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?

And an audit is only as good as the paper trail- based merely in the assessor's observations and notes, I would not qualify for PIP. The issue is that the written information does not match with my experience. Hence why I will be recording my interview next time- if I can work out why they recorded a response I can use that to further explain my difficulties.

Good for you because the nurse interviewing me told me I should remember things as I have an ASD. The physio assessing my dad had never heard of her disability. I'm glad you assess properly but its well documented that training is minimal and that people are not assessed fairly.As for auditing being at 100% that figure would seem unlikely given the sheer volume of decisions overturned at appeal.

Ha ha dawn I remember things... I can remember the names of all the meds I've ever been on, the active ingredient, what it's used for, side effects, contraindications... But can I remember to take the damn things? Worst is when my alarm goes off so I get my drink and tablets, mouthful of drink, first tablets in, then I somehow forget to take the rest!

The person assessing me was an ex cardio surgeon with a condition causing a hand tremor. He made no bones about his opinion being that anyone applying with mh issues was nothing but a malingerer!! I'd had to cancel 2 previous appointments as I literally couldn't leave the flat due to anxiety but I was refused a home assessment.

My friend with cerebral palsy and in a wheelchair was also asked if it was a lifelong condition and how far she can walk!

Professionals my arse!

I let people read what I'm typing on the screen-we all do-to make sure what we're saying is correct and the claimant is happy with the assessment record. I thought that was standard practice?

No definitely not my experience.

andthenthereweretwo if they are such professionals why is there a high percentage of appeals being found in favour of the claimant?

That alone says there is a high percentage of cases where the claimants was entitled and shouldn't have had to appeal but the assessors have bonuses for either denying claims or finding people fit to work

I refer to my my earlier post about my friend. (She has fibromyalgia). "Can you make arrangements when you know you are going to have a bad day?"

No bonuses at all that I'm aware of and the Pip assessment is completely different to fitness to work assessment. Two different benefits.

Yabu, simply because "war" suggests faults on both sides :(

I'm awaiting the outcome of my renewal and havent slept properly (for me, which is worse than 'normal' already) for weeks.

"Yabu, simply because "war" suggests faults on both sides" excellent point!

andthenthereweretwo why is the appeal percentage so high for a previously turned down for pip and then is awarded?

Not everyone appeals either and would be entitled to pip but are turned down.

I wasn't given the opportunity to read the screen- which really is shocking given that one of my difficulties is communication!

The regular show-I don't know the answer as I never get to know the outcome of my assessments. I never know if pip was awarded. Sadly I have seen some shocking assessments and heard people being treated poorly. I'm not perfect but I try my hardest to make a difficult situation as easy and straightforward as possible. I work in Scotland where the majority of the assessments are contracted to the NHS. Unfortunately a lot of assessors don't know enough about asd and other conditions where the difficulties are 'hidden' too much emphasis is put on medication strength and specialist input- they don't think you can be that impaired if you're only on low dose meds with no intervention from mental health services etc. We're told not to look at the scores but I always do and am glad when I see someone getting over 8 points.

I never got to look at my assessment. My assessor kept his screen well hidden from me, he did get me to look in a book about a recommended drug he thought I should take though

Itoo was not offered the opportunity to look at my assessment. I have also been asked at what age dd was likely to grow out of he's ASC!

Apologies, small phone chubby fingers!

Two assessments, neither asked me if i wanted to look

I never saw what was written down. I know the assessor put zero points when she should not have.

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.

Not drip feeding - I know that's a MN no-no. Just wasn't sure whether to post this before for reasons that will become apparent.

My older son has severe dyspraxia and had DLA (not at the highest rate) for years. He had a statement at school and a lot of support. We went to the US to get a diagnosis for him. When this ATOS farce first came in he had an assessment and lost his DLA.

I went with him to the "medical". It was in York, so heads up to anyone who might get called there - ask to go elsewhere.

The health care 'professional' in this case actually was a doctor (still I doubt she had any qualifications specifically in that area). I have hesitated to post this as I have to say English was her second language. And that may or may not explain her inability to understand a word my son said.

It was not a screen but a handwritten box ticking exercise, and as I used to be a teacher I have the skill of reading upsidedown. I could see that every single thing my son said, she wrote down the diametric opposite. So if she asked him if he could do something and he said he couldn't - she;d write down that he could.

Maybe it was an ESL thing maybe a receptive language thing, maybe she had targets to hit. But the entire thing was a lie. She was deeply offensive and abrupt.

I was livid when we got outside, but my son wanted to let it go as he had just left uni and been headhunted for a very well paid job (TBH he was probably earning more than that doctor as I'm guessing she was unemployed/unemployable if she had to work for ATOS ticking boxes). However much he earns, that was not the point. He's since been headhunted twice more (he's a programmer - yay for a childhood obsessively computing!) and no doubt earns a lot more than an ATOS hack.

He is still dyspraxic. He still has all the difficulties he had when younger (with a couple of added new ones). He still has the same problems he ever had.

When I think about it now I wish I had persuaded my son to appeal. But he was so damaged by the experience, I didn't have the heart.

It was such a primitive test - like walk along this line on the floor etc. And deeply humiliating. I have read much online about the actual face to face and testing damaging people further - when the point is meant to be to help them.

Anyone who knows anything about dyspraxia knows self esteem is a central issue. It basically wiped out the self esteem we'd spent years building.

My autistic son is not studying in a field that leads to well paid jobs like his brother and wouldn't have the luxury of letting it drop. He also has far more problems and disadvantages. I have no intention of exposing him to an assessor as it's too much of a lottery. Three weeks' training and I'm guessing no attempt made to match the assessor to the client. I'm guessing the oral compass has already broken by the time you agree to work for these outfits.

48 hours after assesment you can request a copy of your report.

And unless they have recently changed the rules you cannot record the assesment unless you obtain permision and double record.
(Despite covert recording being legal) but when they have the ability to refuse to continue an assesment because of it, is it worth not following their policy?

joffrey

Given that you actually saw her doing it, how come you didn't point it out and ask her to correct it at the time?

*moral. Doh! Crumbs under my 'm'.

Needs she was a bit nuts. Very aggressive and abrupt (I can't believe they didn't get hundreds of complaints about her. This was right at the start in the first wave of this lunacy). If anyone reading this had an assessment from the aggressive Chinese lady in York, you will back me up. Because her man management skills and emotional intelligence were zero. She was actually quite rude and personal about my son's clothes (telling a dyspraxic young man his clothes could do with an iron is probably not very bright as self esteem is the central thing). She didn't even know what dyspraxia was.

I remember thinking if I said anything she'd probably start ranting and raving or throw me out. I wasn't going to leave him alone in there. And I also remember thinking we'd appeal it, and everything would be OK because it was so laughably ridiculous - everything she wrote was lies - that there was no way it wouldn't be over-turned. Thinking about it now, they must have been snowed under with appeals on her decisions. I regret not persuading him to appeal. But I probably couldn't.

As soon as we got outside my son made it clear he was never stepping foot in a place like that, ever again. He was in his early 20s, so a grown man so it was his choice. I had spent years working on his self esteem - as the money wasn't life or death to him and he had clearly been badly upset by it, I decided to let it go.

I never felt right about it, though. Which is why I was determined my second son wasn't going to have a face to face interview.