To get annoyed that other posters assume disabled can't work

[lesley33]

I know its hard to get an employer to take on someone who is disabled. But I hate the assumption by some posters that because someone is disabled they won't be able to work. I know loads of people with severe disabilities who are employed including people who are deaf, paraplegic, bipolar or have severe cerebal palsy. People with severe disabilities can work and there are some employers who will employ people.

peachy that's awful about your DH.

I've never read so many excuses for not being able to work as I've read on here.

YANBU.

end of day no two disabled people are going to be exactly alike .So a one size fits all just will not work

It used to be that larger companies had to take on a % of disabled people, does that not still stand? Sadly I believe Remploy is trimming down, they do some amazing stuff with allowing disabled people to work

wish people would remember if you knwo one person who is disabled .Well you know just one person not how anyone else is affected and unless you know that person very very well .T

theres probably a whole lot of stuff that they do not share with you

Whatmeworry no that system was abolished at the time the DDA came into force because that meant that companies could no longer discriminate.

Agree with those pp who say you can't lump all disabilities into a mass as in 'people with disabilities'. They are far too wide ranging. Of course some people with disabilities can work, and some cannot, and there are many who can but for whatever reason cannot find a job or hold down a job.

The danger comes when those who genuinely cannot work get hounded, told they are scroungers, scum etc, and various other Daily Fail-esque delightful terms and descriptions.

Now I've had chronic illness all my life. I got a good degree and worked (taught) for years. The illness progressed. I had to stop. So I went part time. Had to stop that. So I went very part time (a day a week) had to stop that. So there at that point I saw I could no longer do the job I trained in. Since then I've done admin and voluntary work and work alongside dh in his job but don't get paid. Does that mean I'm a lazy scrounger? I've applied for some admin jobs. Never get seen. My problem is I am incredibly unreliable. I am articulate, have a work ethic and will do a good job for you one day. The next - in bed, can't move, can't speak. That could go on for weeks. Then weeks of recovering where there are bad and not so bad days. Then the cycle again.

So it's not so much can't work for me,. I'd give my eye teeth to work, I really would. But I'm bloody stuck, and I suspect thousands of people in my kind of position feel the same, ie feel able to give something but let down by their body in whatever way.

Going to go befroe I cry

Quite MadHairday.

DS3 doesn't fit ATOS criteria; it isn;t sensitive enough to pick him up. But I bet we will soon hear in the press about many people with a disability who do scrape ATOS but could work.

And then of course a lot of disability benefit is paid to people who use it to be able to work. Certainly most of ds1's DLA is used to enable him to develop work skills now as he hits his teens, yet so many consider it an out of work benefit.

Sansa- would you like to give some examples? rather hard to debate vague accusations, and if we did on MN it is traditional to simply answer 'didn't mean YOU just . If it's ANY 'excuse' you dislike then is a site with a strong SN / carer section for you? I mean that seriously not in a PA way: amazed how many people are questioning the presence of the MN SN contingent atm- er yes, MN has a Sn section, go figure!

Actually no, hold that for another thread as I have to have all of us packed to go to my Mum's for 2 days by 3.15 and haven't started!

Have a good weekend all.

Like what sansa ?

Yes Peachy, it's always been a good thing about DLA that it is meant to support those who are able to work, which is one reason why the new PiP or wtf it's called now and the whole ATOS getting people off benefits thing will rip apart so many lives - people will lose DLA, lose mobility cars and lose work. But you know all the old arguments, no point dredging over all that again.

ATOS criteria is terrifying actually, I saw an ESA form and couldn't believe the detail (can you pick up a pint, can you go up a step, that kind of stuff) - and you have to score a certain amount on each one.

Have a good weekend yourself :)

Yes I'd like to hear more as well Sansa. What excuses would they be then?

Dammit we should have a sticky.

DLA is NOT an out of work benefit
Mobility cars are not free
ASD/ADHD etc are not made up and dont get dx at the drop of hat
Some disabilities are invisable
Disablity fraud is the lowest of all the benefits
The are fixed rates of benefit for people with disabilities so tales of people getting several thousand pounds per week because they have a DC with a limp are NEVER true.

Feel free to add your own.

"I've never read so many excuses for not being able to work as I've read on here.

YANBU."

wtf who let the trolls out?

I am still waiting for a list.

I actually think people who come across as odd in their behaviour, whether disabled or not, can find it more difficult to get and keep work than more severely physically disabled people.

I am not trying to say all disabled people should work, many can't. But I honestly believe that the general population underestimate the abilities of many disabled people. As I said before if people had been asked before David Blunkett if a blind man could be a minister, I think most people would have said no and listed the problems he would have doing his job.

peachy - from what you posted it certainly doesn't sound as if your DS can work. But if someone is capable of managing it, incontinence alone is not a barrier to work. A few years ago I was virtuallly incontinent and wearing adult nappies and still working. Honestly, it doesn't smell as long as you change frequently enough.

Who was that minister who defended the removal of a man with a MND having his benefits removed with 'Steven Hawkings has done very well for himself'

Because there are LOADS of openings for geniuses with degenerative neurological disorders

Oh come on! Why do you always have to go to the extreme argument! Nobody on this thread has said anything like that.

lesley33 but who will change the pad?
and do you mean ODD or odd?

You are the one banging on about a blind MP ffs.

Hardly representative of the work on offer for most people with visual impairment.

Its not just about the disability. Disability is one factor influencing the person's ability to work.

Education
Family structure
Support networks
Language
Location
Money
Age
Type of disability and age when dx (Mr Blunkett has always been blind AFAIK - VERY different from someone who goes blind in later life)
Qualifications

etc etc etc etc etc etc etc.............

I mean odd as in strange - not necessarily disabled. Social skills, unless you are a genius, are crucial for lots of jobs. And I clearly said incontinence is not a barrier to work if someone can manage it themselves. I changed my own pad, had spare clothes in case of accident, etc. And I only had access to ordinary toilets.

You see it is blanket statements and assumptions that annoy me. Okay your DS and others can't work. But to imply that being incontinent means that you can't automatically work is wrong as I know from my own experience.

I understand that how you come across comes from a place of wanting to defend your son. But in some ways, it does disabled people like me no favours. Many disabled people can do more than the general population give them credit for. And lots of people who are working may seem "normal" but are struggling with disabilities or serious health problems.

are you talking to me? sorry I have never mentioned my son.

also my dd isn't incontinent,
but a lot of disabled people are. and as fo doing you no favours, you started this thread, not me

Of course disability is one factor that influences people and work - but that is the same as the general population.

And my comment about David Blunkett was about the negative views most people have about the abilities of disabled people. I am not being stupid enough to suggest that all blind people become MPs or Ministers! But I think you know that.

I am wondering what this thread is really about if you want me to be honest.

All these disabled doing you no favours.

Its all a bit short of fact and high on bollocks.

ive never ever seen even a suggestion that people with a disabilty dont work on mn the whole time ive been here.
where op?
if it is being said on a thread have you confronted the poster?

seven - peachy has a disabled son