To be fed of of vile comments re disability and pip- so come on those people suggest a job for me.

Yes they do. There are constant pensioner bashing threads on here. As a disabled pensioner, I seem to get it from both angles. 🙄

You can't get a real idea by talking to someone for an hour.

Some of the rubbish that was claimed during my assessment:
I'm not hearing impaired and don't need hearing therapy. She had to ask what one of my diagnoses was. I'm also sure the NHS don't send people to specialists for fun
I've chosen not to drive. This was BEFORE she did an eye test on me. I managed 3 lines. You have to be able to read 6 lines to pass the eye test for driving . It's actually harder for me to drive because of the nature of my visual impairment
I don't get help from social services therefore my disabilities aren't that bad. The same social services who have no understanding of hypersensitivite hearing and Autism
I can read bus numbers. I keep flagging down buses with "sorry not in service" or the wrong number
I have no problems crossing roads. I kept having to report dodgy parking because I've almost been run over

Did you also read that 70% go to tribunal and win?

Sorry this has turned into another disability benefits bashing thread @Laughydodo

MNHQ would not allow this constant demonising of any other minority. It is shameful.

That sounds awful OP. People can be very ignorant!

I know you aren't looking for work right now, but a friend of mine with similar health issues has a great job, which might be something you could do (obviously if you wanted to...no judgement at all from me!)

She works from home for a funeral company, dealing with claims and payments. It is very flexible and she sets her own hours, so when she's had an episode, she has time to recover.

I hope you are able to 'shut out the noise' of all the ignorant people OP 💐

As so often with threads about PIP, a lot of posters seem to be unaware that PIP is not dependent on whether you can work or not. It is to assessed on whether you can do day to day tasks as easily and quickly as someone without disabilities could. Or do you need special equipment? Help from someone else? More time? Reminding to do things?
You can, in theory, get PIP and work. Not working is covered by other benefits such as UC for which the claimant may by assessed low capability for work and therefore receive a higher rate.

Does any other country have the equivalent of PIP. Not as far as I know. I'd like to see it abolished and replaced.

That would be very expensive.

DLA was abolished and replaced with PIP. The roll out of replacing DLA with PIP hasn't even been totally completed yet, over a decade later.

I don't think you will get your wish to abolish PIP just yet @Viviennemary

Soz.

I don’t really know. I do know when I applied for a temporary blue badge in an area that was notoriously hard to get one(central London), the assessor stopped me half way through my interview and said something along the lines of ‘you clearly need this so let’s get this form filled out so that you definitely get it’. I wasn’t that needy, so clearly she saw a lot of piss takers. Where there is money going or free parking, there are always people ready to take advantage.

For a thread that's about showing more kindness and understanding, there's a lot of aggression towards anyone explaining a different perspective.

You don't have to agree with them but a pile on to someone sharing their own mental health journey seems inappropriate for a topic about poor attitudes towards disabilities.

They do it over the phone now so at least there is that. But I am also aware that a lot of applicants try their very hardest to "look good" for the assessor and we end up with comments of how well they coped and how they were able to communicate during the lengthy assessment. Never mind that they were in bed for 6 days afterwards recovering.
So now I always make a point of telling people to be honest, ask to take breaks, ask for an interview to be split into several stages. It's not helping anyone to be putting your best foot forward and masking real symptoms just so that you can go through the PIP interview quicker. It all goes against you in the end.

My mil had severe epilepsy so much so she was banned from driving for many years. She worked in the doctors surgery on reception and in the council tax office before retirement. Not sure if that would work for you as you are asking.

However, pip etc is not granted lightly so you are clearly in a bad way, do you really want to put yourself through that?

As for how else could the system work, it's very simple and could save the huge amounts of money (currently paid to private companies: turning disabled people down for benefits is an industry, which is why the UK has been investigated by the UN human rights commission) : accept the applicants' GP and consultants' reports as the most accurate assessment of someone's health, rather than a private company employee with a biased remit.

And this is the real issue. Benefits are there for people who genuinely need them. People like yourself and your friend. And I very much think that they should be ringfenced against fluctuations in income. Everyone should be allowed to "have a go" without losing essential support. Punitive system which reduces your payments without any indication of whether you are able to consistently earn money and support yourself is setting people up to fail. I know a lot of people in your position who could theoretically "have a go" but are terrified of losing what little support they have. It's not right and it's not really working in the way that the government intends it to work. There should be a cooling off period, say, they can only review your benefits 3 months after starting a job or side-hussle.
PIP isn't even means-tested but I worked with people who were refused PIP on the basis that they work or drive. I.e. if you can work/drive, then you are not disabled enough. Of course, this lame justification is usually thrown out at the appeal but it shouldn't even be there in the first place.
Fundamentally, a lot of chronically ill people I work with are desperate to work but they either can't find a suitable employer or are terrified to lose their benefits without knowing for a fact that they can sustain employment.

A high proportion of those turned down then turn out to be eligible after all, when they appeal and it's taken to a panel. The reason so many are turned down is the culture of assessors having targets to meet and of employing assessors who are not actually qualified in the area of disability they're assessing.

A number of people, for example, are turned down simply for turning up, because being able to get somewhere on time suggests you can get to work. That's why disabled people are advised by charities supporting them to take someone with them when they attend, as managing to get there alone is seen as a point against you.

One of my friends who is too ill to wash or dress turned up not having washed for a month and in clothes she'd slept in, but was turned down for looking clean (the written assessment described her as clearly being able to wash and dress as she looked presentable).

It actually makes me laugh when people say that others should work without knowing the full story. I currently work part time but that is down to having an amazing supportive employer which most don't have. But the reality of working with me is I'm absent alot so you will need to cover my shifts for hospital appointment I usually have 1 or 2 a week. I then have weeks I can't get out of bed so you will have to cover that I get hospitalised a lot usually 3/4 times a year often for weeks at a time I usually have surgery at least once a year also I sometimes have psychotic breakdowns and can become quite homicidal but I'm sure you don't mind working with people like that as long as their working my boss and another colleague has had to take me from work to a&e on 2 separate occasions one for an overdose and once for being psychotic and homicidal so not only do you need to cover my shift but also other staff members who have to deal with me shifts but I'm working so it's fine mumsnet is happy

That's the issue. Are denials because people are gaming the system, or because the system is designed to generate denials and keep people off? of course people have got to be assessed, but we know from previous experience with disability claims that the assessments are not always designed to be fair. Even when the system isn't absolutely ridiculous and denying clear cut cases to wear people out, there's quite a lot of conditions that have a range of severity or where the assessment could have a degree of subjectivity in terms of someone's work capability.

I don't disagree with assessment but there are ways to do it. They shouldn't be dismissing medical evidence and making up blatant lies about applicants.

This I attempted suicide during my pip process it's literally hell on earth I was awarded high rate for 3 years I'm filled with absolute dread of having to repeat the process when the time comes

But that doesn't really answer the point of who is going to employee some of these people. We might as a society decide to no longer support the disabled and leave it to charities, families, begging and presumably premature death for some, but that doesn't make them employable.

I don’t think people are bothered about legitimate claims like yours. I do think it is odd when people grumble about having to be assessed for it though. How else could the system work? A lot of people get turned down (I read somewhere that it was over half) so there must be quite a high number who want to take advantage of the system.

Life is stressful. Work is stressful for a lot of people. You can't have an ever increasing number of people on benefits supported by fewer people able to work. It just simply doesn't make sense and is unsustainable.

I’m told by some who works at citizens advice bureau that pip is quite hard to get and people have to really fight for it. And not everyone will be successful. Some of the unsuccessful people are really suffering because they really cannot work and need extra help. In any case employers might think twice about employing someone who is not quite up to the job. Life is not black and white

I think its easy to say don't take it to heart, but when quite senior politicians talk about combatting the levels of people not in work and potential changes to a benefit you depend on it is stressful. Especially when added to the views of press and mumsnet and other forums.

And OP is right, the bit missing in lots of peoples views is that employers don't want employees who are disabled. They will make reasonable adjustments to a point but only so much.

One aspect they really struggle with is inconsistency. So if your condition is one that means you can work two days this week, 3 next, none for the two weeks after, mornings for a week etc, they just aren't interested. They need the work done when it needs doung not when you are well enough. If you are self employed your clients also don't want work done when you are well, they want it when they need it. Eg if you bake cakes they want it on the special birthday day, not a week after.

I’m mainly bed bound.

Someone on one of those horrible threads asked me why l needed pip if l spent all day laying in bed. It’s not like l did anything they said

l told them l spent it on staff aka Downton Abbey. That really pissed them off.

This!! The PIP process is long and drawn out, and intense!

I am on PIP and work part time, and I know it would be much worse for both my physical and mental health if I didn't. Saying that I work and claim PIP doesn't mean I am critical of someone who claims PIP and is unable to work. If anything I get the opposite 'if you are disabled enough to claim PIP you shouldn't be able to work so your claim must be dodgy' like i am a fraud.

Please dint let ignorant people get you down