Glad to see the anger on this thread. I think people need to understand about the government's attitude towards disabled people.
They (particularly Duncan Smith and Lord Freud) are proponents of the biopsychosocial model. This model does not have scientific backing, it's a load of bullshit.
It has been applied to people with M.E in the past (just google Sophia Mirza if you want to see the damage that has done) and is now going to be applied to all disabled people. These links explain a lot more ([[
meagenda.wordpress.com/2007/10/18/unum-chief-medical-officers-annual-report-2007/ here]] and particularly here)
Basically what the model says is that if you are ill/disabled, then having a positive attitude and going to work even when you are unwell will make you well. So even if you are dying of cancer, or bed bound with M.E, or in terrible pain with arthritis, it will all go away if you take yourself to work.
Of course, for some keeping busy helps. But some conditions get much, much worse if you are forced to do things you can't.
Just in case you don't have time to click on the links, I will write out one quote from the second article. This is what ATOS/the government think of people with M.E, a neurological illness with 4000 studies that show to be a physical condition, not a psychosomatic one (and soon this will be applied to all disabled people):
"Psychosocial factors?are at least as important as physical factors in the onset and maintenance of these conditions. Patients can make a number of ?secondary gains? with these unexplained illnesses, such as?turning a socially unacceptable disability into a more acceptable ?organic? disability caused by injury or disease beyond their control. They can blame their failures on the illness; elicit care, sympathy and concern from family and friends; avoid work or even sex; and there are financial rewards associated with disability."
Basically, if you're disabled, you're choosing to maintain your illness to avoid doing any work and get sympathy. Never mind the loss of your career/dreams/potential to have children/money.
I seriously feel like I've entered the Twilight zone with the Tories. They are utter, utter fascists.