Also, I wonder how much difference it would make to families if DLA was means tested? Not as in you have to be on a certain income to get it but if, say you had a child that had physical therapy needs, or severe medical needs etc, it's reasonable to think that you would have more costs than, say, a child like my ds who has severe mental disabilities but is physically healthy?
I mean, I know that's what the high rate/low rate is for but my son receives high rate due to his mental disabilities yet I can imagine if he has physical problems as well the DLA would cover even less of his extra costs - maybe you could produce an rough breakdown of costs incurred by the person claiming's disabilities (respite, childcare, equipment, transport etc) and it could be adjusted accordingly? What do you think?
It seems unfair to me, and I think this is one of the reasons of starting this thread, that people who have been unfortunate enough to have a disability or who have to care for someone who does, are often not able to enjoy the same standard of living that people who don't have that challenge, not because they can't be bothered to work for what they want but because they physically can't do it for one reason or another?
I'll use the holiday example as I can't think of a better one right now :D me and my boys have never been on a family holiday, partly because I can't afford it and partly because I couldn't do a lot of the things you might do on holiday without a second person to help (swimming etc) - it seems unfair that my sons will have to miss out of stuff like that because I can't go to work because of ds's disability.
And it extends to lots of things, days out, hobbies, living in the property/area you want etc. If I was in a situation with 2 nt children and I couldn't afford these things I could get a job or work more hours but in my current situation I can't and I hate that my boys have to miss out because of it :(
I'm not suggesting that people with disabilities/carers should just get handouts to help them live in the lap of luxury but is it unreasonable to feel annoyed that the majority of disabled people/carers are put in a situation where they can only afford the basics in life, to scrape by knowing that they are only one stopped benefit away from being able to eat or pay their rent?
I guess what I'd love to see more than anything was the government facilitating those with disabilities/carers in being able to work and support themselves, taking into consideration all those things that we have to when looking for work rather than just stopping benefits as an 'incentive' to go back to work, which doesn't help at all if the reason you're not working in the first place is because you can't get childcare :/