Benefits: Too Fat To Work. Fucking really???

[Mountainygirl]

I just spotted this in the TV guide. Channel 5 have obviously hit on the perfect formula- bring everyone's two favourite folk devils ('fat people' and 'benefit scroungers') together, for a brand new series, which I am sure will be a balanced and fair portrayal of these people's lives....

TV seems over run with this shit atm. Everyone goes on about how sexist/racist telly was in the 70s, but honestly, in years to come, people will be totally gobsmacked about how in 2015, it was almost universally OK to rip the absolute shit out of poor people.

Well, I had a banana for breakfast.
But someone with an unhealthy relationship with food, for whatever reason, could have eaten anything (cake, cold pizza...whatever...)
That was my point.
Rather obvious one too, I thought.

I have on occasion eaten cake, kebab, pizza... it's no wonder I piled the weight on. I do look back on those lovely mornings of stuffing my face

I suppose for someone who thinks "philanthropy" is a big word I might be considered to be using complex words and phrases . Ditto someone who doesn't believe that it's possible to read a 200pg book - it's hardly rocket science.

I'll assume you have nothing actually constructive to continue and are just feeling threatened that the adults are talking.

How many times do we have to repeat that no-one is saying we're under Nazi rule? Should I use smaller words?

The. Nazi. Regime. Was. Used. As. An. Example. Of. The. Success. Of. Propaganda. When. Used. To. Convert. National. Thinking.

That was all. It's an easily accessed example because it's something everyone has been taught in history classes. If I wanted an example of cartoon bloody rabbits, I'd mention Bugs Bunny.

No-one suggested we were in the shadow of genocide!

I am really struggling with the responses on this thread to be honest. Irrespective of tv directing/propaganda it was fairly obvious that Steve chose his situation and that has ended up with having someone come into his house twice a day to basically wipe his arse - if you didn't seE the programme there was a scene where a carer (probably on minimum wage) had to wash his backside whilst he bent over. And that's okay? There was a thread a couple of days ago where people where saying if they had the choice what home help would they have and most were modest and realistic but I never saw one post where someone wrote "I want someone to come in twice a day and wash me and more importantly my arse because I have absolutely no self control and can't do it myself". Fair enough defend benefits but this is out of control and if we keep pandering to this where will we be? Jesus Christ a 32 stone 18 year old :( :( something has to change

I really did pity Amy. I think it's important to draw a distinction here that while her size was obviously an obstacle in getting employment, she was not claiming DLA or ESA. She was on JSA, as was her mother.

I work in social care and some stories are certainly quite remarkable. For good and ill.

JSA does not equate to £1200 a month so you are wrong there goldfish

The 1200 was between Amy and her mother and included £400 housing benefit so £800 a month between them - about £400 a month.

Yes so not JSA...

I'm trying to work out how it's £1200 a month but can't get to that figure.

Yes so not JSA... you know plenty of working people get housing benefit? In fact someone will know the figures, but I think you will find it is mostly working people.

I only watched the first half, while doing something else, but didn't Steve have a stroke?!

AmI - the programme did a rather unpleasant job of portraying amy and her mum as claiming £1200 a month in cash which isn't the case.

They have £400 of that paid in housing benefit so between them £800. £400 each.

Then they will have received CTB for example, which like HB will have been taken directly from their benefits.

The actual amount will have amounted to JSA.

As for the man who needed the carer - as unsympathetic as I found him on a personal level, I want to point out here that care in this country is dire and not for the people working in it but because of money, pure and simple. I have known incontinent people who have three visits a day from carers but are left in adult sized nappies the rest of the time, in their own urine and shit.

If you have a carer visiting at 11 o clock and the next call is at 4 that's five hours to sit in waste, and that isn't one random event but is happening oh - to so many people you almost become immune.

I would be quite happy if they all were given NHS funded gastric bands if they wanted them. That young girl wants to work. She could do if she lost the weight but when it gets to her stage lets be honest it's so hard. She's only young its so sad.

I never got £400 a month from JSA so that's why I'm struggling adding it up.

Neither will amy.

How much did you get? In my head I have a figure around £70 but am of course willing to be corrected as this may have emerged from nowhere :)

Rachael seems like the odd one out on this. Ive known a lot of people bigger than her working. I think part of her problem is the job market is crap.

heygoldfish ive just watched the beginning part and Amy gets £240 a fortnight in disability benefits not JSA. Not that it matters, just letting you know

I think it is possible, even easy, to fixate on weight loss as the thing that will definitively change your life. I'm a size 14 just now which is bigger than I'd like (I'm not very tall.) Of course, my weight is hardly in the same league as the unfortunate people featured on the show but I have consciously booked a holiday for later in the year to give me a chance to shed some pounds!

I suspect rachel is doing something similar.

Thanks Grays :)

yeah I think that's the case with Rachael. I don't doubt that she may be discriminated against, but she obviously can work - she isn't too fat to work.

I think Rachael was lovely and would be definitely welcome in my office.

Sam had had a stroke but if his level of fitness wasn't great before the stroke then lack of mobility will have affected his weight and then his weight will have impacted on his recovery and led to disability.

Amy is very likely to become disabled soon, she already can't sleep flat or climb stairs easily. She is at high risk of diabetes and developing peripheral neuropathy which may lead to needing leg amputation.

Just jumping from the first page, after clicking on the Daily Fail article. It said:

"Almost 12,000 people received Disability Living Allowance last year because they have metabolic disease."

Then, ignoring the fact that metabolic disease is a very debilitating systemic illness - which will be why the sufferers got DLA in spite of the punishingly strict criteria applied to claimants - it went on to fat-shame, demonise fat people, and to provide totally irrelevant quotes from experts in completely different fields.

I am so angry, a whole page of >> these wouldn't cover it.

Oh I see she has disability benefit already. With someone in her circumstances unless changes are made. She will become very disabled at a very young age and need a lot of support in terms of care, equipment and adaptations to enable her to live at home. She may need rehousing soon anyway.

AmI, I'm kind of reeling from your idea that an incontinent person wanting help to clean himself up is wanting too much?