To be taken aback this woman is getting DLA?

[lesley33]

Was talking at work with the receptionist about the changes to DLA and the move to PIP. I am worried about how this will negatively affect some people. However I was taken aback when the receptionist said that she would lose lower rate DLA which she got for depression.

I know she had depression a couple of years ago. But since then she has been in work every day and always seemed fine at work. I know people can be depressed and seem fine, but really if you can manage to work with depression then surely you shouldn't be getting DLA?

Just to say she is a very honest type of person and I am sure wouldn't have lied to get DLA. She hasn't been off sick. And what sticks in the throat a bit is I know there are other colleagues on low wages who have honestly struggled with mental health problems during this time such as anxiety and depression.

And I know you can work and get DLA. I just think if your disability is depression and you can work fine then you shouldn't get DLA. I am her manager so I know she has had no sick leave and there are no special measures in place to support her.

The OP is only verbalising what a lot of people think. They assume a lot about entitlement, whilst knowing very little about the conditions that these individuals have. Depression is very variable in it's manifestation - and as we have heard on this thread, is often used in place of other diagnosis because it is seen as more socially acceptable.

Some people (an increasing number, or so it seems to me) self-appoint themselves as benefits police. Yes we pay taxes, it's public money sure. But do they attend in the same way to other things that public money is spent on such as pointless wars, expensive reforms (e.g. nhs) and futile bail outs? I don't think so. Vulnerable people are an easy target.

As a CPN I work with a range of people who have MH problems. Some work, some will probably never return to work. Those who work will possibly have periods of ill health requiring time off work/loss of pay. DLA is not paid because of this but it will sure help when they find themselves in that situation. Additionally, some will work part-time because they can't cope with the stress of full-time work. They might need someone to help clean the house, cook or pay for psychological support. They also need to pay for their medication.

I think it is idealistic and impossible to think disabled people can or should have the same earnings prospects and quality of life, solely at the government's expense.

We all have our lot to bear and life isn't fair.

wow what a shit post, bloody hell

That comment from chandelina makes me very sad. Sad that there are people out there who are so totally devoid of compassion. Very sad indeed.

I don't understand why people cannot get the difference between being unemployed and being disabled! Benefits for being out of work are a completely different thing to DLA which is a support system to enable people with life changing and life limiting illness to make the most of life with their illness and it enables many to work. When I was on dialysis I got it and I didn't work but a lot of the dialysis patients did and it meant they could have facilities at work to store certain drugs and equipment and also use taxis etc. Some people wouldn't be able to get from a to b and work without it. It makes many lives easier and more tolerable. How could you begrudge this? And why can't people understand it?

they do not realise that they or some one in their family, or close to them. will most likely at some time end up disabled.
disability will affect everyone at some time, it isn't a life style choice.

This thread has went from sad to funny. What miserable lives some of you lead.

It's actually quite therapeutic. When I'm at my lowest I'm going to think back to this and say to myself "Well Pointyshoes, You make feel like shit but at least your not a total bastard"

Thanks.

You may feel like shit

Noddy - both DH and MIL were refused DLA for renal failure. DH was told that as the hospital carried out his hemodialysis that he didn't need any extra care (ha!).

MIL was told the opposite - that because she dialysed at home that she couldn't justify a carer when she was doing it all herself - she wasn't her DP was.

DLA is vastly unclaimed and has the lowest fraud rates. Honestly all those bitching about those horrid disabled people taking public money should have a good look at how much money is actually used for DLA and how much public funds are allocated elsewhere.

Plus, I have said this on countless threads - I'm currently saving the NHS in excess of £10000 a year by caring for my DS at home, with the assistance of DLA and Carers allowance. Do you want me to have this removed so you can pay even more to give him a lesser quality of life, while confined to a hospital?

The idiocy of the general public never ceases to amaze me.

chandellina Wow. I don't even know what to say to that.

It is not a lack of compassion, I have absolute compassion for anyone with a disability and their families. The reality is quality of life will suffer, how could it not? And how could it be made equal by the state?

oh do fuck right off
what is the point of you?
you give nothing

Please keep posting your views Chandellina - they make me realise that while I may be an awful benefit claimant that at least I am not wholly ignorant to the rest of the world.

Chandelina how the f do you know? I used it to pick ds up from school in a cab twice a week so that the trauma of seeing his mum virtually dead half the time may have been lessened by that shred of normality seeing me at the school! I was freezing cold 24/7 and our heating bills were astronomical and eventually we gave in and dp stopped work as we couldn't cope. You are so full of shit I think you are deliberately trying to rile for the sake of it.No it cannot be made equal by the state but sometimes just that acknowledgement that you need extra help just to live is a comfort.

I am just going to reiterate a point I made before. I pay a lot of tax and National insurance. Between £50,000 and £100,000 per year. I have paid this much tax for years and until the DLA claimed nothing ever. That's fine, I earn the money I should pay the tax.

My son received middle rate care dla. just over £2,500.

The taxpayers who are moaning about benefits which would you rather have my circa £75k going into the coffers, with £2,500 coming out (£72,500) or me reducing my hours and paying less tax so say I would end up paying about £60,000 of tax if I worked 4 days per week.

I work the difference out as about £12,500 per year

I carry on working as DLA pays for my son's extra care that he needs because of his disability. Because DLA is not means tested and is an in work benefit it enables more tax to be paid. I could of course pay for a lot more services I need for my son personally (and I do because I am very lucky) but to resent the fact that DLA is paid is really bizarre. The DLA won't give my son a level playing field, but it might stop it being quite so up hill.

I would rather the balance goes to Huny and the thousands like her, than anything to able bodied children who get the child benefit, as its only because of DLA that there is any hope for society to move forwards.

Oh and incidentally it took me 6 months to get DLA for my son who can't walk at all, struggles to breath, is on a cocktail of drugs and has a working diagnosis of cerebral palsy, chronic lung disease and hypermobility. I got it becuase he was entitled to it given his care needs, not because he was severely disabled.

It is awarded because you live a different life when you are chronically sick/disabled and there are costs involved in that.

"how could it be made equal" without a magic wand, it can't be made equal, putting people in an identical position to before/without the disability. But with reasonable adjustments (from employment/schooling/public services POV) the level field can be made closer to equal. Which for some would involve access ramps for wheelchairs, for others would involve financial help for heating needs due to their medical condition etc.

It's extraordinarily easy, I imagine, to accept an injustice that doesn't affect you or those close to you.

None of you know my situation so do try not to make it so personal. I just hope we all appreciate the benefits of the society we live in rather than feeling it's the least we deserve.

not make it personal, chandellina, not make it personal?! You have just spoken about people with disabilities as though we are some....some... breed apart or something?

Don't you dare tell me I should not have the same earnings prospects and quality of life as anyone else. Don't you dare.

The problems with an ever-expanding idea of "welfare" are apparent in this thread. I have a lot of problems with taxation and large government in general.

One poster said that if she had the money, she would happily give it away. OK, well that's your choice. If you wanted to and that money was not being taken from your wages by the government, why not give the money you don't want to a charity for the disabled or elderly? By CHOICE? Why have it taken from you as if you are evil and don't care, since you and plenty of other people apparently do care? But maybe when times are tight, you keep more for yourself so you can get by.

Surely most people would rather keep more of the money they earn to spend on their own families and their own concerns? Is that wrong?

If you were to break down welfare spending to a level where you directly see the way your money is spent, would you rather pay to put your own kids through University, or someone else's? Would you be happy to work a full-time job and see your taxes, and a colleagues taxes, go towards paying benefits for your neighbour who doesn't work and had two kids during this period of unemployment? While yourself, and many others, waited to have kids "until they could afford it" while money you earnt went to paying for people who just had kids because they were too stupid or too irresponsible or too selfish to wait until they could pay for their kids themselves?

If you've got anecdotes about disabled people needing money, I'm sure we've all got plenty about people receiving money for kids they had ON PURPOSE knowing they would get benefits to cover that. Or people receiving more in benefits than someone earns working full time.

The point of the welfare state was not to create a society that gives away more than it earns. That is the situation we face. Why? Because once people start giving away other people's money they don't stop until they run out. As I said before, would you give away more than you earn to charity? If not, why not? Would you even give away HALF of what you earn? A third?

How much DO you give to charity at the moment? The idea that the welfare state "keeps people in work" is bullshit. For one thing, we pay more out but have high unemployment, the highest rate of teenage pregnancy in Europe, and youth unemployment in particular is shockingly high.

Are you going to blame the banks and the rich for that? Or blame a system that acted as a life-support network for EVERYBODY who couldn't or wouldn't contribute?

do you know what ....i think it would be nice if people every once in a while said thank you

I'm on ESA at present and yes it is horrible and you have to jump through hoops to get

But when it comes it comes , and you can live off it

You are not going to have a wonderful summer holiday but you are being looked after

If you were in outer monglia you might just be left for dead

so what happens when you of your kids become disabled?

Being female means lower earnings. I'm not really saying anything controversial, just stating facts.

CreamolaFoamless who should we thank?
my dd is severely disabled, due to the NHS, should I thank them.
do you want me to thank the tax payer(thanks DH,DB,and all my family(

If I or my child became disabled I would expect my life to change irrevocably, and I would draw on all the support I could, from family and the state. But I would never expect to be "made good" on what I had lost. And I would be grateful to live in a society where there was any help at all.