To think unless you are actually medically exempt you can't get out of wearing a mask?

[Simsie]

People on social media are telling others to download a basic picture of text saying "I am exempt from wearing a mask" to present at supermarkets if they don't want to wear a mask.

Not medically exempt, no hidden disabilities, just for those don't want to wear one.

Surely that crap isn't going to work?

You don’t have to wear masks at work do you? In my office we don’t but maybe different on others.

Disabled people have been shat on repeatedly during the course of this pandemic and this is nothing new.

In what way? Genuine question. My mum is elderly and disabled (on PIP) and has shielded throughout. She is lucky to have children living nearby so has been taken care of throughout by family and not needed assistance from the council etc.

Staff where I work are being made to wear masks - I wonder if it's to stop customers refusing on the basis that staff aren't so why should they?

And to pick up a point made about the NHS doesn't have the resources to issue exemption certificates - a law with no way of enforcing it is just pointless.

If the law stated that people can be exempt from wearing a seat belt based on a self certified scheme and that no one was allowed to ask you whether you were exempt or not, but that should you be not wearing one without good reason, we would all recognise the ridiculousness of such a law.

That's where we are at now. Masks are required in certain places, by law. Certain conditions are exempt - but, no one is allowed to challenge anyone not wearing a mask and no one is allowed to ask for proof, and for some of the exempting conditions there is no proof. However, if you are caught not wearing a mask with good reason you will be fined (but you won't be caught, or fined, because no one is allowed to challenge you). What sort of a law is that?

Police can ask @Hearhoovesthinkzebras.

@ABingThing

Many victims of assault, particularly csa, may never have even spoken to a doctor about their experiences. Not speaking to their doctor doesn't mean they aren't traumatized. But it does mean there's no 'proof' in medical notes.

There isn't always proof available, but that's between the individual and whichever authority decides to try and enforce this. It has absolutely nothing to do with anyone else.

Please, just try and find some compassion and tolerance, and remind yourself that you don't know everything and nor are you entitled to.

NC for this. I was abused for years and forced to have my face covered during sex. i cannot wear a mask. you can judge me but i don't give a fuck.

@csasur

@Cadent

Disabled people have been shat on repeatedly during the course of this pandemic and this is nothing new.

In what way? Genuine question. My mum is elderly and disabled (on PIP) and has shielded throughout. She is lucky to have children living nearby so has been taken care of throughout by family and not needed assistance from the council etc.

Because the official response was very hit and miss - once on the shielded list you had to register to request to go.onto a list for help with shopping etc but many supermarkets didn't have capacity so couldn't allocate delivery slots, people who can't do on line shopping were really stuck. Much of the help fell to local volunteers, completely unregulated and unsupervised and again, mainly accessed via social media.

Healthcare for all non Covid or non urgent treatment stopped, including allied services like physio and OT seriously affecting disabled people. Most routine treatment is now subject to very long waiting lists and appointments cancelled due to Covid are now being delayed because of the huge back log.

Many elderly or disabled people were pressured to complete DNR forms and even worse NICE algorithms for who should be considered for ITU care were drawn up that actively ruled out people with certain conditions or disabilities.

Two million people were just completely isolated from society, and even from their households, with virtually no help or support given to.them. No consideration for how they could exercise, have emotional support and now suddenly we are just expected to get back to normal as of Saturday but we must remember to maintain strict social distancing (while the rest of the country appears to have given that up), should go back to work as long as it's Covid safe (which is what?) and stay at home as much as possible because we must remember we remain extremely vulnerable to Covid still - that hasn't changed.

I think my employer has been one of the more decent ones with his they've treated me but I've had all of my sick pay allocation taken so if I am off sick at all between now and April.next year I will only be paid SSP, and they've also used up four weeks of my holiday allocation so all in all ten weeks of the shielding has been taken out of my allowances. That's going to have a big effect on me for the rest of this year - particularly as I use my holiday for hospital appointments, so when they start again I will have to take them unpaid.

[quote ABingThing]@csasur [/quote]
thanking you
and yes you are right about the gp they dont know. nobody does except the man and me.

@Mydogisthebestest

Police can ask *@Hearhoovesthinkzebras*.

And face claims of harassment or disability discrimination? They've already said that they aren't going to. For starters they don't have the man power. Secondly, many of the exemptions are unprovable and the police stand to be walking into huge controversy if they try - how can they prove a person's claim to suffer anxiety if they wear one isn't true? They can't. Lastly, who will inform the pice? Shops won't - they aren't challenging because of discrimination claims, and even if they did the person can just leave before police arrive. They're hardly going to attend on blues and twos are they? It's just not enforceable and everyone knows it.

yes you are right about the gp they dont know. nobody does except the man and me.

And it's nobody else's bloody business unless you choose to tell them.

I was effectively waterboarded once as a child (didn't call it that then as I wasn't aware of the term) and while I manage the trauma well most of the time the moment I put a mask on it brings it all back.

My employer wants me to come back to the office and has said masks are mandatory (no exemptions, not even for health conditions). I really don't want to have to explain to my boss why I can't wear a mask, especially as I've not told anyone else what happened, not even parents or partner.

Most people who can wear a mask will. Those that can't won't. A few people will take the piss just as a few people always ignore rules including seat belt wearing. Police and other enforcement agencies will concentrate on things that are most likely to be the cause of local spikes which isn't a few extra people not wearing masks in a supermarket.

@contrmary

yes you are right about the gp they dont know. nobody does except the man and me.

And it's nobody else's bloody business unless you choose to tell them.

I was effectively waterboarded once as a child (didn't call it that then as I wasn't aware of the term) and while I manage the trauma well most of the time the moment I put a mask on it brings it all back.

My employer wants me to come back to the office and has said masks are mandatory (no exemptions, not even for health conditions). I really don't want to have to explain to my boss why I can't wear a mask, especially as I've not told anyone else what happened, not even parents or partner.

that's appalling.

@Hearhoovesthinkzebras it’s not perfect. It will never be perfect. The police are allowed to ask.

There is nothing we can do that will eliminate the risk completely. All of us can only do our best.

@sleepyblueocean

Most people who can wear a mask will. Those that can't won't. A few people will take the piss just as a few people always ignore rules including seat belt wearing. Police and other enforcement agencies will concentrate on things that are most likely to be the cause of local spikes which isn't a few extra people not wearing masks in a supermarket.

Depends how many a few is and what effect that will have on slow creep.

If people see a few people not being challenged and they don't like wearing a mask will.it encourage them to not wear one? If people forget their mask one day and take a chance and don't get challenged will that make them more lily to.forget in the future? As numbers not wearing masks gradually creep up will it encourage more not to wear one?

It's essentially running on goodwill. I can't stand the thought of shielding being reinstated anytime soon because of an outbreak.

[quote Mydogisthebestest]@Hearhoovesthinkzebras it’s not perfect. It will never be perfect. The police are allowed to ask.

There is nothing we can do that will eliminate the risk completely. All of us can only do our best.[/quote]
The police are allowed to ask but they won't for fear of disability discrimination allegations.

It just won't happen. It's not a case of it not being.perfect, it's got a loophole in it bigger than the entrance to the Dartford Tunnel. Anyone who wants to not wear a mask can do.so, legitimately.

Well what do you propose should be done then?

I've skimmed a bajillion pages of the usual me-railing.

I'm deeply cheered by the fact I deserve to be socially shunned for not wearing a mask (for exemption reasons) around Tesco this morning from some of the more unpleasant members of society. I'm looking forward to that - can you shun me from like 2 miles away please though so I don't have to endure you?!

For what it's worth - went out mask-less with my sunflower lanyard this morning and staff were bloody lovely - could see I was struggling with a panic attack and the situation and couldn't have been kinder. Few busy bodies trying to give me looks of doom - looks of doom somewhat less effective with half the face covered in a mask though.

@Mydogisthebestest

Well what do you propose should be done then?

If you are going to make mask wearing compulsory, with legal exemptions, then you have to provide a system for proving an individual is entitled to that exemption. That's just common sense. How can you have a law that includes exemptions but basically allows self certification for those exemptions? Come on, it's nonsense.

Most people are not interested in whether another person is being challenged or not. They are getting on with their own business.

My wording was obviously unclear.

In the current situation as it is where medical exemption notices are not Being provided by GPs, what do you suggest?

@Mydogisthebestest

My wording was obviously unclear.

In the current situation as it is where medical exemption notices are not Being provided by GPs, what do you suggest?

That the system has to be set up to include official exemption certificates. It's just half arsed and is in no way enforceable.

Why should other people continue to do something that they find uncomfortable, or inconvenient, or difficult in some way, if they look around and see others not doing it and no one enforcing it?

Hear Why are you so convinced there are many many people not wearing masks?

I’ve been in many shops over the last few weeks and compliance generally appears high and I don’t imagine my area is unique in that.

I think you are convinced it is worse than it is.

That’s how you wish the system was set up. It is not how it currently is.

Are you lobbying the government for a change to that system? You should be, if you are not already. Contacting your MP would probably be the best place to start.

As it stands, I will be complying with the law.

We should start going into people's houses and checking that everyone in there lives in that household/ support bubble or if they don't they are always more than 2m apart. Go into people's gardens and check that there are no more than 6 people and measure to check they remain 2m apart and that no one is hugging/shagging someone they shouldn't. And any of the other covid regulations applied to the public.

@Nicknacky

Hear Why are you so convinced there are many many people not wearing masks?

I’ve been in many shops over the last few weeks and compliance generally appears high and I don’t imagine my area is unique in that.

I think you are convinced it is worse than it is.

I'm going by what people are telling me about local trains and buses, by what I'm seeing on here and on SM (from friends), I'm going by what my colleagues are telling me.