to think that disability affects you all?

[LadySybilDeChocolate]

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/a1380515-AIBU-about-the-government-lying-about-DLA#29486359 I'm talking about this thread. Your support is needed. Disability is an ongoing issue and the disabled are being bastardised at the moment. Children are having vital benefits cut, as are those who really need them. We all know someone who's disabled. By burying your head in the sand you're ignoring the needs of your relatives, your friends or your children.

I know plenty of people who have a disability. They range from my lovely nephew who is autistic to my mother who has Osteoperosis and heart failure. These cuts would affect my family. What about yours?

LadySybil you're right, it's an easy target to save a few quid; e've been demonised as probable scrounging fraudsters for years. Unlike bankers who are 'talent' needed by 'the country'

Maybe custard. It's likely that these changes will go ahead though. Have you heard of PIP?

Charities representing people with disabilities, their carers, children with disabilities etc have been trying to knot knickers for MONTHS but up until right now most media has had a blackout. There are chinks coming through in (of all places) the Daily Mail, the Guardian... there's a small article on the BBC website at long fucking last but that's small beer....

The Spartacus Report is a very good read.

This is the time to get knicker knotting. It's going through the Lords at the moment and this Government having been defeated in the Lords are looking to use some 17th Century law to just steamroller it through anyway....

Terrifying times.

MrsCustard you are correct. Being disabled doesn't, in itself mean you are unable to work. DLA is not intended to fund someone that is out of work though. It is there to cover the extra costs their disability will incur, so that whether working or not the money they have coming in is on a par with their able bodied counterparts.

Some do. Mine did. Occupational Health have, however, told me off for working full time BUT some employers are extremely aware of disability and very open to employing disabled people.

I would also go crazy if I didn't work which is why i'm not being overly enthusiastic about looking for a new job as I don't know how many other employers would be keen to take me on. It is a very real worry.

I think it's different for carers though, as the employer doesn't have a duty of care to the person/people you are caring for so it may well be harder to have the time off. It's difficult.

We are going insane through not working. Well.... depression. It's all mental health though.

Not being helped by the fact we're losing £200 a month from tax credits and we'll have to find a chunk of rent with the Housing Benefit reforms.

I've been trying to find the spartacus report and can't...has google blocked it? the earlier link didn't work.

I watched a really good programme on BBC2 with the guy with the funny eyes explaining how the government gets its money and the gist is they need to sting corporations more (and the Blairs) and get rid of all the red tape and loop holes so it's more transparent and harder to tax evade legally.

Glitter thats not on.

Would you be happy to work in the care field? Perhaps try and set up a charity/home to provide respite care? Or do you want to work to have a break?

Nope, I'm in a place that dreams of getting up to UK standards in some areas.

Many people who are in receipt of incapacity benefit are being placed onto job seekers allowance. These are people with ME who can't work because they are too exhausted, people with arthritis or other debilitating diseases. They are being forced to work because someone they have met for 20 minutes has decided they know better then a doctor who has known the patient for years and have decided that they are fit to work.

spartacus report

I do want to be a respite carer one day actually, but tbh at the moment dealing with three disabled children of my own is too much, hence why DH has to help.

Yes, a wheelchair user can get around. But I have difficulty gettig the wheelchair out of the house on my own. There are 2 shops within 100m of my house, but one is up too steep a hill to get up on my own and the other has steps to get in. I can't push a shopping trolley, carry much shopping or take my baby out by myself or get public transport. Or get to my GP, as the surgery is up a steep hill. So I can "move", but that's hardly the same as being independent...

BUT for some people, and I'm thinking those with depression and the like, getting active and working may very well be in their best interests and being signed off will not do anyone any favours.

Playing devils advocate there

MrsCustard - you are damned by your own evidence.
Yes you have a job at the moment, but it is so difficult to find an employer willing to take on a person with a disability that even if you are physically and mentally able to work, it is often still impossible.

NearlyMrsCustardsHardHat Sat 14-Jan-12 17:32:19
You can work when you're disabled you know. I really struggle with the notion that having a disability precludes you from employment.

yes some people can but a lot can't.
my dd will never be able to work and will need care for the rest of her life.
take away DLA from people like her and a lot of families will fall apart, adult or child will end up in residential home, costing thousands a week

It's not just the disability though, but the attitudes and inflexibility of many employers. It's not just a matter of putting a ramp up to the workplace. It's allowing for flexible working, allowing for time off for appointments, allowing for adaptions, for assisted technology, for understanding and suppport. To say just a small amount. Many employers decide not to bother.

Agreed.

Jobs are hard to come by for everyone though so perhaps the present climate isn't the best time to be jumping out of a steady job?

i WISH PEOPLE WOULE (OOPS) realise that disability is not a life choice, it will affect everyone at some time.

molepom under the DDA they are legally obliged to make those adaptations and refer you to the DWP/Access to work to come and do a workplace assessment to make your workplace, well, accessable. This can include desk adaptations right through to providing and paying for transport to get you to and from your place of work.

However that doesn't count in those people who, as a PP has pointed out, will NEVER work. And on that basis a 'one size fits all' will not work.

I think you are muddling up ESA and DLA MrsCustard.
And yes, working is in the interests of many people but hitting the disabled now? When most already live in poverty? And when we see headlines of 1300 people applying for 16 jobs at DFS in Landudno?
And what about disabled people who cannot work. The Govt is attacking them. They are removifng benefits from families who are Carers. They are attacking disabled children too who clearly cant work becuase they are chikdren.

Now really is not the best time to do it. Not with the economic climate as it is. The manner they are doing all the cuts is wrong, not just this.

You honestly think with millions unemployed an employer will choose someone who comes with all those requirements? The DDA has no teeth at all.

It's horrific. My mum used to work as an advice worker and run tribunals for people who had dla taken away ore their application removed, and it is sickening to see the discrimination people have against anyone with a disability. Many of her clients were reduced to tears as perfect strangers quizzed them about their health problems, or accused them of lying. Why should you have to go through such extensive proofs when disability allowances have the lowest rate of fraud of any benefit?

I'm worried for my mum who is now disabled herself, if she loses her payments she will have no quality of life and her health will suffer. I can't imagine how I would feel if my child's future was being compromised as a result of these cuts to dla- I feel for all of you parents who are carers.

My parents are both disabled. They both claim DLA. They are both entirely ignorant to anything political.

they have no idea of what these reforms will mean to them. And when i have tried to tell them they sor of shrug and say "well there's nothing we can do about it. if thats what they want then thats what they will do"

it frustrates me more than i could ever express.

But for each one of us here on these threads, on the blogs and in the newspapers. For each one of us doing our best to raise awareness and fight these reforms, there are many many more like my parents.

"molepom under the DDA they are legally obliged to make those adaptations and refer you to the DWP/Access to work to come and do a workplace assessment to make your workplace, well, accessable. This can include desk adaptations right through to providing and paying for transport to get you to and from your place of work. "

Why would any employer bother doing that when there are other candidate to choose from, even those with less exerience will be cheaper to train that it will to adhear to the DDA? Even more so in the current job climate?