. A national innovation grant to support grassroots engineering for disabled people—including those who’ve been let down by traditional systems.

4. Recognition that silence from the DWP is a form of harm, and it must be treated as such.

I Am Building My Own Legs

But what I’m really building is a bridge—between what’s broken and what could be healed. Between abandonment and action. Between engineering and justice.

I shouldn’t have to do this.
And if I win—if I walk again—I promise this:
No one else will be left behind without a fight.

— H.R.H. James Robert-Warwick Stuart
England, United Kingdom
Disabled Royal. Disabled Claimant. Disabled Citizen. 

Crippled but yet still, Unconquered.