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?

How did people with stress/ depression manage prior to DLA/ PIp etc, does anyone know? My dm suffered years of mental health issues, most of her adult life but never got a penny in benefits to help her. Did people just muddle through with family support ?

The fraud figures are those that are known about, or guessed. (And what the Daily Mail has to do with these discussions I don't know).

It is the people who stay on ESA or PIP for years and years and will never get caught because they are not going to do anything obvious like go on a ski-ing holiday when they have said they can't walk more than 50m. They will truly not be able to walk 50m because they never have to.

The problem is that unless we do say who we think deserves the money and who does not - and we have to agree this as a society - and how we decide who meets the criteria and who does not - and who pays... we will never fix this.

Insults are rarely helpful.

And let's not forget that Theresa May presides over this. She has allowed it. She hasn't reformed it. This is now her system. Sanctioned by her party and... her.

Let's knock the 'vicar's daughter' bollocks right out of the park. There is no humanity and no christianity in a single person who could create, sustain or be in any way involved with, the current attack on the disabled.

No wonder she's 'frit' of public debate. If she turns up on your street on one of her royal progressions - confront her with what she has done. And keep doing it. Ask your tory MP and local councillors to justify it. Expose them and their pathetic answers. Let's be relentless.

Who are 'they' and what should they 'realise'?

BadKnee, the system worked already. Less than 1% benefit fraud with DLA and DLA was assessed using evidence from doctors; often consultants.

PIP is a narrow set of badly designed criteria. People with hearing impairments, for example, rarely hit more than one criteria, if that. People with mental health issues, the same. DLA looked at the whole person, the whole condition.

On top of that, PIP assessors are usually unqualified in terms of the specific conditions they may be called out to 'assess'. Some of them are physios or paramedics. They may be asked to make an assessment on a person totally out of their field of knowledge, like, say, someone with autism. Before, the 'evidence' that mattered was written by a consultant maybe; an expert in the field, who knew the patient. In some cases, knew them well. There are attested cases of them doing things like asking people if they have recovered from their Down's Syndrome. Many awards that would have been for Life are now short, meaning the disabled person and carer will have to go through this horrendous, evil process again and again - for degenrative or lifetime conditions. As we have seen, some tory politicians are justifying that by saying people can 'recover'. My son's autism is lifelong. His award? Five years. They said things might change. He might, in five years go to university. Which proves the assessor barely read our form. As the professional who filled it in for me, mentioned numerous times - he is already AT university! This is provable. I copied the form before I posted it.

So many assessors have been caught out lying, as well.

If you fail Mandatory reconsideration, you go to Tribunal. This is held in a local court. Prisoners in handcuffs are in the same waiting area as the disabled person (Imagine a young person with autism in a scary environment like that).

Want concrete suggestions how to improve PIP? Sack the assessors. Bin off CAPITA and ATOS and whoever else is milking the system. End it tomorrow and replace it with.... DLA. That worked and we, the public, the holy 'tax payers' didn't spend money paying private companies with shareholders, millions of pounds to badly 'assess' those with disabilities.

with 20.3 million families receiving some kind of benefit (64% of all families), about 8.7 million of them pensioners.

That is a lot for those paying tax to bear. So could those who are not being fraudulent but who are possibly less in need than some of the others contribute more and take less??
Could pensioners be made to pay more?
Should we say that benefits should only fund the bare minimum?
Or should we pay a Citizen's Wage to everyone??
Should we simply raise all taxes?
We should certainly crack down on tax avoidance/evasion - easier said than done of course.
Should we accept that more than half the families are being subsidised by the other lot? Is that fair. Some may think it is.

To an extent it depends how well everyone is doing. If Adam is getting nothing, paying rent, struggling to buy clothes and working in a job he hates he won't be as pleased about Ben spending time with his kids and enjoying the summer but seemingly being no worse off.

If Adam is in a high-flying job with a secure pension and no money worries he is less likely to notice Ben at all.

By the way - I agree with what you say OP about the assessors.

I also agree about the tribunal. Awful.

But the consultants have better things to do with their time than write endless letters for people so that they can get benefits. The consultants and doctors hate the pressure they are under to do this. And, as has been said, this too is open to abuse.

I didn't think DLA did work and nor did many other people. Hence they tried to change it.

I don't think PIP works either. But what would?

We have to ask ourselves what is the point of it? What do we as a society want to achieve with PIP or ESA or any of the benefits?

It needs a complete re-think - along with the NHS with which it is so closely linked

No wonder she's 'frit' of public debate.
Don't fall for all the b*llocks you read - just because she's not doing the scripted tv appearances. She's actually out and about a lot in her constituency talking to people, that's what she does & what's she's always done. That's far more beneficial than doing a tv gig where they've planned their speeches and their answers regardless of the questions they're asked.

It's horrible. I hate what this country has turned into.
So many I'm alright jacks.

My son is currently transitioning from children's to adult services. He requires 24 hour 2:1 care. I am currently spending hours and hours arguing with the council about his pertrol money. It appears they would rather see his placement fail (this costing the State hundreds of thousands a year - as if this placement fails he will be in a secure hospital - for the crime of having learning disabilities) than fork out some cash for fuel each week.

That is the reality of the cuts. I feel like I am watching a car crash in slow motion the end result of which will be a destruction of his life. My Tory MP and councillors do not give a shiny shit.

Oh and ALL professionals involved in my son's care are saying the same things as I am.

Devilishpyjamas - I am so sorry to hear that. Your son is exactly the sort of person that should not have to suffer from the cuts.

I hoe that you get what you need.

LadyPW I know she's out and about. She was not far from here a few days ago. (Although I had no idea until afterwards). The point is - she can do both. She should have to face questions in a live debate or two, because questions need asking. She has nothing to fear if she can justify what she has done.

The two things - hustings and TV debate - are not mutually exclusive. Why do you think they are?

BadKnee is 100% right. There are two things on MN that people wont listen to and often resort to name calling. Benefits and changing the NHS.

If we had a more robust system the genuinely disabled and poor could get more. As it is for some people its not worth working..

'It's not a Tory issue. They're just trying to balance the books. It's a society problem.

The Tories, trying to balance the books . . . that is the funniest thing I've read all day!

Just received a capability for work questionnaire. Only two of the questions have anything do do with my mental health condition. So worried.

Austerity is another way of attacking the most disadvantaged in society. Mysterious how their shareholder, golf club mates never seem to get clobbered with it.

May is no different from the old Etonian chinless wonders she replaced. Maybe worse because she really should know better.

Titania - don't worry. Fill in the boxes as best you can but write a supporting statement in the "How does my condition affect me" bit.

Include:

This is what my condition is
This is how it affects me - for most of the time, ( ie can't get out of bed, always too stressed to go out, unable to talk to new people without having a panic attack etc)
This is why I cannot work.... specific examples,

I just think where people have wads of Consultants letters/ therapy reports/ evidence etc it seems unecessary to put them through the ordeal of assessments especially people with learning difficulties or paralysis or something which is never going to get better.

^^ and when a person has LIFELONG disablilities why should there be re-assessments? if God exists and miraculasly cured DC and I, Id be the 1st to tell the DWP.

Unless youre disabled, and stressed and in pain with it, and THEN have to go through all the third degree of assessments and form filling, you'll understand.

and BTW ALL partys are exactly the same, look at all the platitudes and rhetoric they'll give out about helping the vulnerable/elderly.disabled if they win the election. All have long noses.

First time in my entire life Ive EVER used the following word- BOLLOCKS!

Joffrey the comment about shareholder/golf club mates is unhelpful.
Stamp duty is huge now so a golf club mate who wants to move to a new three bed in London will pay £1m for the house at least and £45,000 in stamp duty. That is forty five thousand pounds. Just for moving house. £45k that pays for essential services and benefits.

CGT is going up as is IHT - all these hit the people who have money. So I would say that the golf club shareholder mates are paying tax.

Sorry - maybe not as much as you 'd like. We will revisit this issue again as a country when we vote. But it is not right to assume that there is this magic pot that the mean old Tories are not letting us have.

Real people pay in. Every time they work, spend, move house, get insured, or die.

Oh I have a capability for work questionnaire for my son. Nearly the same questions as the PIP form I filled out a few months ago. He has been severely disabled since he was 2. He is in a residential home age 17 - what a waste of time and money - can the computers not speak to each other?

To be fair Norman Lamb is bloody good with mental health and learning disability. Wish there were more politicians like him (& wishing he was my MP as we go through transition).

I agree with the person who said it should be Ok for people to be assessed independently.

Independently should also mean honestly, and fairly, not by companies which give targets to the assessors to get people off the benefits, and get so much of the taxpayers money to do so.

I am interested in what will happen in Scotland to replace these awful companies.

Devilish if you google have a look at the support group descriptors online and see if he fits any of them.