To let you all know that disabled are having their benefits cut

[AndNowItsSeven]

The DWP has today launched a consultation aimed at cutting the number of people eligible for the daily living component of personal independence payment (PIP) by up to 35%. The cuts will be aimed at claimants who qualify for PIP because of their use of aids and appliances and may include replacing awards with discretionary voucher payments.
The press release and consultation document published today claim that 35% of all daily living allowance awards are based solely on the claimant’s need to use aids and appliances.
This is flawed as
A)often disabled people require assistant, however Atos are only scoring then as needing an aid.
B) even if you disability needs listed in the pip form can be met by aids most people will have many other needs not mentioned on the form.
To suggest the only extra cost of being disabled for those claimants, is the cost of aids is absurd and insulting.
The consultation ends on 29 January 2016, conveniently over the Christmas New year Period.
Please if you can take the time to respond.

www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/484217/pip-consultation-on-aids-and-appliances.pdft

of course i understand about things it is different for everyone, i know certain disabilities dont get 'better' ie autism, downs syndrome etc...im talking about things like cfs, fibromyalgia, me, bad backs....there are many things that can be debilitating but are not lifetime disabilities ....unfortunately these things have all been lumped in together and are being treated and assessed as 'disabilities'.....there is no way that some one with downs syndrome should be treated and assessed in the same way as someone with a bad back...that is totally wrong....the system needs changing in that way

Fibromyalgia and me are life long disabilities
I don't know cfs is.

Bloody hell potato how ignorant.

CFS/ ME and fibro are lifelong disabilities. They may be fluctuations in health but the person is always disabled to some extent, except for a tiny, tiny proportion of people.

Disabilities have not been 'lumped in together'

There may*

Pota tell your blind friends they have cured autism, too. And many other conditions.

Maybe Cameron can pay back the DLA he sponged off the state despite being a millionaire, as I'd imagine his son's condition has also been cured by ATOS and the other companies who got the contracts to do this particularly vile bit of dirty work.

Potatoface the old system took full account of the variety of disabilities as each individual case was taken on its merits and full info would be given by the various (highly qualified highly experienced, not box ticking) professionals, who came into contact with that individual.

I used to volunteer for a charity that worked with families with kids with a certain condition and frequently took parents through the whole DLA process. Although all our kids had the same condition, it manifested in a real variety of ways and I can assure you, that some got higher rate, some middle, some lower. The old DLA system was calibrated as well as you could expect.

By messing about with how various appliances and aids are seen, they will be affecting people with no really sensitive response to any one individual's circumstances.

I an only conclude, we have a government that thinks "Sod the disabled - there aren't enough votes in this for us to give a toss."

potato that's exactly the attitude my council takes, and a lady at my church lost her daughter to ME and got zero help from the council - her daughter was on a ventilator for over a year before she died and yes her 'only' diagnosis was 'just ME'. I mention it to educate you in just how bad the condition can actually get. She had zero help from our council, same went for her lovely mum who cared for her. Before anyone asks she was appealing the removal of ESA and PIP when she died - because they insisted on her travelling to a centre and she was too ill.

So no one living in my county with ME, CFS or Fibromalygia are allowed any services - by that I mean any kind of assessment whether for adaptions, for a carer, bus pass or blue badge. If someone has arthritis then they are refused assessment before joint replacement and before a year of rehabilitation physiotherapy is undertaken (which is impossible on the nhs where I am its limited to six sessions) unless there is a valid medical reason for not having joints replaced.

Neither will they for any learning disabilities without MRI /CT scan proving the brain didn't develop beyond the age of 7!! DLA/ESA etc for these conditions unless direct passport to bus pass blue badge are ignored - so these proposals to remove passported benefits would mean those with these conditions (there are others excluded as well) would have no services in my area.

I can see the DWP becoming just as harsh, these proposals are the beginning. They are determined to save money by reducing eligibility. But in reality all they are doing is wasting more and more.

It makes me really

I truly believe the system is a total mess.
while there are so many desperate and deserving cases of all ages, please explain this.

• someone I know has a friend who he has known for decades.
  *this person had one massive vice.

• eating!eating, eating.

From being an average height and weight, this person has ballooned to 26 (yes) 26 stone over at least 40 years.
Consequently this person can barely walk now, yet continues to eat everything ,day and night.
Nothing is out of bounds.

So now, there is the disability car/benefits as unable to work for the last 20 years, simply because the friend is too fat, yes, I will say it....too fat....

20+ years of eating, but getting rewarded for it financially, yet the dreadful illnesses , just unlucky, are penalised.
truly disgraceful

.

Funny old for someone to eat so much that it affects their physically health to that extent they would have serious mental health concerns.
You are right it is a disgrace that they were not given better medical care.

20+ years of eating, but getting rewarded for it financially, yet the dreadful illnesses , just unlucky, are penalised.
truly disgraceful
You know this woman do you? You are 100% sure that she is nothing more than a glutton? She eats, if she eats and eats, even at 26 stone, chances are she has an eating disorder, but of course it's so much easier to say 'she's just greedy' isn't it.

Potato Nobody, but nobody gets DLA/PiP for a bad back. I strongly suggest educating yourself a touch before trying to join the discussion.

If you have a condition such as asthma you are often given corticosteroids. These increase appetite massively and people can eat and eat......hence the obesity and disability. Not so straightforward and certainly no ones fault!

I'm taking corticosteroids and though my appetite has increased and ive eaten more (not massively) my body is severely bloated due to water retention and an illness that has been caused by taking them (and won't go away when they are stopped). Ive been told I can never have them again and am going through a very long withdrawal process. And they never fixed what I was prescribed them for!

There are psychiatric medications that can severely effect appitite as well.

The point being you aren't this person. You don't know their medical history.

Even if it is 'just' eating I wonder Would you feel the same way about someone with anorexia who is physically ill with physical symptoms due to 'just' not eating and then 'financially rewarded'?

The trouble is the misinformation the DWP put out. They have said x number get these benfits for 'bad backs' or 'obesity'.

"So no one living in my county with ME, CFS or Fibromalygia are allowed any services - by that I mean any kind of assessment whether for adaptions"

Um, this is illegal. Anyone has the right to request a social care assessment. I've never heard of them being declined the assessment.

Well, not meeting the criteria is a different matter but it's false to say people aren't entitled to assessments. As a disabled person who works with disabled people, I really support the cause but sticking to facts is very important.

Did they ask you questions over the phone? That is how initial eligibility is assessed, most people don't realise.

thelouise then with respect you don't live/work in my county.

The paperwork to request an assessment is very clear and what I put above is part of it. Just to clarify I am stating the facts for where I live and no I won't say which county because I don't want to out myself. Sadly I don't live in your county.

Without legal help, which is very expensive, there is nothing you can do. No free legal services where I live, CAB and similar shut sometime ago. Complaining gets you nowhere.

I wasn't assessed over the phone I was sent a form to fill in and on it is a list of 'excluded' conditions.

Becca You've contradicted yourself; you are offered an initial assessment in your LA. All I was saying is that anyone is entitled to request an assessment, not that you will be offered services or even that you would get past the 'front door' of the assessment process.

I don't think I'm explaining properly, or I'm misunderstanding. Either way sorry.

A disabled person/other appropriate person telephones to request assessment and a form is then sent for them to fill out to request formal assessment for services. There are no other questions on the telephone. Literally they ask name and address. The form notes then have the conditions above on it and clearly says they are not covered as part of the assessment process.

Or is asking for a form considered an initial assessment? Maybe legally it is and that's the point you are making, in which case, yes I contradicted myself as I thought asking for a form wasn't part of the process as they don't ask anything about conditions or needs.

Becky in my LA you cannot request a child in need assessment for a disabled child if they have Aspergers. I can well believe what you are saying.

petition.parliament.uk/petitions/115924
Link to petition against pip aids cuts.

Yes the description is a bit rubbish, it's the only one I could find though.