AIBU to be a tad [hmm] about my neighbours new car?

[DairyleaAndPickleOnAStick]

First off, this is absolutely NOT a benefits bashing thread.

I am probably BVU and this will show me up to be a nasty, mean spirited and bitter aul crone, BUT my neighbours just took delivery of a brand new car today- (think 3 letter, premium marque) - which they receive AFAIK through the motibility scheme. (Where I live this is very common practice.) Neither of them work and presumably receive benefits and HB. They definitely rent their house as we know the owner.

My DH and I were both high earning professionals before the recession hit and paid a very considerable sum for our own house, unfortunately we were both made redundant (within weeks of each other) several years ago and have fought tooth and nail to keep our home (both working very low paid unskilled jobs, taking in lodgers and DH moving away for a year to retrain.)

Obviously we are very fortunate to have been able to hold on to our home but it has been an incredibly tough few years- the pressures of redundancy, unemployment, and being on the breadline have taken a massive toll on our mental health, wellbeing and relationships- both with each other and family/friends.
My DH came home today soaked through after being out all afternoon in the pouring rain selling electricity door to door.

As I said upthread this is not a benefits bashing thread- I am fully aware that being on benefits is no picnic- DH and I spent 6 months on the dole and it was beyond grim, however AIBU to want to weep out of frustration seeing my neighbours new beemer parked in the driveway??

People see a new car get jealous and start to build a fantasy that you are fiddling the system. Especially if they can't see an actual wheelchair.

God help if people are saying this is going to get worse..

If anyone think sthat DLA is an easy allowance to claim, they are sorely mistaken.

I have uncontrolled epilepsy, fibromyalgia and rheumatoid arthritis. I used to get the highest rate of DLA and mobility allowance, which helped me to pay for carers to accompany me when I did my shopping in case I had a seizure and hurt myself, or got disorientated while I am post-ictal, as I have almost been run over on various occasions whilst in that state, by walking in the road without being aware of my surroundings.

When my claim was up for renewal, I went from being classed as severely disabled, to fit and healthy, according to ATOS. .

I wish they HAD made me fit and healthy. It's no fun taking 23+ tablets a day just to function at a basic level. I was misled by the DWP too, and only got a reconsideration rather than a proper appeal, and didn't have the strength at the time to fight their maladministration.

I have been without my DLA for two years now, and I am drowning in debt, I have had to stop wearing my Medicaid bracelet with essential medical information on it because I can't afford the cost of a new one updated with my current medications on it.

I have to pay £26 a week to get my shopping home by taxi, plus £48 a week bus fares to get my DC's to school. I'm quite sure running a car wouldn't cost me that much for 20 journeys a week of less than 2 miles...except I can't drive due to my disability, and I can no longer pay for a carer to assist me, or use the minibus laid on for that purpose because...the use of the minibus is dependent on receipt of the mobility component of DLA.

I can't afford a new kettle tipper that reducesthe risk of me pouring boiling water over myself if I have a seizure - my old one broke 18 months ago.

I can't afford new anti-suffocation pillows that cost £45 a pair, and are meant to be replaced every 6 months. I last had new ones 2 years and 3 months ago. This leaves me at a MUCH higher risk of SUDEP - Sudden Death in Epilepsy.

But yeah, of course, it's easy to claim DLA.

And do you know what - on a good day, I can look like a perfectly healthy 31 year old mum. On a bad day, I am immobile, can't hold a pen, can't type on a laptop, may not know my own address, may put myself at risk of being run over, may need to sleep for 21 hours in 24...

It's easy to think if you see me on a good day that I am trying to 'play the system'. However, on a bad day if you saw me at all, you would think that I have the mobility of a 90-odd year old.

The cars only make lives easier because people living with disabilities face so many more difficulties and challenges. It is one way of making life just a little easier. Who can really begrudge that?

Are you jealous of me, OP? That I'm not currently working, and am about to (hopefully) get my £650 a month DLA reinstated? Which might help me to pay some of the costs that having these disabilities incur?

Well, I could just as easily be jealous of the fact that you are fit enough and healthy enough to hold down a job. That you weren't medically retired twice by the age of 27. That holding a pen to write a short note is as easy for you on Monday as it is on Tuesday. That your DC's are fit and healthy (mine aren't, I could probably get a motability car for DS2 if it wasn't forthe fact that my OWN disability precludes me from driving). I could be jealous of the fact that your weekly shop doesn't leave you in so much pain that you are on codeine for at least two days afterwards, and you don't have to sleep for 21 hours just to recover.

I could be jealous of so many things about your life, OP, but I choose not to be, and to accept the hand that I have been dealt. Nine years ago, I had a lovely house (owned, not rented), a career, a very decent salary.

Now my life is totally different.

And I STILL don't begrudge anyone a motability vehicle.

What is ATOS i have seen it on a few threads I don't think we have it (is it a company) in scotland,

Disabled people come in all shapes and sizes just like 'regular' people I honestly think some people think that we should be lying in a bed somewhere unable to function,

and couthy that is just shit your benefit was reduced

Stopped not reduced did you appeal ?

Apologies if I'm wrong here, but surely if you are capable of driving a car then you are capable of working?

but surely if you are capable of driving a car then you are capable of working?

oh they could maybe get into taxi driving there we go jobs for the disabled and ill

And that has to do with what exactly?

:confused:

Is this a good time to point out that Motability is largely self financing

Oh wait my disability prevents me from driving I have hardly any co ordination and failed my test 4 times, oh well

Many people driving a Motability car will be working.

I am not sure what your point is?

Motability is largely self financing

again with this you are harping on now !

and erm disabled people do work and drive their cars to work sigh

ATOS is a French software company contracted by the DWP to provide the computerised questionnaire for disability benefit assessments (currently ESA, about to be extended to DLA/PIP). ATOS also has the DWP contract for "populating the database".

For this it hired nurses, physiotherapists and a smaller number of doctors (under 50%) to "populate the database", ie read out the questionnaire and tick boxes.

This is referred to as a "medical assessment".

The ticked boxes score points, which are then passed to a completely non-medical person at the DWP, who decides whether to award benefits based on the score.

This is rather different from the medical assessment that used to be carried out by actual doctors working for the DWP a few years ago. And is the source of the massive number of successful appeals (is it 40%?) against disability benefit decisions currently occurring.

I thought OP said the neighbours didn't work? If they work and are paying for their flash car from their own pocket, fair play to them.

Tbh if they drive I'd assume they work, afterall driving a car is much more physically demanding than many jobs, such as desk jobs.

DLA was introduced to level the playing field, to pay for the extra costs associated with a person's disability, regardless of their income. That is why it is not means tested, that is why working people can claim it.

Tbh if they drive I'd assume they work, afterall driving a car is much more physically demanding than many jobs, such as desk jobs.

you have no idea what you are talking about seriously not a clue ,

thanks for explaining ATOS I havn't had a medical in years I thought it was a company sounds horrible and unfair,

I'm still not understanding the link between working and motability cars.

Does the poster think only out of work people get motability :scratches head:

on of my disabled dc's has a scar on his head, when he was 4 a rock was thrown at his head by an adult who had issues with disabled people. he threw the rock whilst screaming "fuck off you fucking retarded spastic scum" this was after he had keyed my car and put dog poo over my seatS.

in his police interview he said "people like that cost decent tax payers a fortune" this was read out in court.

my child was on my own property as was my car (NOT MOTABILITY couldnt even be mistaken for it) he was a vile vile man whose actions directly caused my child to become less inderpendant than he was before the injury. and not even one of my dc's have ever recived anything from the tax payer. (thats soon to change due to a support package they need only being availible to those in recept of dla that cant be privatly funded) and i allready know they qualify.

its one of the reasons why i jump in on benefit bashing threads and explain the rules due to peoples misconceptions. its also the reason that im insanely jealious of anybody who has teenagers who are able to play in there own garden without being attacked and called vile names because they are less able.

i would give you my house and everything in it, if you could take that away.