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?

zzzzz

[https://www.benefitsandwork.co.uk/news/3154-well-below-half-of-all-pip-claims-are-successful-as-award-rates-continue-to-fall Here is some info]]

zzzz someone mentioned up thread that 60% of reconsiderations/appeals are successful. Bearing a reconsideration involves someone else looking at the same evidence, that means a lot of people are turned down just because they were unlucky with which person reviewed their case.

We are under attack, and most of us are utterly fucked tbh.

I've ranted about this process before. It is an attack on disabled people. My friend has narcolepsy. She hits the deck numerous times a day. Sometimes she knows the trigger, sometimes she doesn't. She got no points when she applied (and that was with the help of a welfare rights person). It seemed like every piece of evidence she sent was ignored in favour of the assessment of the nurse/interviewer she saw. Their best comment was that because her cataplexy attacks only last a few minutes at a time there was no reason that she needed supervision when outdoors (despite the fact she can't control when it happens and when it does she can't move herself to safety as she can't move).

She went to appeal (which took almost a year - it's all very well saying money is backdated, but that's a year with no money and in her case a year without access to her bus card) and the DWP rep that was there tried to say that because she could plan a journey she didn't qualify. She won her case, but the DWP guy asked for a statement of reasons from the panel and her welfare rep has advised her that it still may not be settled as they may object to the award.

I took her to her appeal and I am appalled at the money that is being spent on that process. I didn't go into the room with her as her welfare guy went in, but there was a lawyer, a doctor, a disability/welfare member of the panel, her welfare guy (supplied by her local council) and the DWP guy. All to go over a decision made that had ignored her form, her history (she's had this condition 15 years, been on benefits 10 since she was forced out her job after smashing her elbow at work in an attack), she has evidence of having her bag stolen whilst on the ground and had reports from her GP and consultant.

There was 15 rooms in that building. All with appeals going on every hour - how much is that costing? And where is that reflected in the figures? Because I reckon the appeal figures would horrify people because hiring all those independent people to rectify errors must cost a bloody fortune.

lala and where these are old DLA claims migrating to PIP, there should have never been a reason even to re-process at all. Such a waste of money. You'd think those of their voters who don't care about disabled people, might care about that?

Apparently, the tories will stick to dogma even when it can be demonstrated to them it has cost stupid money or that decisions are crazy. They are starting to be unashamed that the 'reforms' are in fact cuts, too.

www.benefitsandwork.co.uk/news/3154-well-below-half-of-all-pip-claims-are-successful-as-award-rates-continue-to-fall

Sorry that didn't work before

I think that the Tories have undergone some kind of revolution. There was a time when they believed in society and that the rich had obligations to the poor, but now poverty , whatever its cause, must be punished.
They have no conscience about salaries so high that they cannot possibly need them and so are reduced to spending them on the latest idiotic fripperies while the increasingly large percentage of us who are nearer the bottom of the pile just get worse off.

Joffrey Exactly! She was going from DLA to PIP. Her condition hasn't changed. It's such a waste of time and money. If they are going to spend the money on the independent tribunals they should just let them make the decision from the beginning.

I think a lot of people genuinely don't realise how difficult they are making it for people. You can see it even on this thread with the comments about how the descriptors are very simple. They should be, but they are not. The DWP sent someone to argue that the "Plan and follow a journey" one was not applicable to someone who hits the deck because they can "safely and reliably plan a journey..." - what use is being able to plan a journey to someone who can't safely make the journey?!

I'd love to see figures about the appeals. I think the costs must be astronomical. I mean, how much does it cost to hire a lawyer and a doctor for a whole day? Each appeal room has them, some have the disability/welfare person as well, but even just 15 lawyers, 15 doctors and the associated travel expenses for the claimants alone must be huge and that's just one centre.

And I know it's only my experience of sitting there for a couple of hours, but I saw 12 people win and didn't see anyone come out having lost (and it's not very private, but that's a whole other issue).

I'd like to punish Dave by making him do his own medical assessment, not just a tick box exercise. I thought I could ask him and his wife Samantha to provide respite for my severely disabled dd for a week. After all they have experience and its all in the spirit of the big society and I could have one of their child children. Channel 5 could cover it, it could be called kid swap

I think that the Tories have undergone some kind of revolution. There was a time when they believed in society and that the rich had obligations to the poor, but now poverty, whatever its cause, must be punished.

It's not a recent development by any means.

Margaret Thatcher, in an Interview for Woman's Own in 1987, said:

I think we’ve been through a period where too many people have been given to understand that if they have a problem, it’s the government’s job to cope with it. ‘I have a problem, I’ll get a grant.’ ‘I’m homeless, the government must house me.’ They’re casting their problem on society. And you know, there is no such thing as society.

And from Wikipedia on the "Nasty Party":

The term Nasty Party was first used in October 2002 by Theresa May, the then Chairman of the Conservative Party, when she said of the Conservative Party of the United Kingdom: "There's a lot we need to do in this party of ours. Our base is too narrow and so, occasionally, are our sympathies. You know what some people call us – the Nasty Party."

The term "Nasty Party" applied to Conservative Party members with traditional conservative stances, which included lacking concern for the poor, being anti-gay and anti-minorities.

Owllady, they'd no doubt ship in a nanny within hours.

And he'd be claiming DLA, within seconds. Or his accountant would be. Oddly, multi millionaires really need that money.

Many years ago when our LEA was dragging its heels about getting my child statemented I did in the end, threaten to bring my screaming autistic son into their offices and leave him for a few hours.

Strangely, they then got it sorted.

YANBU. The time it took between applying and receiving my first PIP payment was 22 months. Twenty-two fucking months in which I was left utterly destitute. I lost count of the number of times I went days, weeks even, without a proper meal. Debts rose, debts I doubt I'll ever pay off, as I struggled to pay basic rent and utilities. My only crime was to dare to become disabled without a trust fund to catch my fall. Even the PIP I do receive only covers the shortfall in rent and pays for food - there's nothing left to pay for aids, hire a carer and cleaner etc, things the benefit is supposed to be for.

I'm now 8 months pregnant after a contraception failure and the charming father has fucked off, so I'm entitled to some extra benefits which should ensure neither me nor my daughter lose our home or starve. But if it was just me, lone disabled unemployable person, this government couldn't give less of a fuck. They'd much rather I quietly killed myself so they can get back to their happy little world where poor people are to blame for their own problems. I'd have been treated better if I were a convicted paedophile.

YANBU

I was invited to transfer from DLA to PIP in November. I sent in 50 pieces of medical evidence, including a report from my consultant saying I won't get better and there is no further treatment he can offer me.

I had my face to face assessment at home 7 weeks ago. The woman, an OT was lovely. I had spent weeks not eating or sleeping through the stress of it all. She was incredibly kind and appeared to be listening to everything DH and I said. After reading various posts in other groups I asked for the report she sent in. How I bloody laughed to read she thinks I could get better "with further interventions", I "could lift and carry a pan with prompting" although I can't walk unaided (which she confirmed further down) so both hands are holding on to crutches! There are other contradictions in the report, too.

I'm still waiting on the decision from the DWP but have my manadatroy reconsideration drafted just iincase.

Pensions are not a benefit
No award of BLA or PIP is 'for life' it just means there is no defined re-examination
This thread is so hysterical comparing life in the UK to conditions in Belsen and suggesting there will be workhouses next - I am amazed.
None of this is meant unkindly but the benefits in this country are really quite generous compared to other countries I could name.

YAsoNBU OP. I really hope you're one of the lucky ones for whom the process works smoothly - although that doesn't help with the current stress and worry.

I didn't think it was possible to dislike an administration more than I did Thatcher's (I grew up in a mining village...sorry, make that an ex-mining village ) but I hate this government. Really, truly hate it and that's not a word I throw around lightly.

My DH is disabled. I genuinely fear for his and our future under this collection of sociopathic bastards. Not to mention the future of the country, for anyone who earns less than about £75k a year.

I agree with you Page. Hate is a strong word but for this government it is justified. There are only a very small number of people in the world who I would wish my disability on - 5 of them are current cabinet ministers.

It's not a race to the bottom, mollie123. We're one of the richest fucking countries in the world, the very least we should be able to do is care for our disabled, our vulnerable and our poverty-stricken. It's the hallmark of a compassionate society.

The DWP themselves admit a fraud rate of 0.7% for DLA. The government have stated a target of a 20% reduction in the number of DLA/PIP claimants. That's 19.3% of claimants, who by definition are some of the most ill and most vulnerable people in this country, that the government want to make poorer and even more vulnerable despite accepting by their own admission that they are genuinely disabled. What's that if its not an ideological crusade against the disabled?

the benefits in this country are really quite generous compared to other countries I could name.

Where, for example Mollie?

If I can't hear your reply, it's because of the hollow laughter emanating from this thread.

Benefits may be generous in comparison to some other places, but that's no help to the people who are not being allowed to access them when they clearly should be.

I think a lot of people are clueless about the people who are affected by the changes. My friend says the phrase she hates most when discussing benefit cuts with people is "Yeah, but we don't mean people like you" because it is people like her who are affect. The DLA fraud rate was very small yet the government are attacking it like it's 90% fiddlers and 10% genuine claimants.

We all know fraud was never an issue, just a way to get the Daily Mail readers and tory voters frothing at the mouth (or in their pants).

It would have been more honest if they hadn't tried to pretend it wasn't about cuts, too.

Because they couldn't come out and say "We're going at attack disabled people!" they had this pretence of shifting from one benefit system to another and "Oops! Look, teething problems! A few people fell between the cracks!"

But it was always all smoke and mirrors and sleight of hand.

Hopefully we will stay in the EEC as someone, somewhere, at some point will take this to a Human Rights court.

Precisely the same is going on with the NHS being sold off to their mates, but that's a whole separate debate. Although the impact of that, too, is surely going to be greater on disabled people.

Everyone always says "we don't mean you" or "we don't mean the real disabled". Who do they mean then, because it is us, the real disabled who are being hit the hardest!

It isn't true that disability are more generous here than in the rest of the developed world or even the EU, but I'll wait for dawndonna to educate you because she's knows more than I do.

It's a charming attitude you have though Mollie. I hope no one pissed on you when you are on fire either.

I wish someone would call David Cameron out on him claiming DLA for his son and using respite services ( which his wife samantha said ' I don't know how we would have coped without using respite' ) despite having 2 nannies for his son.

He then has the balls to cut the same respite services they depended on despite having millions and call people who claim benefits scroungers.

How on earth he hasn't been called out is unbelievable

YANBU. so sorry to those of you who have been so adversely affected. It's an absolute travesty.

Socialism seems to be the preserve of the rich these days.