To Think the Tories Are Actually At War With Disabled People?

[JoffreyBaratheon]

I've been mired in the grim process of my son's DLA being changed to the new benefit, PIP. During this time, I have heard the stories of other disabled people and their loved ones. This may make me biased. Or human.

On every forum I have been on for help, can see that thousand of other disabled people, their carers, appointees and loved ones are being pretty well tortured by the vicious cuts and the new, brutal system being forced into place.

Benefits advisers and people at charities in the front line trying to support people like us also seem to report they feel like the disabled are under attack.

Now I will never understand why the most disadvantaged people in society are being forced to pay for the mistakes of bankers and rich people. Losing DLA will be a blow to our family - most of all my son but all of us - we won't recover from. To multi millionaires like Campbell, no doubt it's back pocket change so they are incapable of understanding what they are doing to ordinary people.

The past few months going through this hell, I've often felt like we might as well cut to the chase, sew the lack triangle on our clothes, and wait for the work camp to open. And I don't say that lightly, as someone whose grandad was present during the liberation of Belsen. (Wasn't it another tory - Gove - who said historians got it wrong and the British were donkeys led by lions, or words to that effect - so we know the contempt in which we are held by these chinless wonders already).

AIBU to think that people like Cameron and IDS are targeting disabled people and their carers, specifically?

needs I know you need permission to record, that's why I didn't record my first one. However when I reapply, I will be prepared for that, and I think that due to the difficulties I described in my application form, being allowed to record the meeting should fall under 'reasonable adjustment'.

two I think that was the issue with me, I am not currently under mental health treatment- I was but you are only allowed a limited number of CBT appointments, my psychiatrist diagnosed me but referred me back to my GP for ongoing care, my GP says there are no NHS services for autistic adults, and the charities I have researched are focused more on adults who need ongoing care (so day services, respite care, self care skills lessons. That sort of thing), so I am on the waiting list for talking therapies (again).

I've just been discharged with a "sorry youre broken, but theres nothing we can do" from the cardiologist. I'm terrified that (although officially they arent supposed to) they will see the discharge and think i'm fine.

I'm also having similar problems with asd crohn, i've been sent to mindfullness for now (which is stupid and wishy-washy) but after that i'm on my own :(

Thank you to whoever it was that pointed out about the written report btw, dh is on the phone now to request mine :) ..... They said "normal prcedure is to request it following the result" meh.
Paperwork is now with the dwp so should know in approx four weeks.

From last year and I think ATOS lost the contract since, but just to show I wasn't alone in that experience, this makes interesting reading:

www.disabilitynewsservice.com/new-claims-of-atos-assessment-lies-are-tip-of-a-massive-iceberg/

Cognitive tests? I wouldn't want them adminstered by these people, tbh. I did a Masters degree in Education, specialising in linguistics/language acquisition, and as part of that did a course in standardised tests and assessments - including cognitive ability. Knowing what I know about this, it now occurs to me what value what even a 'good' (and that's debateable) standardised test do if administered by someone without a postgrad education, and who'd spent 3 weeks learning the entire job. You'd need more than 3 months on that aspect alone. And presumably the course assessors do is nowhere close to postgrad level. The more I think about this, the more horrifying it gets.

My son got his original DLA because top end consultants who knew him (and had run standardised tests on him) gave their considered opinions. In fact it was a consultant who told me about DLA. She is one of the foremost experts in her field. I know - I booked her to speak at a national conference and saw her list of publications etc.

Are they saying a random OT/physio/nurse who's done a three week course knows more than a consultant? The one my other son had in York was an actual doctor - and yet couldn't fill in a form accurately.

I wish he had complained, now. It was his decision not to but if he'd been unemployed he'd have had no choice but to pursue it. How many other people just gave up in despair? I guess that is what they're aiming at.

The Tories basically only want very very severely disabled people to get any help

a complete and utter LIE. NOBODYS exempt from their contempt and apathy.

^As a disabled person current dealing with the most incompetent and dishonest organisation I have ever had to deal with, the DWP, the only only conclusion I can come to is that there is a deliberate and systematic attempt to cease supporting disabled people, deny the truth of disability, and treat them (us) as less than equal citizens. The processes are designed to frustrate and deter.

It's Dickensian. It's evil.

And I am not a dramatic person, it's just what I am experiencing, and hear daily tales of others feeling the same.

It's as if the DWP believes disability is self inflicted, not their problem and we are all just lazy and need to try harder.

Quite simply, Fuck the DWP and IDS. He's a bastard^

^^ this, TOTALLY.

I'm seeing people online who had lowest rate on either side suddenly getting their's upped and people who had the highest rates for years getting nothing or lowest.

Call me cynical but I'm thinking this is being done so they can say "Look at the % of people getting higher than they were before!" then: "Look at all the poeple who must have been scrounging under the old system, as now we've re-visited their claims, they're clearly swinging the lead!"

Just seeing it reported over and over - people with surprisingly minor problems suddenly getting the highest rate, and people with severe disabilities getting nothing or standard.

I forgot to add but also another observation... people who have never claimed before and are claiming PIP for the first time, seem to be doing better under the system than people who have had highest rate DLA for years. Again, presumably for the spin?

The inconsistency is part of the incompetence.

joffrey or that the people claiming dla were granted a far too generous amount. You can look at it both ways.

DLA could never be d scribed as generous!!!!!

Bloody hell, that made me cross.

Some facts.

On DLA , blind people are not considered to have mobility difficulty.
Try putting a blindfold on and see how mobile you are.
So DLA certainly not generous.
On PIP, visual impairments are considered in mobility but not personal care.
Try performing daily living tasks with a blindfold on.
DLA was shit. Pip is shit.
No generous about it.

Still spluttering here. People actually think disability benefits are too GENEROUS????or are awarded too generously.
Fucking hell.
Do you know how hard they are to get?
Fucking hell.

Need to step away from MN for a while to calm down!

They're going to make it harder to qualify for PIP. I could honestly cry.

Looking at that objectively I can see what they're trying to do there. As it stands someone who needs a one off bit of kit that the local authority or NHS provides and then no further costs incurred would arguably have less needs than someone who needs regular hospital appointments (thus incurring crazy parking charges) but as it stands applicant 1 is more likely to be awarded pip than applicant 2

The problem is, unless you are directly affected by disability, people generally don't care that disability benefits are being cut. It doesn't affect them. They hear a tale about a neighbour with a bad back on benefits and going on skiing holidays and think "I don't want public money being wasted".
And vote these evil bastards in. And don't admit to voting Tory. It's your friends and family voting for them.
Last year, when I realised they got in, I was disgusted with Britain.
And again, I'm not a dramatic person. I'm pretty level headed.
People of Britain are allowing disabled people to bear the brunt of cuts and don't care. Which is why IDS et al are getting away with it.

caughtUp Odfod
The need for aids is continuous, not one off.
Disabilities are frequently degenerative, progressive, changing. Disabilities are not cured by aids. For example, I wear hearing aids. Doesn't stop me being deaf.
Grow up.

The NHS nor the LA have provided my aids or adaptations. They have recommended what I need and I've had to buy my own. They don't last forever, so when they need replacing or I need a different one where am I meant to get the money from?

This is not about making things "fairer" this is about reducing the amount of people claiming PIP for ideological reasons. It's as simple as that.

The need for aids is continuous but the costs are, generally, few and far between. You'll arguably only need one bathboard, one rail on your bed, one starlift... Therapy and treatment and support will be a continual cost. I'm not saying one disability is worse than another just the costs incurred are different.

Hearing aids and batteries and tubes are all provided free of charge by the NHS

fairy if you've had something major put in then you should have been able to apply for a disabled facilities grant

Stairlifts need servicing and maintaining. That's not free.

Just because you've been provided with a bath board doesn't mean you won't need something else down the line. I needed an OT appointment, it was an 8 week wait. It was safer for me to buy my own aids. Now I won't have the choice but to wait those 8 weeks in a dangerous situation will I? Thousands of others will be in the same boat.

These prats would crow about giving rich people a tax cut, as well as pushing disabled people further into poverty.

It's all dogma.

There's a bloke in the news today who hasn't qualified for PIP. He has one leg. His Motabilty car has to go back.

I wish I could say I'm surprised but I'm not.

Oh are they *Caughtup'
Yes I am aware of that funnily enough
Similarly bath boards and do are provided free by rehab
I was illustrating how aids don't cure and don't meet all needs.
Somehow I don't think you get it, do you?
Disability affects every aspect of my life 24hrs a day.
It's not possible for me to manage with just aids and adaptations
But I can see that there's no explaining to you. Everything is fixable and justify able to you.
Meanwhile, back in the real world...

candy there's no having a discussion with people like you. I do get it. I also get resources are only finite. I also get why they are making these cuts and also get why they feel people who "only" need a few aids to support them shouldnt automatically get PIP over and above someone who incurs regular costs for therapies. I'm not attacking you as an individual yet you see fit to get het up at me because I dare to see, not necessarily hold, a different view point to your own.

caughtup there are other places from which they could cut the budget. It has been clearly demonstrated by charities, religious bodies and universities that disabled people have been unfairly targeted.

Oh and the percentage of overturned decisions is surely an indicator that the system as it stands is malfunctioning.