To wonder why people care so much about refugees but not disabled people?

[elementofsurprise]

... I don't know where disabled refugees fit in...

... and why we can influence policy about refugees but not the cuts to disability benefits?

It just doesn't seem to add up. And, as a disabled person, it's frightening.

I suspect the government are happy to allow refugees in without bothering about providing for them, eg. house building, infrastructure, NHS and so on. From their POV it's just more competition for jobs, enabling further driving down of wages making their business chums happy, and increased demands on the NHS so they can say "it's not working" and have an excuse to privatise everything! Oh, and us disabled people are just lazy, look the refugees are (being exploited and) doing a 60hr week and happy to live ten to a room! Type thing.

In addition so many apparently left-wing people (usually men) seem to sacrifice one cause for another, eg. it's ok to laugh at/demonise/criticise uneducated or unintelligent people, or the unemployed, if it's in favour of immigrants/refugees. Or it suddenly doesn't matter about sexism if the sexist people are immigrants, in case it comes across as 'racist', whilst those people hold discrimatory views about half the population . Meanwhile every other 'ism' seems to trump the demonisation of the mentally ill, which is barely a cause, let alone with enough support to influnce policy so drastically!

The government are bastards imho, but it's the selective compassion of fellow left-wingers that is frightening and upsetting...

[To be clear on my position: I think we should help refugees but there needs to be some joined up-thinking past "let them in".]

elementofsurprise, I promise you you are in no danger of dying of thirst, starvation or exposure in the immediate future. Stop winging and have a little compassion for people who are REALLY in need

there was a massive mnet campaign albeit unofficial for getting help for parents of disabled children.

don't be one of those people who throw out the "look after our own" as an excuse to dismiss refugees.

i do totally agree with you on the point that the government are bastards. but then im one of those left wingers you appear to dislike so much

Not sure why you are lumping the disabled as 1 large group of people anyway. Do you honestly assume people care less because there is something new to care about ?

yes mn did a mn campaign for children.
agist and not about disability but additional needs.\and agestist as well

I'm somewhat ashamed to admit that this thread has left me less sympathetic towards some "disabled people" than I was.

my feelings exactly mythicalkings

I think most people who care about refugees also care about disabled people. That us certainly the case with my friends and family. Yes I have written to my MP about refugees and not about cuts to disability benefits but that is because I don't understand the technicalities of the benefit changes well enough to know what to write. However, as lefty person I will continue to vote for anti-austerity politicians, go to anti- austerity protests etc and one of the reasons I would do this is concern about the way disabled people are being treated.

helena, for the moment, the disability element of WTC is a qualifying benefit for the disability element itself.

It's called a continuing claim. Providing she meets the criteria of a) having an illness or disability that is treated by a medical professional b) that illness or disability prevents them working full time or puts them at a disadvantage in applying for a job and c) has claimed a qualifying benefit within the last 8 weeks, and that includes the disability element of WTC, then she will not lose her WTC.

Actually, ignore that. They seem to have added a section that says that if the only entitlement to WTC has been DLA and you lose it, then the continuing claim section doesn't apply. So unless she also claimed ESA or incapacity benefit shortly before starting work, then she will lose her WTC. Sneaky bastards.

fine don't have sympathy for disabled people. you most likely didn't give a shit in the first place

Yeah, based on the free money posts, im not convinced charis ever cared either. Though just for arguments sake...

Charis and mythical. You feel less empathy for disabled people because of this post because, why? The op has since said she didnt mean that support for disabled people in the uk was preferable to refugees, but when we thought she did mean that, plenty of disabled people told her we strongly disagreed. Why is her one misconstued OP influencing your opinion more than the many disabled people and carers disagreeing? Perhaps because you just want an excuse to air your shitty opinions?

because the OP is wingeing about how her own level of misery isn't taken seriously enough when compared to the level of misery being endured by people 100x worse off.

She needs to get over herself, and realise how incredibly lucky she is.

I said "some disabled people", iamabove, not all. Don't invent things I didn't say.

Yes, you are correct. You also put disabled people in quotes, suggesting doubt of authenticity. Which is it that you think is doubtful, "disabled" or "people"

charis you are being incredibly nasty and goady

No, the OP is being so totally self absorbed that it is hard to believe she is for real.

samco she always is a little stirer. best to ignore some poster.

No, I put it in quote marks because that's the term the OP used. I prefer the term "people with disabilities".

This government is frightening. IDS, a "devout Catholic" (yeah, right) has directly or indirectly caused the death of over 4,000 people with his benefit "reforms", and now an "assisted dying" (euthanasia) bill is before Parliament.

The problem is, IMNSHO, the right wing media. Putting huge glossy pics of the poor little boy who drowned on their front pages is far more newsworthy/sexy than the plight of ordinary British people with disabilities, struggling on in the wake of Government benefit slashing.

Yet they still slip in lots of scare stories about migrants milking the UK benefits system, just to ensure that their readers' xenophobia is kept at DEFCON 1.

People who truly care, and strive for what is right, do care about both groups of people. Just don't let the powers that be set vulnerable groups against one another in yet another divide et impera.

Charis. When your mental health is shit, you are not the most capable of seeing the positives in your situation. The op has said that her mh is not at its best at the moment, she is allowed to feel self pity about her situation and wonder why some people didnt care before, without being told to get over herself.

If your answer now is anything like "oh but people dying is not comparable" then you clearly dont understand.

what difference does that make iamabove? MH issues don't excuse that attitude at all. Why should it?

The point is that telling her to get over herself is a bit of a cuntish thing to say to someone who has said they struggle with their mental health

I think you answer your own question here . You are trying to compare refugees with nothing, to disabled people WHO HAVE BENEFITS but will be getting LESS BENEFITS (sic) - not NO benefits.
Many people will be getting no benefits.

You are saying someone who has nothing what so ever (sic) is comparable to someone who is living on benefits, but might be given less for free now than they have been used to.
Will somebody translate this incomprehensible sentence please. What is this less for free shit?

It's a trendy issue, that's all.

Frankly, I'm far more concerned about the people left behind in Syria than the mostly migrants (who could afford to come to Europe) at the moment. Especially when the majority seem to be men on their own - what about their children, wives, sisters, brothers and parents who have been abandoned?

Pressed post!

Anyway, sadly disabled people in general aren't a trendy issue. I'd also question where the £100 million is coming from because you can guarantee it won't be raised by extra revenue from the richest 10%. WRAG claimants have already lost £30 a week so they are on £72 weekly. Who will lose money next?