To be fed of of vile comments re disability and pip- so come on those people suggest a job for me.

[Laughydodo]

Named changes for this

Fed up of the vile comments about disability including on mumsnet.
(I know it’s a minority on here). Especially against those who claim PIP.

Fed up of feeling like a second class citizen because I claim benefits.

Fed up of people saying my mental health will improve if I am at work.

Fed up of disability top trumps with people saying things like- I have this , this and this disability and I manage to work.

Fed up that some people seem be hoping that Pip is abolished and then people like us will have to find another way to support ourselves. Also so fearful of this happening.

I clung onto work for years with having epilepsy and fibromyalgia. Fighting to stay in while employers were trying everything to get rid of me. I would be let go from one job on health grounds only to start the process again and it end the same way.

I now claim pip and esa as i have up to 20 seizures a week. Half of which I lose my memory and speech (I don’t even recognise my husband at times) and are totally wiped out for half a day at least . Would love some of the smug arseholes that’s seem to think everyone can work find someone who is willing to employ me. Oh and I piss myself as well and lose control of my bowels with many of my seizures. This is without the pain of fibro coming into it all.

So come on then these people on here who think all disabled people should work- suggest all the jobs that I can do that will benefit my mental health so I won’t be a burden on the state. Would you honestly be happy to employ me?

Sorry but the self righteous comments from people who dont have a clue is really starting to boil my piss. Oh and one day it might happen to them. I was 22 when I developed epilepsy, 30 when I got fibro after having glandular fever. I would not wish this one anyone obviously but people seem to forget that disability can happen at any time.

So waiting for the jobs suggestions to begin and the list of employers that would employ me-

@AgnesX Well quite, unless you know exactly what's on a person's PIP application, how can you know why they're receiving it? I doubt @Zanatdy knows the details of her friend's health conditions.

This nobody has a clue about the reality of my life as when I see people it's game face time. They don't know its the first time iv got out of bed and washed and dressed in a week, they don't know about all my appointments or all my conditions they don't know iv had multiple panic attacks that day or i have to take 72 pills a day to function and stay alive. They don't know I spent the night before in a&e or I cry myself to sleep most nights they don't know im smiling through agonising pain and they don't know that going out and seeing them for an hour will mean I need 2 days of sleep to recover. It's amazing what you can hide from people even people you are closest to. I think if people got hold of my medical records they would be in for a massive shock.

I worked for DWP for years. After I was diagnosed they made all the right noises about disability support etc but in reality they couldn't wait to get rid of me
I'm now running my own small business from home - it's the flexibility that's so important to me

And if anyone wants my PIP they can bloody have it - as long as they have my RA as well!
Look after yourself and ignore the nasty comments - some people are just vile

People who say those kind of things often flat out do make up convenient facts to suit their agenda. I've called them out on inconsistent stories many times. To claim to know the private details of a stranger's or mere aquaintance's medical problems and finances is a total crock. Hell, most of my relatives don't even know that much about me. That information is given out on a need to know basis for most people. Who goes around randomly giving out the private ins and outs of their lives like that?
So yeah, I'm gonna go with they're probably making it up.

🩷 Just wanted you to know there are people who understand and empathize.

The fact is that you are not alone in feeling like this. It is sad that a benefit that is supposed to help with the struggles that people with disabilities live with, is not being claimed by many people, such as yourself, because they know that they would not be able to tolerate the process without it having a profound detrimental effect on them. The system is not even, I would go as far as to say that it is actually rather demeaning in parts. That is why so many organisations offer advice on how to deal with the forms. The form itself is enough to try to get through. Like anything else though, there are of course people who are able to get the right award, at the correct level the first time that they apply, so that may be something to think about, if you feel differently in the future.

@Differentstarts IME, the people who are most unwell are the ones who put on the bravest faces in public.

in my first assessment I was turned down because the assessor lied through her teeth. Including not including that I had a seizure during the assessment and could not carry on. There were a few questions left and the answers were just made up. So yep they doing make things up and that’s why so many decisions are overturned.

Apologies! It was the middle of the night!

I want to second this post @RaiseYourSkinnyFists. My DH has a degenerative disease. He was awarded enhanced rates with no problem and a 10 year award. DWP can and do get it right.

I've been thinking about it for a few years. I got as far as ordering the forms once. When they came, the sheer heft of the envelope I received put me in such a panic that I couldn't open it. It's still sat next to my shoe rack, unopened.

I might be one of the lucky ones. I might be one of the ones who gets treated so badly that it'll traumatise me for life. There's no way of knowing and it's really hard to take that risk.

It's taken me a long time to accept that I can't do certain things anymore. I can't explain how damaging it would be to me to have someone lie that I'm only pretending it is affecting me. It's one thing having some idiot on MN who thinks if you can sneeze, you can work. It's a totally different thing having the UK government do it. It's the ultimate headfuck.

I feel panicky just writing about it.

I've been lurking on MN for a while and signed up just to reply to your post OP.
I want you to know that not everybody subscribes to the unpleasant and dare I say it, discriminatory language around ill health / disability; and you have my complete support.
The reality is this; employers are unlikely to recruit/ maintain a worker who needs time off to manage their health condition, particularly if the condition fluctuates with good days and bad episodes. Some ill health is unpredictable, 'unseen' and is a full time job in itself to just navigate the day. Working from home will suit some, but not others. The ability to manage WFH with a health condition/ disability is complex and relies on a multitude of factors for it to be sustainable.
We are all one accident away form disability and our bodies and minds can become suddenly unwell. Anyone of us could become a future benefit claimant, should one ordinary day, something extraordinary happens completely changing our lives.
Good luck to you OP. Wishing you the best. I just want you to know that you live in a society where many people have compassion on this.

That's such a nice post from you, @TaranFollt and I hope there's more like you.

They are. I'm currently helping someone with an appeal. It's monstrous the amount of hoops you have to jump through.

❤️

You know how you feel, and what you could possibly cope with right now. I don't know if there are any support groups for your condition that you could get support from, or if you already do. There is help out there, but as I have had to find out, it does not usually come knocking on my door, and sometimes it does involve having to face obstacles, in accessing that help. It should not have to be that way. Things are hard enough just navigating life, as a disabled person🌻

@@RaiseYourSkinnyFists i felt the exact same way as you do now. I even requested the forms 3 times and couldn’t face filling them in so I would then inevitably get a letter off the DWP saying that I am not eligible as I hadn’t sent the form back but the 3rd time was different, I got a text saying I would be having a phone assessment and to wait to hear from them.

i was very surprised at this and they did indeed contact me with an appointment which I was dreading. I struck gold and had a wonderful, kind and compassionate assessor who really listened. The appointment was supposed to take 1 hour and it took just over 2 hours. I broke down several times and had a couple of breaks. I was awarded enhanced for both within 10 days of the assessment with a large back pay and it has changed my life for the better as I was struggling with so much.

please give it some more thought. I always subscribed to the belief that all assessors were awful and that was certainly my experience when my ds went from child DLA to PIP at 16 and received 0 points which was then changed to 27 points before we got to appeal date. The system is flawed but certainly it’s worth a try if you feel able to. If not I hope this helps someone else, wishing you all the best ❤️

@TaranFollt thanks wish there were more people like you

Have you looked at the point-scoring system for PIP? And seen how many points you need to be eligible for even the lowest level of PIP?

You can actually be really unwell with a chronic condition and still struggle to qualify because the bar is set so high.

Just on the off-chance you haven't actually looked at the PIP questionnaire - these are the 10 areas that they ask about:

1. Preparing food
2. Taking nutrition
3. Managing therapy or monitoring a health condition
4. Washing and bathing
5. Managing toilet needs or incontinence
6. Dressing and undressing
7. Communicating verbally
8. Reading and understanding signs, symbols and words
9. Engaging with other people face-to-face
10. Making budgeting decisions

You have to score a minimum of 8 points to get PIP, or 12 points to get enhanced PIP.

We are talking about basic, basic levels of activity here. It's perfectly possible to be really quite disabled and still be able to do the majority of the above.

There is a mobility element too which is based on:

• 1 Planning and following journeys
• 2 Moving around

Again, you have to score 8 or 12 points to quality for this element.

Assuming there's no cognitive/psychological impairment that prevents individuals from planning/following journeys, you have to be able to move less than 50 metres to qualify for the minimum level of the mobility element of PIP. To get the enhanced mobility element, you have to be able to move for less than one metre.

No one is fulfilling either section of PIP for recurrent ear infections.

So much nonsense is written about PIP - people talk about it as if they know what it's all about because of the crap that's written by largely right-wing media. But actually take a look at the assessment criteria and consider just HOW BAD an individual has to be to satisfy the above. The bar is set very, very high and many disabled people miss out even though they have huge struggles with everyday life. There's a reason the DWP say fraud for PIP is practically 0% - and that's because it's bloody hard to get awarded. And certainly not for a sodding ear infection.

I just wish people would read and educate themselves about PIP before spreading these harmful lies.

Hi I just read about that 'permitted work' thing...it says you submit a form and then they tell you whether you lose any benefits or not.. why would anyone risk it? 🤔

It is easy to judge when you’re not the one in that situation. I have a disability and after a battle got awarded low rate mobility PIP, apparently I don’t deserve anything for daily living. So out of the £117 ish a month I get in PIP…to give you an idea in the last month I have spent £330 on osteopathy appointments alone, just to keep me ticking over so that I’m not in constant pain and being kept awake all night because of pain.

I haven’t been able to work for over a year, although I really would like to, and I’m trying to find a job that would be possible within the remits of what I’m capable of. I never thought my life would turn out like this. I’m also a carer to two ASD DC. I have a first class degree and worked as many hours as I could from the age of 14, until I got ill 9 years ago.

I’d swap my £117 a month of ‘free money’ for the opportunity to feel valued and contribute to society in a heartbeat. Shame on Starmer for prolonging the rhetoric that benefits claimants are lazy, I really hoped that there might be a bit more compassion from the new government.

I don't think people understand how complex this can be. There are some cases that are clear cut, but for many, they have a diagnosis that is progressive or encompasses a large range of functioning, and so each case has to be assessed according to functioning and prognosis. When you do this, there's a large element of subjectivity in the process and so, especially if staff are under pressure to keep claims down, they can assess the person as more capable of tasks than they really are. As well as that, these assessments are often rushed so the staff can get through cases as quickly as possible.

It's not made up ableist bullshit FFS.

Are people seriously trying to say that absolutely nobody falsely claims benefits?

But since you want to know- I worked until recently in a school in a deprived area. The parents would openly discuss their claims and the lengths they'd gone to to try and falsely claim benefits. PIP was sort of glorified as the top prize. This was a regular conversation had by many.

Actually one memory that sticks with me is a woman who announced to everyone that she hadn't pissed herself (the front of her leggings was soaked) but that she'd told PIP she pisses herself in public because she's so anxious. She was laughing about it and others congratulated her on her genius.

You're talking about an absolute minority. I'm more concerned about the fraud and lies from the so called assessors.

I've never said it was a majority.

My first post was just pointing out to OP that she wasn't what people were talking about when they say these things as hers is a genuine case and people were all trying to tell me that there's a 0% fraud score for PIP.