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.

Porca- quite possibly to pay for counselling, my experience is that it is VERY ahrd toa ccess via NHS, certainly for sustained periods

Childcare so she can rest or even just attend counselling

A cleaner so she can cope with working with severe depression and her home

etc etc

BadTaste I hope for everyopne else's sake they do

pinko, I think you link is great. but who do you assume that cos I have a response to OPs situation (that goes against the grain) , I am ergo autonmatically prejudiced against EVERYONE with SN?

I am open to hearing why this lady needs money, but SN is a topic you cannt dicuss on here as if you dont agree with everyone you get your head bit off

OK, counselling. great. case closed then !

The thing that i wonder about with the OP is that you have some knowledge if how welfare works, inaccordance with the law, so you know, if you work in social care, that if benefits are not paid out the bill gets picked up elsewhere, but costs more, this is basic social policy stuff. So if you like the 'innocent' go without but the 'underclass' (not my opinion just to classify) will always be funded, through different means.

At the same time the OP should be respecting her interprofessional work training, with which you don't go out of your expertise, a doctor and health professional has signed that womans DLA form, so she is well entitled to it.

PORC- your question has been answered, we couldn't fund a one to one worker for every disabled person to say what they need,i use to do that as a SW when the Community Care Act came in, it nearly bankrupted the country. So the government chucks a bit of money at the disabled,enough to shut them up and hopes that they wil go away.

Read my posting (and others) about suport groups, travel expenses.

I have found a depressing number of friends/colleGues/ aquaintences think DLA is so easy to get & is loads of money.

They tell me this as they are shocked & surprised what I've had to go through to even get my claim together. It's hard! & I am an articulate person who is used to writing & analyzing & coordinating things.

I spent 4 mths writing & rewriting the sodding form, which is ridiculously long & detailed with 'trip hazards' all the way through it so you can easily write yourself out of a claim by using the wrong words/ examples.

I had help to type it/ write it due to my disability, & even so I made myself iller by the effort needed. I had to meet w my gp several times to work out what to say, & sync into what she was writing, give consultants & OT reports etc etc etc

the dla still contacted my gp to ask further questions, & I found myself genuinely thinking 'oh it's lucky ive become so much worse, the gp can update them that I've lost the use of my legs & am on morphine
ffs (legs will hopefully get working again a little bit with an op & months of effort btw)

All this because I have a rare genetic syndrome which has made me v disabled, needing round the clock care & leaving me totally immobile...

And you know what? I met the criteria for higher rate care & mobility, & was over the moon! The irony is that the dla in NO WAY covers the cost that it's criteria asks for... And then to hear over & over again about how easy it is to get money & how strangers seem to think they have a right to judge people as 'deserving' & 'undeserving'.

If someone saw me in the street (when I could walk on crutches), they would see a rather fat lady w a lovely well looked after toddler, hobbling along & relatively well dressed & smiley... (2hrs of carer help & cud only walk to end of road). So def not someone worthy of benefits!

No one sees the woman who is battling with an incurable syndrome, who cries in pain several times a day at least, who has to be flat in bed the majority of the day, who collapses after a trip out of the house, who is waiting for results of genetic testing to find out if she will merely be disabled & have an early death, or will die very very shortly...

No one sees that for a good reason! I don't want to depress myself even further, I don't want my identity to be a disease, not a person, & I certainly don't want to be landed with other peoples weird reactions to it all (facing their own mortality, & that the world isn't fair, & that yes, it can happen to anyone etc)

So I ask you... Please learn these small facts

1. People don't put their illnesses on display for you to judge
2. Looking ok in public is not a sign that you don't deserve help
3. The dla is bloody hard to get
4. The dla requires you to need more help than the money could ever buy, in order to get that money

And one for luck...

1. Disabled people arent a race apart, they aren't separate from you, they don't get to have different (less) human rights, diff (less) needs, diff (less) standard of life ... We are people JUST LIKE YOU ... An uncomfortable truth in many ways...

do people here understand that dla is not a means tested benefit and that it is in place for the extra's your disability may cause you?

Giving DLA to people who are working muddies the waters

Without DLA some people couldn't work you numpty.

Porc- just to clarify as well, MH conditions are not SN's and could be you tomorrow.

It's not helpful to flame the OP.

Lesley she probably claimed it perfectly validly and was lucky enough to have it awarded for a fairly lengthy period (instead of the jumping through hoops that we have to do every couple of years). If she doesn't require the extra help any longer then she should call them and cancel the claim. She may still need the help though there's no way you can tell.

There are folk who manage to claim DLA and not really need it. My friend's husband claims HR mobility. He's currently a window cleaner. Go figure. But they really are a minority and are often people who got lifetime awards years ago.

whatdryrot said , and.....

sorry doublelife

this is why I hate threads sometimes, as a genuine question around this woman could look like we are all shitting over you

my dad has had mobility issue since he was 35, now is 100% disabled. but he does not actually claim for DLA, maybew cos we are lucnky enough to not need it?

YABU

DLA is not an out of work benefit.

DLA has one of the lowest (if not the lowest?) rates of fraud.

DLA claimants are being made to reapply and many have had theirs removed or reduced.

No, Chandellina 'we' don't need to be judging who needs what. Are you an expert? I very much doubt it. The authorities need to make judgements and we need to trust them to do so, tis Bugger all to do with the Joe on the street. Dla fraud rate is tiny, they have been doing something right. Whether they continue to with the changes is open for discussion I feel.

DLA is not a benefit that is dependent on income or being in/out of work & depression is one of those horrible invisible disabilities where unless you are a spouse or close family member you are unlikely to see the full impact of the condition. It is intended to enable - and for most adults I've met on it, the goal is that it should help them to get/remain in work. Not many people want a lifetime at home when all's said and done, most people want to feel they are contributing something to society and the most common way to do that is to work. For all you know, if it weren't for the impact of her depression she could be your boss and making judgements about you!

One of my issues with the proposed new PIP is that the claimants hospital consultants etc will no longer be part of the assessment process - depression can and does kill, it's not an obvious disability like some but it's severity can vary to such a degree that it is best left up to the expert medical consultants to make judgements about.

Thanks dry rot. I know people who are disabled and I don't think get enough help. Certainly those who are more severely disabled get nowhere near enough help - and I do know some of them work. I am also disabled by the way with issues such as chronic pain - genetic condition, so I do understand disability.

I know she may genuinely have needed the help at some point and you are right shew as p0robably awarded it for a long time, but her condition may have improved.

For those despairing because I work in social care - I actually every day meet people who genuinely struggle. On first meeting some of the families we work with outsiders may castigate them for not cleaning their houses, not making decent meals, etc. But I do understand that many of the people I work with have few personal resources to cope with everyday life and this is usually beacuse of past abuse or severe childhood neglect. Some of the lives of the people I work with would make you weep. (Although there are also the psychopaths and nasty pieces of work in there - I am not naive).

And actually it makes me less empathic when I question whether people should get additional help - because so many people I meet struggle and get very little help at all. In fact my experience is that many of those who genuinely stru
ggle rarely have the personal resources to access the help there is never mind defraud the system. We often end up working with them because they have children and so they come to the autrhorities attention through school, hv, etc.

NinkyNonker - yes we as in we the people who elect our officials, who in turn set social policy and put in place and support the experts relied upon to carry out that policy. So yes we are all entitled to have an opinion and a say on where our taxes go.

My point is that all members of society require certain services that the majority deem important - health provision, education, waste management, etc.

There are then additional services and benefits that are not so universally required, and judgement must be made in their provision.

OP, I would suggest that if you are seeing people struggling through your work on a daily basis, that you are expecting to SEE her struggling, whereas because she is an employee there, perhaps she is loath to allow others to see her struggle. You don't know what goes on with her outside of work.

DH would rather walk on glass than let his coworkers see him fall apart. So when he is going through a particularly bad patch, he clings on to what's left of his control at work, then comes home and falls apart where he feels safe. It's a wretched way to live.

I'm sorry she doesn't look depressed enough for you. Maybe she should come in wailing and gnashing her teeth? Then you'd be happier?

You are NOT HER DOCTOR.

You aren't even her boss. You fibbed.

You need to STFU and accept that you do not know enough about this situation to start judging.

Get a fucking medical degree if you want to diagnose depression. Otherwise STFU.

''I know she may genuinely have needed the help at some point..''

How to you know she still doesn't need the help?

Those judgey pants must be giving you a massive wedgie.

OP, why do you find it so hard to accept that YOU DON'T KNOW THE FULL PICTURE. You see one facet of this woman's life, as a colleague. And as you have a job to do yourself, you don't see all of that - I presume you don't actually stalk her round the building Mon-Fri 9-5 to see if she's taking a time-out in the loo/car park/store cupboard/wherever to get her 'public' face back on straight, or having a less than brilliant day and just about holding it together by keeping her head down and withdrawing.

But what happens when she leaves the office and goes home, you just can't know, and you certainly can't judge - and as countless others have said more articulately than me on this thread, it could be the help she's getting in that unknown facet of her life which makes it possible for her to function at work.

It seems that the outcome you'd prefer is that this woman doesn't get DLA (because in your mind she's "not worthy") but that she continues to work. It's more likely the outcome of any withdrawal of her DLA would mean she becomes unable to work, which would probably send her into a further spiral of depression as she faced up to feelings of worthlessness, etc. But never mind, just think of the fun you could have starting threads about 'unemployed scroungers claiming jobseekers and housing benefit'.

I am sure several of my co-workers could have written this post. I do a stressful job because if I had to rely totally on benefots, I'd be a) even poorer than I am now and b) even more depressed. I take a great pride in my appearance and am full of energy (sometimes) at work- because I go to bed at 8 every night and am exhausted all weekends.
Unforch, my illness is all on the inside.

"It's more likely the outcome of any withdrawal of her DLA would mean she becomes unable to work

erm given that she works FT, and receives likely a minimum amount I cant envisage this somehow

anyway, lets stop thinking this is an afrront to everyone that genuinely needs DLA as its not