To be terrified about PIP?

[BobbyBiscuits]

I've tried to blank all this out for ages, but today it hit me when the government basically are saying I'm going to (they want me to) have my PIP cut off?
My main illnesses are severe depressive disorder, general anxiety disorder and severe anorexia. I've severe PTSD symptoms and also think I may have ADHD but have not been able to get diagnosed due to phobia of MH services since I got sectioned.
I now have physical symptoms also and severe osteperosis which I put on my last forms. But had no assessment for several years.
I'm praying this is BS from the Tories and they can't do it anyway as they'll be kicked out.
Or could labour still continue this assault against disabled people?
It would halve my already tiny income, other half is from ESA, and they could kick me off that too even though I can't do anything!?

What do people think?

Yeah, funny how it is an 'echo chamber' just because noone agrees with the ignorant claims.

Your post....

Taxis are luxuries. They are expensive, allow people to travel in more comfort than public transport and you don't need to drive yourself. I am genuinely sorry that this is the only means of transport that you can realistically use and I can understand how they feel like a necessity to you. I would fully support you being able to use taxis to get to necessary appointments

So disabled can only use taxis for necessary appointments?

The poster was referring to needing the taxis for medical appointments. I just emphasised I fully supported this. Your quote doesn't even mention other taxi journeys, let alone me being critical of this.

I honestly despair! The fact you think this proves your point in 'black and white' is astonishing. Taking a quote out of context too! Awful!

Scanning through the last few pages is sickening.

I have physical disability/ND and some mental health associated with the impact of those disabilities. One of DC is ND and has learning difficulties.

Regarding taxi gate - we try to use the bus as much as possible and to get lifts from family members. But it isn’t always possible to cope - for instance, to get to a frequent destination it is 2 buses and takes 1 1/2 hours with walking in between. Taxi or car is 20-30 minutes, no walking. If I tried to do bus all the time I would end up hospitalised and my child would have more distress/meltdowns/suffering on days when they are already dysregulated. So we pick our battles. Taxis £15-40 per week.

Regards cinema, it costs £7.50 for a disabled person to attend, their carer goes free with CEA card and snacks can be brought from home.

For my DC I have just spent £300 on OT aids this month. Last month I had to buy a pricey bike and equipment £300 to suit their needs to try and help them be active. Next month I will be spending £600 on specialised summer schemes to keep their routine over summer and ensure we all don’t go completely mad. Then there’s the trampoline I’ve been advised to buy. And the sporting activities.

For me, because there is no nhs therapy available (physio/counselling), I am spending £160 a month on this, plus I have to get a private consult to see a specialist because I can’t cope any longer waiting on nhs (4yrs in) so that’s £200, the hateful taxis are about £140 a month, then there are other therapeutic items I need…

DLA/PIP does not cover it.

All that PIP and further changes do is demean disabled people, taking away their dignity and creating a quagmire of paperwork to plow through that diminishes your quality of life because you spend so much time having to constantly justify and prove your position.

It is inhumane. If they fixed the health and education systems there wouldn’t be half the number of applicants there are. They are claiming as a last port of call to get some sort of quality of life.

I think we all know what you meant. You are either deeply ingenious or lack understanding of inference.

'taking a quote out of context' you asked me to find it and I did! 😂

Careful - you'll be told 'quality of life is a luxury'. And no I'm not wading through posts to prove that one but they know they said it and everyone read it.

No, you don't get to take a quote out of context that doesn't even mention what you are accusing me of and suggest that 'we all know what you meant'. It's the sign of someone that cannot prove their argument at all and can't find any real evidence because it doesn't exist.

It is out of context because you haven't included the post I was responding directly to. That's what 'out if context' means. You have then overlaid your own implied meaning and are now suggesting that this should take precedence over what was actually written.

I am giving up because you are just making stuff up now.

Show me where PIP pays for cinema trips. And while we’re at it tell me why you think disabled people shouldn’t have a cinema trip every now and then. PIP is a benefit paid as a contribution towards the cost of living with a disability. People who qualify can use it however they like to address their own personal needs. Your posts seem to imply that they can’t be trusted to do that. Remember that PIP only contributes to the cost. If we laid bare the actual cost of disability we would have to pay out far more to cover it all.

And on your point about taxis - PIP mobility allowance makes a contribution towards the cost of travel in whatever way best suits the claimant. What makes you think anyone else has the right to dictate what they should and shouldn’t be ‘allowed’ to do. Or did it not occur to you that PIP is not an out of work benefit, so it’s possible that the claimant has another source of income, or actually works and is a tax payer themselves - and that the ability to do so is facilitated by PIP. PIP is short for personal independence payment. The intention of which is to facilitate as far as possible disabled people participating in society by mitigating the cost of their disability in whatever way it presents a barrier to that participation.

For a site that proclaims to be left leaning labour voting grauniad readers some of the posts here would make the most right wing tory voting daily mail reader proud.

Actually some of the vile opinions expressed here would make the most right wing, Tory voting, daily mail reader recoil in horror. I’ve participated in many threads on disability and benefits but this one takes the cake for the most ignorant, ill informed and plain ableist and discriminatory posts l’ve seen in a long time. I’ve reported it several times but MN seem determined to let it stand, which l doubt they would do if the subject matter referred to any other cohort in society. But as usual disabled people are fair game.

I’m trying to decide what is an acceptable activity.

The cinema ticket was funded by parents

The cinema gave a ticket to the Pa

The state paid the Pa for my son to access the community - this gives us his parent carers also respite - the alternative is a 1800 bill per week social care plus housing. I need respite after so many years - you know the luxury of a Saturday night free.

The state is funding the PA / the Pa expenses and the taxi if son refuses bus - as it was the Uber was a mess up and hubby ended up having to pick up. Be it cinema or a drink in a pub or pizza the costs are low in the scheme of needs. It’s all regarded as education to get him out- mixing. His natural inclination would be to stay in. Before long he would go backwards and then he would be a major problem.

The hope is that when he goes to university he won’t need a Velcro PA - at school he was £25000 per annum Velcro - at college he is &35000 per annum life skills.

Frankly pip is a drop in the ocean of people like him care needs. If things got really bad an institution care is more like £100,000 per annum

This thread has been one of the most awful ableism fests I've seen on MN, and that's saying something. According to some prolific posters on here, disabled people should be grateful for the scraps they get, should never be allowed to have even a few of the fun things others take for granted, should just get over it and work like the rest of us. Never mind if they already do. Oh, and let's not forget the 'Well, I'm disabled and I run a marathon every weekend and work 20 hours a day, therefore everyone else who's disabled can do that too' brigade.

I despair of this country, I really do. Thank you to all the posters who have patiently and persistently explained the reality of life as a disabled person. I'm so sorry people don't want to get it.

I drive but still struggle to get to where I need to go, if I have a hospital appointment I drive to the nearest taxi office to the hospital and taxi the rest of the way so that I can be dropped off as near as possible - I’m not eligible for a blue badge as only on lower rate mobility and my condition fluctuates
Some days I need help to get in and out of my car
A few weeks ago I went shopping in a nearby city and parked in a car park as near as I could get - by the time I’d been in 2 or 3 shops I had to stop for a coffee to rest and then realised I couldn’t walk any further so had to get a taxi from the cafe back to the car park.
Thankfully not every day is like this

Hah! It is all smoke and mirrors, there aren’t really rising numbers of disabled people claiming PIP-like benefits.

2012/13 we had 3.3 million working age people claiming DLA
”…the number of people claiming DLA has risen…to 3.3 million”
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/personal-independence-payment-rolls-out-to-existing-claimants

2013/14 DLA is rolled out to be gradually replaced by PIP for adults.

2014-2026 Transition from DLA to PIP. The charts shown only show the increase in PIP and pretend legacy claimants still on DLA dont exist. So it fools the eye into thinking there is an upwards trend, when in fact it is a downwards trend,

2024 there are 2.6 million people on DLA or PIP
”There are now 2.6 million people of working age claiming PIP and disability living allowance (DLA)..” - Mel Stride in the Commons
https://www.bigissue.com/news/social-justice/dwp-disability-benefits-crackdown-pip-backlash/

So the number of disabled people claiming the DLA/PIP type benefit has gone actually gone down from 3.3 million to 2.6 million! (This checks with the evidence that PIP is much harder to get than the old DLA was.)

In the interim, the U.K. population has increased by 3 million people from 64m to 67m, so to look at it in terms of % of population claiming a DLA/PIP type benefit:
% people claiming DLA in 2013= 5.2%
% people claiming DLA/PIP in 2024= 3.8%

So the % of the population claiming this type of disability benefit has gone down by 26%

The rhetoric is obscuring the facts. We don’t have a sick note culture.
There is not an unsustainable rise of disability caused by fakers and skivers.

What is really going on is the disabled are gradually being marginalised and deprived of needed financial assistance.

You asked me to find the post where you were telling disabled people they should only be able to use taxis in certain circumstances because you later claimed you had said nothing about disabled people not being able to use taxis. I spent time finding that post and now you're whinging that I didn't include the post you were responding to. I'm not your secretary! Find your own posts!

You are now suggesting that reading comprehension doesn't include nuance and inference. I think even my 12yo understands that!

Gaslighting at it's best! 🤨

Thank you for the research, very good point! 👏👏👏
This thread is actually proof that disabled people are discriminated in their daily life, even if we live in 2024! How can we live in 2024 and carry on bullying disabled people for something what's not their fault?

Thank you. Earlier in the thread I bought that there was an increase and posted what I thought the DLA people would have contributed. Today I decided to dig up the numbers.

The increase is PURELY in £ due to inflation due to Tory trashing the economy.

The number of people claiming DLA/PIP has actually gone down from 3.3million to 2.6million.

There is no increase in claimants, imho the reality is likely what disabled charities have been saying all along- too many eligible disabled are being denied PIP and give up because they cannot face a tribunal.

No wonder 50% of disabled people, working or not, are in poverty compared to 20% of abled people, working or not.

when you say you’re only on the lower rate mobility do you mean standard rate mobility on PIP ? If so, if you scored 8 points in the moving around activity you’re automatically entitled to a blue badge. If not you can still apply to your local authority to be assessed under their own criteria for a badge.

This point needs its own thread. The gaslighting on this from the government is shocking (but sadly not surprising)

I could start new thread?

I would much rather everyone that needed PIP got it than all the money (Billions ?) that is sent to fund wars .People are quite right this is about divide and rule.

That's obviously up to you, but I think it's an important point and might get lost in this thread amidst all the bunfighting and hideously disablist rhetoric

People should know that what the government are saying about disability rates increasing is actually an outright lie. I expect a lot of people will argue about it though. 🤷🏽‍♀️

Totally agree. Some of the posters on this thread are coming across as inhuman. It's frightening.

@Bumpitybumper

Pretty simple. If we sort out the nhs…

• increase nhs prof wages but also increase cost to students (so we aren’t subsidising a bunch of medics to become qualified to then work in private sector or australia)
• cut out the enormous amount of job sharing/part timers
• optimise and stratify services where possible
• limit the amount of private work that can be done while in an nhs role
• introduce extra cost for those earning above the average wage to access nhs, maybe an excess

So many straightforward things that could be done.

And if they did them the number of disabled would radically fall because people would have the treatment they need.

Yep. It's worse than ever, lately. The same couple of names pop up time after time, too. Literally hundreds of abelist posts on all the Autism and PIP threads.

General election coming up...