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AIBU?

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Original poster

This is going to upset you:outrageous benefit cheats.

128 replies

GabbyLoggon · 15/10/2010 13:18

The bizarre benefits cheats who are caught on film make me laugh.

You will have seen the following:

The one filmed running in a marathon and staring at the camera.

The older bloke playing football very vigorously.

The recent one driving a van whilst claiming
incapacity.

The running linesman doing a good job on incapacity.

The golfer playing a nifty round.

OP posts:
ScaryMoaningArrrggghhhs · 15/10/2010 16:23

TheIncredible- is there any way we can help with teh DLA? Is he appealing or reapplying?

cory · 15/10/2010 16:25

"yes there are people like yourselves that are genuine, you know you are so have nothing to worry about"

How do you mean, I have nothing to worry about when there are posters who would post images of benefits claimants doing something active on a public forum for a laugh??? What do you suppose that means for my daughter???? We may not claim DLA, but we got her into her current oversubscribed school because of her needs as a disabled child, she has disabled transport because she genuinely needs it for the vast majority of the time- how long do you suppose she would keep that if an image of her dancing was posted on a public forum as proof that she is a fraud????

We are currently applying for our son to go to the same school on the same grounds that he sometimes needs a wheelchair. But according to the same logic applied by some posters on this forum, one snapshot of him kicking his football would prove he couldn't possibly need a wheelchair on other days.

2shoeprintsintheblood · 15/10/2010 16:25

Theincrediblesulk1 that is awful

cory · 15/10/2010 16:26

So my point is that in a world where people refuse to believe in intermittent disabilities, I and my children bloody well do have something to worry about. Dd refused to go to school after another child took to shouting in the corridors "you're a fake, you don't need that wheelchair". Because, like some of these clever posters, she had caught dd out- she had seen her walk.

ScaryMoaningArrrggghhhs · 15/10/2010 16:28

Post a picture of him unsupervised in any environment and you;d have a case, except of course that it never ever happens.

Theincrediblesulk1 · 15/10/2010 16:28

He is currently appealing, his doctor is writing to them, and the cab people are involved, we had some good advice and support from the British lung foundation. They wrote to a doctor who had not seen dh and asked his opinion. I went mad as you can imagin i told them we had moved but they failed to listened (well attempted to make out that was the doctor i had told them to contact, then had to admit they were wrong!)

But thank you for the offer, if i need any more info i wont hesitate to ask x

ScaryMoaningArrrggghhhs · 15/10/2010 16:29

Good luck; ds3 (ASD, attends special needs unit) was refused on first application, then it was changed to high rate on appeal! (downgraded to MR a year later at renewal but that was OK, it's enough)

cory · 15/10/2010 16:31

pigletmania Fri 15-Oct-10 16:20:27
"Cory you would put this information on the form and a doctor would support your claim."

Yes, and if any of our neighbours then reported us for benefit fraud, the benefit would be withdrawn while we were being investigated. So "having nothing to fear" is relative.

MaimAndKilloki · 15/10/2010 16:33

"Cory you would put this information on the form and a doctor would support your claim."

Hahahaha... hahahaha!!!

cory · 15/10/2010 16:37

Beginning to realise that my anger and fear are not about benefits per se: as my posts have made clear, we have never received any. It is about the attitudes of people who assume that you are lying if you are not always exactly as disabled as at other times.

The "you have nothing to fear" post sounds a little insensitive after I had already explained that dd had tried to cut her wrists because she couldn't cope with the idea of being thought a fraud. Would you really call that "has nothing to fear"?

I don't fear the lack of money, what I fear for my dcs is the exclusion, the suspicion, the sniggers. And the temptation not to have to cope....

deepbreath · 15/10/2010 16:37

(Hijack) Cory, there is a long EDS/hypermobility thread in SN now, have you seen it?

I know a lot of people that have been refused DLA when they really should have been awarded it. Some have been given DLA but at the wrong rate, even by the DWP's own guidelines. The system does not make sense at all.

cory · 15/10/2010 16:38

What I fear is the effect on dd if she ever came to read the OP: here come and laugh at these freaks! And then reading the description and realising that's her...

Theincrediblesulk1 · 15/10/2010 16:39

MaimAndKilloki its actually not as simple as that! firstly they automatically refuse 70% of all applicants. Secondly the doctor who said dh was not physically able to work, and told him to apply to DLA, gave his report to them as well as their "contact" with dh's gp, who actually was not his gp.

They don't want to give you this money, you are forced to jump through hoops for what you are entitled to!

It makes you want to give up, i take it that is what they are hoping for too!

cory · 15/10/2010 16:41

Don't know why I'm doing this really, dd is a lot better and we will be fine. Really, we will. She is coming out of the dark place and she is amazing and strong

But there are other people who will not be fine and a licence to laugh at them is the last thing they need. The suicide rate for Ehlers Danlos sufferers is higher than that of the average population. And a lot of that is about suspicion and not being believed. And I do know what that feels like.

cory · 15/10/2010 16:43

thanks deepbreath, have seen and occasionally drop in on that

we are not doing too badly atm, though ds' secondary school application went in today, so a bit upsetting

deepbreath · 15/10/2010 16:45

It is all down to people's perception of wheelchair users - so many people assume that you must be unable to walk at all to use a wheelchair. Some of us on here know different!

There will always be people that piss off the bolshy taxpayers, either through being unmarried and daring to have several dc's or being disabled and lazy (according to concerned taxpayer, not me).

sarah293 · 15/10/2010 16:56

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

deepbreath · 15/10/2010 17:02

Riven, it's funny when dd does it too because she goes to a church school - actually saw an old lady cross herself once when she saw dd get out of her wheelchair and stand up! Grin

MaimAndKilloki · 15/10/2010 17:12

theincrediblesulk I know, was laughing that anyone was that naive to think it was that simple. Have had to jump through those hoops too.

DH has CFS/ME and mental health problems.

I have an undiagnosed back problem (which sometimes allows me to walk unaided) and mental health issues.

I've had abuse on the street for pretending to be disabled. I've even had GP's suggest that I am making it up.

And DLA wouldn't touch my claim, awarded me 0 points despite having days where I cannot sit up, let alone walk.

Theincrediblesulk1 · 15/10/2010 17:17

oh i see, sorry i thought you were being serious

I am so sorry to hear you too had to endure this and suffer abuse on top.

MaimAndKilloki · 15/10/2010 17:18

No worries :) Can see how it read that way.

You just kind of get used to it really. Shit as it is.

cory · 15/10/2010 17:22

Dd's head was still refusing to let me use the word "disabled" in conversation 2 years after we had sent dd's diagnosis to the school. And trying to suggest to SS that dd's problems were due to our parenting. So will join Maim in merry laughter at the the thought that it is only a question of getting a doctor to sign a form for you and you will never have to deal with suspicion again.

Lynli · 15/10/2010 17:54

It is sad but true that some people have no morals and fraudulently claim benefit.

The genuine claimants should be the most angry about the cheats.It is these scumbags giving other good people a bad name.

If it wasn't for disgusting cheats there would be more resources for the genuine claimants.

We should not judge people who claim benefits, but we should judge people who cheat, whether they are rich or poor, cheat benefits or the taxman.

No one should be accused of cheating unless it can be proved.

When I was a supermarket manager I was moved to a store where a couple worked.

The DH was claiming incapacity benefit and suing someone for a back injury, that meant he could not work.

He was working nights unloading lorries of goods, the store manager was paying his wages to the DW so no one would know.

There was no doubt it was a con no mitigating circumstances.

cory · 15/10/2010 17:57

Fair enough, Lynli, but the examples provided by the OP were nothing like that.

Theincrediblesulk1 · 15/10/2010 18:04

I know people who fraudulently claimed, but there is nothing any amount of looking at the claim can do. A woman i know claims (and has her child treated for) epilepsy that he has not got. her oh has never witnessed a fit in the 2 1/2 years he has lived there, and he apparently has over 20 fits a day.

But she has somehow got a diagnoses (we believe she suffers from Munchhausen's) and that will be kept for his life.