To be frightened about the Government’s plans for benefits reform?

[PilgorTheGoat]

I am one of the millions of people currently on long term sickness benefits. I receive the LCWRA element of UC and PIP due to poor mental health and autism. I have severe anxiety and depression and I am awaiting an appointment to see if I also have PTSD due to sexual abuse in my childhood.

I have tried every element of support offered to me. I’m maxed out on 2 different types of antidepressants. I have had back-to-back (excluding the 6 month wait in between) 12 week sessions of counselling offered via the NHS. I am on a waiting list for intensive CBT due to my possible PTSD. I am currently having twice weekly private, video counselling appointments.

I can’t leave my house alone due to panic attacks. I struggle to meet my own care needs and my husband has to do a lot of the work for us both (although he works full time). I have a very understanding friend whom I force myself to go for a short walk with twice a week in order to stop myself becoming completely imprisoned at home but I find this very distressing and we have to take the same route each time.

I am so, so scared about the government’s plans to end sickness benefits for people like me. We don’t have a load of spare cash, we’re just about getting by. There is no support available. I’ve taken everything offered and my husband has been very proactive in seeking out other services for me to be involved with. I’d love to be better, I’d love not to live in fear but there is no help.

Glad she’s nothing to do with me. Shudder. Spiteful rants and resorting to swearing doesn’t validate her opinions

The irony 🤣

You're right there, @BIossomtoes .

I work in welfare rights. Our team is tiny (less than 3FTE posts). Our annual report includes all the unclaimed benefits we help clients to get.

In 22/23, the total came to over £680k.

No you haven't..I'm just disgusted with your warped reply my partner is disabled

Being on benefits, it's not a LIFESTYLE! How dare you accuse people with health issues that it's a LIFESTYLE for them to be on benefits?

You either never experienced serious health issues, be it physical issues or mental health issues, or there's something else wrong with your life values. But it's fundamentally wrong to think there's "benefit LIFESTYLE".
It's the same as saying there's a "homeless LIFESTYLE" - we all read about it a while ago in the press.

Only because there's a few unhinged people who committed benefit frauds, it doesn't mean the rest of genuine claimants should suffer as a result. I'm not telling the government shouldn't go after those unhinged people, but they shouldn't do it at the expense of other genuine claimants and put them under more stress.

Why wouldn't you read about benefit tribunals where most of the claimants win it as a result? Why someone with serious health issues should go through a tribunal in order to prove that they are unhealthy? There's plenty of people who are in wheelchairs or with chronic diseases who had to go through it. Can you imagine how hard it is to receive benefits if even a wheelchair person can't always receive it from the first application and need to go through a tribunal to prove that they can't work?

I'm not sure about what kind of Facebook support pages you are referring regarding the benefit frauds. But, let's not forget that there's plenty of websites and support groups with unhinged people who share how to do illegal stuff about a lot of different things. You can watch plenty of documentaries about it. Of course the government should go after those people, but it shouldn’t be at the expense of other normal people. Same with the benefits, it shouldn't be at the expense of genuine claimants.

Also, the way press talks about it, is also a big question.... I'm not sure why so many journalists have no empathy towards people who can't work because of their health issues and receive benefits.

Your comments ate vile

It's a complete farce I agree.

At best the DWP is completely useless and at worst I suspect its done deliberately so people fail. Nevermind the anxiety and stress it can cause the most vulnerable.

There are ppl on benefits that shouldn't be on them ....my partner is disabled so your very wrong ...I personally think you could have an argument in a phone box

Doesn't mean you're not ableist.

Grow up

My DB is bipolar and has had massive struggles with his mental health for pver 30 years. The only medication that keeps it under control is a monthly depot injection.

For the first 7-10 days after his injection, his speech is slurred and he can barely string a sentence together, and he shuffles like an old man. That gradually ears off, and he has a few days of sounding and acting relatively "normal", before the depression starts to take over, he starts to neglect every aspect of his self-care and hardly gets out of bed, never mind leaving the house or speaking to another person.

While some bipolar people may be able to work much of the time, it's certainly not the case for all, or possibly even most, of them.

I'm sorry you've been through it. I can't even imagine how hard it was for you to go through it.

The tutor had no right to be rude to you and to tell you to turn the camera on. You did great for not giving up and emailing the course provider. I hope you'll receive an adequate answer from them and you'll be able to carry on with the course and your camera off.

I hope you feel better today. 💐

Only because your partner is disabled, it doesn't mean you are a nice person or you have any kind of empathy towards disabled people. Stop finding yourself excuses, look in the mirror and ask yourself who you really are? Because you definitely have some serious issues with your life values and aren't a nice person to be around.

It's not "funny" at all, @Alwaysalwayscold , it's sad and entirely understandable.

They may be posting on MN because they're feeling well today, and because there's no pressure. They can do it for as long as they feel ok, and then stop. That's very different from having to do it for an 8-hour shift.

If they get distressed or have a meltdown, they can simply stop, and there are no consequences;, if they get annoyed and tell someone to fuck off or call them an obnoxious cunt they can still carry on posting.

My DP's niece is diagnosed with EUPD and ADHD. Half the time, she's so distracted that she can scarcely get to the end of a sentence when she's talking, let alone complete a piece of work, and she's always doing stuff that's unsafe, like leaving food on the hob or under the grill, or a bath running, or stepping out into the road without looking (I have no idea how she hasn't been run over).

Her EUPD makes her really impulsive and she has no filter whatsoever. She could never work in a role that involved dealing with customers or colleagues, and would be an utter nightmare to manage. She can burst into tears at the slightest thing, angers easily and finds it impossible to exercise self-control. But she's very bright, and can interview well. She's had at least 5 jobs that I can think of, probably more, and has been fired from every one of them because her responses are so volatile and she has no self-control.

I struggle to think of a job that could accommodate her needs.

I’m aware that I am lucky that I can work, even if it is incredibly difficult to maintain at times.

Like I said earlier, mental illness is a spectrum and we’re all affected differently.

I've been working with vulnerable clients since 2000, and I find those with an ADHD diagnosis by far the most challenging.

I think realistically there are a lot of people who could be doing more, but are either ingrained into the benefit lifestyle and change is too daunting, or they just don’t want to.

Or, just maybe, they are unable to, because of barriers, that you could not possibly fathom.

Yep this

Thanks. They are letting me restart the course in two weeks with some formal adjustments in place such as not having the camera turned on and having the videos of previous recordings of the lessons im advance so I don't get so overwhelmed. 🙂 The manager for involved about my complaint so hopefully this will allow me to do the course..

There are nasty people on here. It is nice to be nice, surely?! I don’t ascribe to the “be kind” movement but I do try not to be a complete arsehole and if I am, I will try to look at myself and reflect upon it.

What could I ‘not possibly fathom’? I was kicked out of home when I was 18 with a few hundred quid to my name, my dad and his wife moved abroad and my mum left when I was 13 and I haven’t seen her for many years. I worked as a cleaner and sofa surfed, saved and moved into a house share and eventually got an admin job in a business where I’ve slogged away for 11 years to get to where I am now. A year after starting that job I became seriously ill and almost died, I’d been losing weight and had infections all over the place which I ignored because I didn’t want to lose my job. When I left hospital with a lifelong diagnosis I went back to my house share and dealt with my recovery alone. I’ve also had mental health struggles probably because my home life was harrowing (alcoholism, domestic violence, different house every year, violent step sibling). I’ve been on sertraline for 6 years.

What do I not fathom? The fact is despite the sad things that have happened to me, I still have to buck up and play my part in being a productive adult in society. If everyone with a sad story or struggles opted out then we would be in a total mess.

I'm pleased to hear that.

Says the person whose idea of debate is becoming aggressive with other people and swearing at them.

Have a nice evening