To Think the Tories Are STILL At War With The Disabled?

[JoffreyBaratheon]

As parent of a disabled child, this is what I'm preoccupied with, during a General Election...

Under Cameron and Osborne, and iDS - it was clear the tories were engaging in an all out war on the disabled. Cuts to benefits, and services and of course, the loathed and disgusting PIP replacing DLA...

But what has strong and stable (well, weak an unstable) Theresa May done to reverse the damage? Nothing, so far as I can see.

My son had DLA for life and by some miracle, managed to get PIP but will now have to re-apply in five years. If the tories have the cure for autism and it is going to be made available in 5 years - fair enough. But something tells me - they haven't. We were put through months of hell for that.

Other disabled people and their carers have far worse stories.

Now I might be stupid but I can't see what May has done to address the callous culture of PIP. She is still attacking the disabled. Or am I missing something and AIBU?

I think this should be enough to lose them the election. The fact they have attacked disabled people to the extent they have. Am I the only one not to be hoodwinked by this 'I'm only a vicar's daughter' BS? What she has done to the disabled is the least 'christian' thing I can think of and I want her held to account for it. Anyone else?

It's a shit, isn't it, Trap.

You don't think private transport is a luxury? What is it then, a basic human right? The last bus I used had pneumatic suspension to lower itself and then a ramp extended for the wheelchair to get on. That seems like a costly addition for people exactly like your daughter in her chair
Gosh, how wonderful. What a shame all bus companies don't do that. What a shame for people with disabilities living in rural areas. What a shame that the law will not, and does not enforce the wheelchair users before buggies rule. What a shame that there are some people who are unable to use public transport.

fudge am I a cynic for suggesting that ATOS will get paid twice for assessing you twice?

They'd risk you having to put your child into temporary care, just to make their shareholders more money?

And your MP is doing nothing?

I hope this thread keeps bumped, to raise awareness of what families are being put through, by this system. How can anyone vote for a government that are actively doing this to the electorate?

Any apologist PIP assessors or tories want to come on and elucidate? No?

Silly, it is shocking that some people can't see further than their own bank account, isn't it!

Oh and if you work for ATOS, CAPITA, etc.. how the fuck do you sleep at night? Seriously. I'm curious.

whattheactualfudge I'm unsure on the Universal Credit aspect. The last I heard of it was when the Rent Manager rang me to forewarn me it would be rolled out in our area in Feb (it was January). That was 2 years ago was they still haven't got around to it. It'll be interesting to see if ATOS have somehow been allowed to carry on. Your MP will be able to do some digging for you.

Do you remember seeing the thread for someone quitting as a PIP assessor and giving people tips on assessments? Look, people working at these crappy private assessor firms are just working, it isn't their fault it is the fault of the system.

Happily Joffrey. They get paid enough. Everyone has a price at the end of the day. Sadly.

Yep, ExplodedCloud.

Benefits are paid to taxpayers.

Because the family with two disabled children does not have the same needs as the family living next door whose children aren't disabled. And they're both have different needs to the next family on the street whose children have now grown up and left home.

Tax redistributes income from periods in our lives when we don't need help (two adults able to work, no caring responsibilities), to periods when we do. And from people who don't need help (owner of properties receiving significant unearned rental income) to those who do (family with disabled members who can't themselves work and may actively need care).

The continued attempts to portray people who receive benefits as somehow different from people who pay tax are just divide-and-rule.

NoLottery, I don't buy that. Not going to invoke Godwin's Law but.... I don't buy that.

I've found this thread very interesting - I can see why we need to bring the medical expert testimony back at the centre of all of these benefits. I can't for the life of me think that poorly qualified people in private firms doing these assessments is the right policy.

The continued attempts to portray people who receive benefits as somehow different from people who pay tax are just divide-and-rule.
Indeed Perking
And it's working :( So many people receiving benefits don't think of themselves as benefit claimants. The othering has worked.

Susannah, I'm interested to hear your further comments on benefit fraud in light of the figures that a PP has kindly posted.

I remember the poster. They were utterly horrified at the system, at what they were being asked to do and the advice was very much how to get yourself assessed properly. Not how to fiddle the system.

NoLotteryWinYet when I applied for PIP, I didn't get it as they decided I didn't act thick enough for my neurological condition to affect me. How bloody insulting is that? Essentially saying anyone with a neurological condition is thick. I went to uni you see so can't possibly be thick

My neurological condition is a congrntial one. I have had it since birth, it will never go away and it could in some circumstances (when not controlled) lead to a premature death. The Nurse who assessed me had never heard of the condition. I can only hope to God they didn't let her near any actual patients with her level of shocking expertise.

This is our car. Take it! You can also have the condition my son has. He's 11, his muscles are wasting away. He's already virtually lost all ability to walk. His arms and trunk are next. In a few years he'll suffer heart failure or maybe lung failure as those muscles fail and he will die probably before he's 30 but hey, at least he won't be needing benefits then.

God forbid we make it easier for him to get to appointments, or to take him for a 'walk' around the park 3 miles away, or to the children's hospice.

I had to give up work to care for my son. The £62 a week I get nowhere near covers the wage I used to earn. We use the remainder of his DLA for basic living costs, the higher electricity bills for charging equipment, extra heating because just putting on another jumper just doesnt work.

In 5 years time, he will be assessed for PIP. His condition won't have changed. It's degenerative. There's no cure. There are people with his condition who have had benefits cut following PIP assessments.

The car that is our lifeline!

My DD has a Motability car because she has MS. Her retort to anyone who doesn't like it is 'You're welcome to my car, and you're welcome to my disability too.'

And this is the retort that should be given to everyone who gets on about how the disabled should only have a basic standard of living tbh. Its not either/or. Which always seems to be brought up on these threads. If half of PIP claimants happened to get better tomorrow, the other half wouldn't have their money doubled either. I cannot understand when some people seem almost resentful of the fact that disabled people get anything more than a roof over their heads and some rice and beans to live on. God forbid they might have a bit of money left to maybe go out for a day or something, or even gasp have a short holiday somewhere. Because you know, these disabled people being able to do this means that cancer drugs aren't given out on the NHS. Of course its the disabled peoples fault...couldn't be that theres a stupid amount of waste elsewhere in the system...those pesky disabled people should be grateful eh, at least they aren't living under a bridge like Paul who had his benefits sanctioned last week for being 2 minutes late to a jobcentre appointment.

The whole general attitude towards disabled people is a fucking disgrace. Yes people will try 'but not the genuine disabled' forgetting or not even caring that the 'genuine' disabled is exactly who are actually getting hit by the cuts, exactly who are being demonized when people go off on one about the mobility car scheme, and so on.

Maybe it is hyperbole to say the Tories actively want to kill off the disabled. The fact that they are currently doing so though...and with full support of a scarily large percentage of society, is not.

exploded yes i in no way meant to imply that the thread from the PIP assessor was about fiddling anything, it was obvious she was appalled and was trying to help sick people get what they're entitled to. I forwarded it to a friend who was going through PIP - she also didn't get it on the first assessment and had to appeal.

Yes, I didn't realise that these assessments were being done by such poorly qualified staff, if you've got a system where the overturn of the decision on appeal is so high, it's clearly not working.

I would also like to know whether crapita and atoms etc get paid per assessment!

Or if you're not actually well enough to get to a bus stop, even in a powerchair, or to spend 2 hours upright.

In years when I'm really unwell, my trips are more like:
• front-door to lying down in back of taxi immediately outside
• wheelchair from taxi into the bank, 15 mins essential bank business
• lying down in taxi home
• 2 days in bed to recover

My son's condition took a couple of consultants, and one of the top clinics in the field, in the UK, to pin down and properly diagnose. But hey, an unemployed ambulanceman or a nurse who has done a three week course is, I'm sure, equally qualified to assess his needs as a top, published, brilliant consultant.

In 5 years time, he will be assessed for PIP. His condition won't have changed. It's degenerative. There's no cure. There are people with his condition who have had benefits cut following PIP assessments.

Apparently, my son's autism is going to vanish in 5 years!

Katniss, apparently tory MPs believe that the word 'degenerative' means "can get better".

samedifference1.com/2017/05/03/richard-graham-mp-some-permanent-degenerative-conditions-do-get-better/

Buses are completely useless if they don't take you to where you need to go. We hardly have a first-rate comprehensive public transport network in the UK.

Joffrey if only DS's consultant was as qualified as said Tory MP in medical issues!