to think that people who are well enough to volunteer stewarding at Festivals every single weekend are well enough to work?

[TalkinPeace]

Person has never worked due to MH and back pain - both of which are directly linked to morbid obesity.
Tells the MH people they are agarophobic, but seem OK in a field all weekend every weekend

and are thus getting into festivals for free when other people have to pay

the whole lot being funded by benefits.

The person is nice enough but if I put it on my FB feed they will see and realise I'm being judgy.
But am I being unreasonable to be annoyed?

Not saying anyone who is disabled can't camp!

But how is it good for a bad back,Festival style?

Mental health issues are complicated and I think you're presuming an awful lot to think that you're in a position to judge or assess what this person is capable of. You do not know the details of this person's state of mind; it's very unlikely that they will have shared things frankly with you, due to shame, wanting to have some privacy or the plain old fact that it's none of your business. YABU.

Vvega, people trot off to work in the House of Commons every day while claiming higher rate DLA.

Your "first hand experience of severe disability" doesn't seem to extend to the fact that DLA is an in-work benefit, intended to contribute to extra costs incurred by being disabled. It's not income-replacement.

I might have missed it, but it's not clear to me what benefit the OP's acquaintance is on. Sounds like ESA.

I've dipped in and out of the thread but not read it all because I found it so depressing.

Some thoughts.

1. You don't know the whole story about what this person is doing. You've seen some pictures on FB which will obviously be the bits said person wanted to remember. You might have missed the bit where said person had a panic attack and had to take two hours off stewarding in the middle of the day. You might have misunderstood and said person does two hours of stewarding over the course of the weekend as opposed to the 16 hours you seem to think. You might have missed the pictures of said person's carer standing next to them the whole time, because they need that support.

2. You don't know the whole story about this person's condition. It might be variable, it might have certain specific triggers (i.e. - when I was last off work with MH problems one of my big triggers was public transport, especially the tube. I thought the posters on the underground were telling me to jump under the trains and used to get very agitated about this. But if DH drove me somewhere like a nice camp site with lots of open sky around me, I was fine.) and it might be one that the person in question is actually trying to recover from by doing things like going out in short controlled bursts in what feels like low stress and positive environments. Again, when I was unwell, my psych actively encouraged me to get out and have fun if I could, as part of the recovery process. You're not meant to go from 'locked on a psych ward' to 'back in work and facing HR'. That's like going straight from the hospital with a broken leg to running a marathon.

3. There is a massive difference between not being able to work and not being able to leave the house. One can leave the house, while possibly hearing voices and sometimes having crazed panic attacks that require one to turn around and walk home without saying a word to people. One can leave the house and have fun, and then have a massively bad day the next day and be wiped out for the rest of the week. One can go to a festival, and take a risk on it, knowing that if you start gabbling nonsense at random other festival goers about your connection to the Green Gods, you've got a friend who will take you home and the random festival goers will probably forget about you, whereas work colleagues and clients may be less forgiving. It isn't as simple as 'can leave house for lunch, should be able to reliably do 8 hour working days, without excessive sickness, and efficiently perform the necessary tasks'. And I don't quite get how so many supposedly intelligent adults find that so hard to understand.

I have a very good camp mattress personally. More comfy and supportive than the one at home. No I don't get DLA or PIP.

'Festival style' camping only really applies to those in the main campsite. The staff/volunteer areas and accessible areas are more like 'regular' camping

Our mum doesn't even know the full extent of my brothers mental health issues. Because they are complex, very personal and because of the stigma most people rightly don't disclose them to many.
So how the fuck anyone can make a judgement call about someone on the internets friend on facebook I don't fucking know.

I have just read all OP's posts.

Nowhere does OP say the person can walk AT ALL. Never mind stand for hours.

It's possible that the benefit she gets is DLA mobility component, which would contribute to the cost of a scooter. We don't know.

It's also possible the person has no problem walking. That she gets no DLA. That what she gets is higher rate (Support Group) ESA, which is income-replacement, because she is unable to work full-time. Again, we don't know.

The OP doesn't seem to know enough to tell us...

Well, we dont know (do we?) that they are standing for hours. Volunteers are allowed to sit down.

A large chunk of pip is for personal care. So are they able to wash and feed themselves. Not relevant to them being at a festival where they arent seen washing and then eat ready prepped food.
Not one of my friends is aware that i cant wash myself.

I 'manage' my agoraphobia (sorry, its not about me is it) by not being alone at any time. Working with a constant, unchanging team mate might be enough for them to make this managable at a festival? Who knows.

(That was for IF they got pip, btw)

I doubt the organisers go to the expense of providing a bariatric camp bed for this person if such a thing even exists

Irresponsible of this person to wing it on a regular camp bed in an attempt to see a band they have listed as wanting to see.

owlborn yeah you might be right.

But OP might know more than you considering she is a friend of this person?

Talkin just ignore this person and block on FB. Realistically there isn't really anything you can do, so try and limit the annoyance.

And people do cheat the system. I believe they are a tiny minority, but that doesn't make it any more right or less annoying!

owlborn
The person does not have a carer - our many mutual friends have known them since they were a child. I've known them several years - real life, not just FB.
They are well enough to sign up months in advance for festival stewarding - and of course they work full shifts - its in the contract.

I am angry on behalf of people who cannot work who are being made to justify themselves, and yet this individual seems able to play the system year in any year out.

What's more, if they really have been "bumped up a rate" as OP says, then the DWP clearly has reassessed them.

pausing
I did not mention walking because its not the issue.
The person is fully able to walk, run to the pub, cycle, get on and off public transport.
They have no mobility specific issues.

But have a bad back?

yes - have a bad back - morbidly obese so all joints under horrific strain causing pain
if I remember right the ADs exacerbate the weight gain.

I honestly cant see how they could claim with agoraphobia alone and a nonspecific bad back. Whether they're on the fiddle or not, there must be more in their claim than that?

Esa and pip are bloody hard to get, and if they've been reassessed recently i dont think they could have dla? (Anyone here on it that can verify?)

Has it been pointed out already that many MH medications can cause significant weight gain?

The person can run? Never met a morbidly obese person who could do that!

No. If you were reassessed for DLA, you would be put on to PIP.

(Though I am thinking of super big people)

Morbidly obese does not mean super big. Yes some morbidly obese people can run. But this suggests that she is not absolutely massive.