To wonder what jobs the government are expecting people to get?

[Nosleepforthismum]

Following on from the many, many threads about this. I’m genuinely wondering what jobs the government are expecting people who claim disability benefits to do, specifically those suffering with their mental health? From an employers perspective, it would be very difficult to run a successful business with an employee that took a lot of time off work. You’d need a job that had no deadlines and didn’t need a physical presence and I can’t think of many jobs off the top of my head.

I think everyone knows a guy or gal that has their mental illnesses well managed, but there are many who do not and are languishing due to the parlous state of the NHS.

Too bad the Government just cancelled the only program they have to help people with disabilities find suitable work.
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2024/apr/21/help-disabled-people-england-wales-jobs-axed-benefits-crackdown

Except people suffering from active mental health conditions often can’t focus or retain new information? As do people with ND like untreated ADHD?

There's no expectation that they actually get jobs, they will just be transitioned to jobseekers allowance at a much lower rate than their current disability benefits and subjected to a punishing regime of having to complete reams of job applications every week that never get anywhere, punctuated by facile and useless "into work" training offers which are totally unsuitable and don't make any difference. The hope being that the stress of this will kill them off quicker so as to reduce the overall burden on the state.

I don’t know. I had a bad psychosis late 20s. Typical presentation of schizophrenia. I was sectioned. Really the odds were against me. It was textbook.

Do you know a major contributing factor to getting it? Being out of work and having to much time to get lost in rabbit holes. And a major contributor to now 5 years later being med free and having beat 99% of that stats that say I should be a schizophrenic right now… getting back to work. I was still borderline psychotic when I started that role. But I faked it until I made it and it did work.

They would have put me on pip. I could have been unemployed and supported for the rest of my life. And what a shit life that would have been.

You don’t think good MH care or luck had anything to do with the speed of your recovery or the absence of a relapse?

Also PIP is not an out of work benefit, going on PIP doesn’t mean you’d be stuck at home on benefits your entire life

Can you give some examples of the far more WFH jobs please?

Seeing someone with one arm struggling through manual labour and thinking "yes, that's how disabled people should live" is just simply incompatible with my belief system.

Same.

Yes of course. It’s a combination of everything. The nhs was incredibly good for me. They really threw the kitchen sink at me. I feel bad as I know others didn’t get similar care from what I heard in the wards. I think that was privilege. A white, middle class masters educated woman. They said it themselves. You shouldn’t be here. But I was. And the stats were really not in my favour.

I do believe work was incredibly important too. I don’t think I would have been recovered without it. I was still borderline psychotic when I took that role and it gave me structure and stability to recover properly and reassimilate into normal life.

Lots of people work with mental health conditions, some of them with significant ones. Though I think some jobs are more flexible than others and make adjustments. So it’s a difficult balance.

They are fairly intuitive systems. Everyone in their 40s and older were digital adopters and did not grow up with these systems and had to learn them, usually with no explicit training. Excel is trickier. If you’re under 40 though, you should have word processes things and most 20 somethings are digital natives.

100%. Most people with mental health issues will likely struggle. Imagine having such overwhelming anxiety that you can barely leave the house, then being forced to speak to a hundred people a day on the phone. It's not feasible.

In the UK, he could simply sign on benefits and not work, as he is disabled, and the thought of a one-armed tyre fitter would give the Health and Safety guy at Halfords a coronary

Just so I'm clear...you think that someone with one arm would be able to claim disability benefits and never work?

100%. Most people with mental health issues will likely struggle. Imagine having such overwhelming anxiety that you can barely leave the house, then being forced to speak to a hundred people a day on the phone. It's not feasible.

It depends on the role. Taking calls from virgin media customers would probably be a no, taking calls to book appointments for housing repairs or some of the DWP lines could be a yes.

People need to stop being so defeatist.

There is nothing defeatist about my daughter. She has battled more the past few years than many do in a lifetime. She is being told by highly qualified professionals that to get well and avoid crisis she needs to be aware of her emotions/ struggles and reach out more to professionals be kinder to herself, pull back and be more aware of her needs and struggles NOT battle on regardless until she reaches overwhelm which is what has lead to crisis over and again.

This is exactly the big concern. People who are ignorant re ND and MH and know nothing about individual cases telling very ill people what they should and shouldn’t do. It’s hugely dangerous.

If you already have a job when you fall ill and they are able to make things flexible for you around your illness then brilliant, that means you can work around your illness - however I suspect it's a very different situation to be job hunting from scratch when you have a long term illness, both in terms of finding a job that is flexible enough to suit from day 1, but also because potential employers might be put off (even if they say otherwise). Employers shouldn't descriminate but I bet they do. If you already have employment and a supportive employer then that's a head start already if you fall ill and need to adjust your hours or working conditions.

Taking phone calls all day is taking phone calls all day.

People need to stop being so unrealistic.

This, they know they won't.

I 100% agree that people need to stop being so unrealistic as to say that people with MH issues can’t work.

But I do think taking phone calls all day might not work well for someone with anxiety.

The role I did in my recovery was gardening. That was excellent for me. Not overstimulated. Not under stimulated. Fresh air, sunlight and exercise. Some minor social interaction with normal people but not too much. A degree of flexibility. Really it was absolutely perfect and so good for my mental health.

It’s an utterly cruel thing to put people through, the stress alone for disabled people and those with MH issues would be unbearable. If you can work and you are keen to work then absolutely support systems should be in place to help you, but for so many work is just something that is unrealistic.

I know multiple people who would love to work, make good money , not struggle everyday. They aren’t lazy or entitled, but they just can’t do it. One person has complex physical issues and one friend has severe mental health issues, though she is actively looking for work it has to be flexible and low stress.

why can’t we focus more on getting people who want to work back in the workforce rather than demonising people who can’t

Yes, please do link some.

And paying endless amounts of tax payers money on benefits is incompatible to others belief systems.

But seeing as the others are paying, there may not be much choice.

Well you aren't in charge of the benefit system.

Um.. yes. Good spot well done. Neither are you, thank fuck.