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

[Glitterknickaz]

The fraud rate is around 0.5% on DLA, which yes that's bad but compared with other benefits it's low. Which makes 99.5% of claimants genuine because of the sheer enormity of proof you have to supply.

Please, if you agree that throwing the most vulnerable in society into poverty and isolation is completely wrong, join the campaign.

My family has so far suffered from the cuts to NHS (cardiac care), education (portage) and to the aiming high project (respite). If we can no longer afford to meet living expenses and have no other means of funding it really will be poverty, heat or eat situation. We are not alone.

The really frightening thing is due to media silence practically nobody has heard of this.

[Glitterknickaz]

Fabbychic were you aware they want to cut the number of claimants by 20%?

Which means that only 75.5% of genuine claimants will get DLA. Have you thought about what you will do if you are one of the 20% that don't manage to jump that hurdle? If the govt's private contracted doctor (with the govt agenda to cut claimants) deems you not eligible?

[FabbyChic]

I think it will get more publicity as the time for it to be implemented comes around, it is in it's early stages of changes. They have not yet been finalised it has to go through parliament first and be agreed to by X amount of members, so far as I am aware.

It will take two years to implement 2014.

[Glitterknickaz]

Nothing wrong with registering opposition at this point.

The consultation is terribly vague and the consultation period extremely short.

[MissQue]

RobF Sun 16-Jan-11 21:54:42
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.


It's not about failing medicals and being fit for work though. DLA is not means tested so you don't have to not work, on the contrary, a lot of people use their DLA to enable them to work, the mobility allowance means they can get to work, or have a wheelchair which enables them to get around. The care component means that they can get the support they need to be fit for work.

There are people who will never be able to work, but the more cuts that are made, the more disabled people will be excluded from work, not helped into it. Already they are having support taken from them which could mean them being able to work, education is being cut, meaning they may never be taught the skills they need, and basically putting them on the scrapheap. Medical and occupational therapy services are being cut, meaning that disabled people don't get the help they need to ensure they are in the best health they can be, meaning they are unable, or less able to work.

So it's not about people claiming DLA so they don't have to work (believe me, it's not that much money!), but gaining a relatively small amount of money to enable them to live a more full, productive and independent life.

[donkeyderby]

I am so frightened of the future as my severely disabled DS1 approaches adulthood, I actually had a cry on my DH's shoulder last night. What do we have to do to get the politician's to realise what they are doing? Set ourselves on fire in Parliament Square?

Along with DLA cuts and the Independing Living Fund being wound up here are other subtle changes that have gone unoticed by the majority, but that will impact on disabled people. For instance, changes the coalition have rushed through in Support for Mortgage Interest (SMI) and the Financial Services Authority (FSA), means that shared ownership is virtually unaffordable. We need alternatives to care homes if personalised budgets are going to be a reality, but there won't be if people can't access housing.

[Glitterknickaz]

My daughter has had her cardiac echocardiogram delayed by six months despite her condition appearing to have worsened. CUTS.

My daughter will have her Portage removed from Easter. This may mean she cannot go to mainstream school. CUTS.

My sons have had their Aiming High buddy scheme removed from April. Not only does this mean they'll lose the people they've befriended but we'll lose the respite we've only just got. CUTS.

Now we face losing money in our pocket. We may have to decide to heat or eat. Oh and did you know under the PIP if someone gets help provided to them by the authorities (ie if DS2 gets his much needed statement) they will reduce your money accordingly?

So enjoy your wheelchair, Mrs Brown, we'll have a fiver a week out of you for it.

Nice.

[MissQue]

So by that reckoning, dd will get nothing at all, being in residential school. Meaning that she will be virtually cut off from her family if she is to keep the excellent schooling and care she has at the moment

[daisy5678]

Yes, from the consultation document:

"We are also considering how we could share information from other assessments which disabled children undergo, for example to determine special educational needs, and whether or not we should take into account a child?s support needs if they are being met from public funds by another institution, such as a school."

Well, yes, my son does have full-time 1:1 at school. Because he needs it, due to his anxiety, violence and obsessions.

His DLA (high rate for both mobility and care components) pays for his specialist childcare which costs 5 times as much as normal childcare. He finishes school an hour before I finish work (but it's good for the economy for me to work, surely ) but can't access the after-school club as he attacks people and isn't safe (will run off etc.) without 1:1. So I pay for someone to pick him up and and bring him home. That's over half the DLA gone already.

Then the rest of the DLA pays for him to access things like clubs, that other kids can go to on their own, with 1:1 support. Vital for a child who needs to learn to socialise. It also pays to replace the numerous things that he smashes and destroys each week in a meltdown. Then it also pays towards the car that I wouldn't need if he wasn't autistic, as we'd be able to go on public transport without violent tantrums and obsessively pressing the emergency stop button on trains and buses. Also, the specialist sensory equipment he needs to help him calm down.

He costs so much more than an average child. It's not my fault. It's not his fault. And I guess it's not the state's fault. But he has the right to have his needs met, just like every child. His needs are greater so the expense is greater. If the DLA people just say 'oh, well he gets support at school', that's only a quarter of his day. The care I provide, if we're making it financial, is cheap, when compared to residential care. How dare they threaten the tiny amount (in comparison to the potential costs of resi care) of finance that we need to keep his life that little bit normal?

And how can anyone begrudge this support to children just because they also get support at school ?

[Glitterknickaz]

yeah, givemesleep, but you know.... it's not... 'sexy' is it?

The apathy just astounds me. Why on earth are some topics just that much more appealing for the media? Is wide spread poverty and isolation that bloody boring?

[StartingAfresh]

Because I think people are thinking simply

'thank fuck it's not me again'

[ILovedYou]

fecking yeah

let's join go to london

i WANT a demo of some kind about this
my son is disbaled

grr

[MissQue]

I just want to cry, the more I think about it. I'm desperately worried that I'm going to lose my daughter

[Glitterknickaz]

ILovedYou I would be up for that, definitely.

[kate1956]

there is action going on on 24th Jan

in Leeds

www.facebook.com/#!/event.php?eid=120797231323714

everywhere

www.facebook.com/#!/event.php?eid=173084439389460

scroll down on the info to see the various locations

[LDNmummy]

Cutting DLA isnt being covered because it would stir even more sentiment of outrage in the public, yet this time people would not accept the idea that the people protesting in this situation are yobs. Its actually much easier not to cover it at all then as most newspapers are controlled by the government who do not want to show thier truely criminal colours. I'm sorry for all the people it is going to really affect.

[Glitterknickaz]

You know.... I spoke at LENGTH to my MP before the election about my concerns in this direction. I got told several times that should David Cameron be prime minister then the disabled would ABSOLUTELY be protected as he knew all too well what it was like because of Ivan.

I didn't believe his assurances at the time. I didn't vote for him. But how LOVELY that he peddled that crap to me, eh?

This is Francis Maude, by the way.

[MissQue]

Camoron doesn't care, he's rich enough that Ivan never needed DLA or any sort of state funded care. He may sympathise as a parent, but as a capitalist tory cunt he doesn't care about anyone else.

[ILovedYou]

It is the CARERS that have to protest

come on

there are thousands of us

aren't we quiet enoguh about having to prove our chikldren are blind, mentally impaired etc enough when it is fecking obvious?

do we not have to battle enough for every single thing?

are we not sick to the back teeth of doing all the wotk opurselves for the professionals becasue one dept doesn't communcate with the other dept?
aren't we sick of shoddy service, schools et the attitude we musr be grateful for every thing we get?

the lack of money for extra care

we get a piddling amount each week yet if we say no we cannot look after our children etc o=anymore the cheapest care homke is 700 pounds aweek?


where is our voice?

why are rolling over yet again?

lets be proud

lets fight this

[MissQue]

Oh I will carry on fighting, I've done it for 14 years and I can't ever see a time when I'll be able to stop fighting for my dd. I don't roll over for anyone.

[MissQue]

I just wish someone, somewhere would give us a fucking bastard cunting BREAK

[Deciduousblonde]

Well, Tony Blair was/is a Capitalist C**t too. If anyone thinks our society is only capitalist due to the Tories then think on, I'm afraid.

I spent a while trying to get DLA for my daughter who was diagnosed with ADHD 2 years ago. It took 3 years to get a diagnosis, from Reception to Yr 2. She didn't get it, not even the lowest amount. Yet a 'friend' of mine has managed to get the higher rate DLA within 6 months of deciding to go for it, without a diagnosis!

The fraud rate might be low, but what about the people who are being denied DLA in the first place? I have been advised by my daughter's consultant to claim again..

To be honest I don't see these cuts happening. Like with Child Benefit (which Maggie tried, and failed, to get rid of) I believe the government won't be able to implement this. Maybe it's just wishful thinking though! in any case, it's political suicide.

[MissQue]

Oh I have no doubt that Blair was a capitalist too, but at least he and Brown didn't ride roughshod over the country like we've seen since this ridiculous coalition government came in.

Did you ask the DLA people to look at the claim again? They often refuse it first time as a matter of course, my dd is severely autistic and she was refused the first time, but awarded high rate when I asked them to look at it again.

I can only hope and pray that the cuts don't happen, that somewhere along the line they simply won't be able to justify it.

[Deciduousblonde]

I have been advised by someone 'in the know' to start a fresh claim with another caseworker. Apparently it often fixes things!

Even the lower rate would help us out a bit with DDs needs.

As for Blair/Brown & Cameron/Clegg..well, IMO they are all as bad as each other really. As a middle earner I'm shafted whoever is in Government :(