to think that cuts for disabled people doesn't seem to have the cool factor or whatever that the student thing had?

[daisy5678]

or why are the papers so strangely silent on the issue?

If you agree that cutting disability services and financial support is wrong, please come to

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/mumsnet_campaigns/1126669-Stop-the-Abolition-of-DLA?msgid=23240953#23240953

Who cares? They get free cars, free bus passes, benefits handed to them on a plate, there are all these charities throwing money and chance of a lifetime holidays at them, then they have the nerve to demand that able bodied people shift their arses from the spaces in accessible buses and they want special parking spaces and to jump the queue to get in lifts and all sorts....

(for the record, I'm being VERY fucking sarcastic and repeating some of the things I've had said to me about my disabled dd)

MissQue

YANBU. Come on, where is everyone on this? It could be you, or your child, or your partner, your parent.

YANBU. I have mental illness and have worked in mental health and learning disability support work. I have witnessed first hand how DLA makes a difference to the lives of people who will never have the option to work. It has components that pay for mobility and care. It can make the difference between having a social life and being isolated. It can help people to do the everyday things most people take for granted. I also believe no one can understand how disabiling mental illness is until thet have experienced it first hand. I don't claim DLA, but live in fear of a relapse the depression that hospitalised me for three months and resulted in electro convulsive therapy. I also fear the mentally ill will be the soft target for these cuts as mental illness is so badly misunderstood.

There should be a lot more outrage about this, DH is on dLA and I haven't seen anything about this consultation until now.

I think maybe we're all beaten down by a system that insists on documenting how my DH cuts his toenails (he doesn't by the way - I do) rather that focusing on what they/we actually need.

The proposals in this consultation are another example of bureaucracy written by people who know nothing about it.

YANBU- definitely not.
People rely on DLA. It's literally a lifeline for many people.

Is it because people with disabilities and their carers are too busy/exhausted/unable to protest violently and in large numbers?There's no union to join if you're ill.

It's won't be news unless thousands of, say, wheelchair users cause havoc in a major city and give the police a load of grief...

I scour the papers on google every day and am getting tired of finding next to nothing although to their credit the Guardian has been covering some of the aspects Sadly this is mainly in the Society section rather than the main paper.

What do we have to do???

YANBU,

But much of the noise being made about student cuts was down to the mass demonstrations held by the students.

Politly saying something isn't good enough will never be as exciting as some tosser throwing a fire extingisher off a roof.

xpost with NeverArgueWithAnIdiot

i think people are still shell shocked by so many changes and when realise the full impact will be out protesting a hell of alot more than now.

It will be two years at least before the abolition of DLA comes about, and considering you have to have a medical for ESA anyway you might as well have another for DLA.

It might stop those who aren't entitled to it getting it.

Indeed, you won't get thousands of disabled people smashing up Tory HQ because:

1. Most are more dignified than that
2. Many couldn't pick a fire extinguisher up to throw
3. They probably couldn't get onto the roof in the first place unless there's a lift
4. You can't get a wheelchair onto the tube
5. People who need a high level of care will not be able to go because of their needs
6. Many people who need carers wouldn't be able to afford the travel for two people to get to the capital
7. Tons of them will be in hospital or care homes, unable to get out because they're too ill
8. People with ASD might not be able to cope with crowds and noise
9. Lack of Changing Places

10. Some have significant, profound learning difficulties which would make it impossible for them to understand, let alone give an opinion, on something which will have a major impact on their lives.

and that's just the start of it...

What southeastatra said. There are so many cuts (removal of EMA, child benefit, housing benefit) and freezes (WFTC etc.) and increases (VAT etc) that people just can't take it all in.

YANBU but I think people are a bit overloaded with this stuff at the moment. If they were rolling out announcements of the changes slowly and gradually I think there would be more of a reaction, but a lot of these changes are just getting buried in the avalanche of bad news.

And as Goosefat suggests, the gov is going for 'soft targets' on the whole. Bastards.

This avalanche will most certainly mean that they will sneak things in under the radar, and many people will only realise what has happened when it's too late.

Something is wrong somewhere when we have as many people disabled as we do today, we never did in the past. Plenty of people have been signed off work for the rest of their life, but would be more than capable of doing some kind of work. There's something wrong with a society where people talk of having "failed a medical" meaning they have been declared fit for work.

The thing is, RobF, to get DLA, you have to prove your entitlement (i.e. the effect that the disability has on the person's life) and it is a hell of a form to fill in - over 40 pages.

So while the concept of people fiddling the employment benefits system and claiming to be unfit for work when they're not isn't totally unlinked to DLA (in that both are linked to disability), it's got very little to do with the campaign that I'm referring to.

DLA is for disabled people whose disability has a major impact on their life. DLA helps disabled people improve their lives, even if just a little, given that money doesn't solve everything.

This isn't about if people should/ shouldn't fiddle the system. We all agree that that's wrong.

This isn't about someone faking a disability.

This is about removing or reducing a benefit that disabled people need.

sorry, xfirsttimemummyx, I take your point. It just seemed like the papers/ MN jumped on the student protests as they were visible, vocal, violent etc. Something to discuss and debate on. A bandwagon, even (hence the 'cool' label).

But the DLA thing is being ignored and I guess I am trying to work out what it is that makes it less interesting to people. However, this thread is making me realise that people simply don't all know.

Maybe there will be more outrage when a descision has been made.

I thought they were still in the review stages about DLA.

Riven it does not come about for two years at least yet, it hasn't gone through Parliament yet.

I get DLA, I understand how it works, but for me it just be another hurdle to jump, as I am entitled to it I shall jump it.

yanbu
I am sickened by the lack of coverage this has had, yet it will wreck lives, really wreck them.yet zilch,
threads on here get little support.
sad, as anyone could end up needing DLA oneday

By the time the decision's made, it will be too late to do anything about it.

Review ends on Valentine's day - less than 6 weeks. It may only be a review, but they have been pretty clear about what they want to happen to adult DLA (though seem more open-minded on kids' DLA).

Look at how much opposition there was to tuition fees - and they still got that through. The outrage was there way before the decision was made but the decision was still made. We can't wait for the decision to be made in this case so have to build awareness and support now.