To be confused by benefits cuts to the disabled and ill?

[AllyHayHay]

As luck would have it, I have not been in this position, but I do know of one disabled lady who has struggled. She was incredibly fortunate to already own her own home prior to her accident.

I am not what you'd call politically astute, but I have been reading about the proposed spring benefits cuts and wonder why people always discuss this ONLY affecting the sick and disabled.
I am also aware that there are many, many rough areas with families who have never worked, people who are struggling with addiction, prison sentences (their kids, spouse, etc) and these people never seem to be included in the Guardian articles and opinion pieces online.

Why would a system wish to make the life of a disabled person worse, yet ignore the growing issues of illiteracy, generational poverty and other issues which are going on in most urban areas just out of sight of the comfortably off?
Why not address the reasons that great swathes of people are living on benefits across the UK who are NOT disabled? I imagine this would drag up questions of why those issues persist - and no one in government wants to address that.

Since benefits claimants who are not in work of on the pension are a minority, are these cuts more of a populist tendency?

3 in my relatively short cul de sac. All out gardening, barbecue etc during the recent couple of days of sunshine. I know them. They're not shy about talking about it.

Don’t get me started on people who claim carer’s for a relative while another relative claims carers for them..

Are disabled people banned from barbecues or something?

I've helped a client recently to apply for PIP again who was turned down whilst on the Lung transplant waiting list. Yet I've seen another awarded for mild COPD and they were well enough to take two small grandkids abroad on their own for a foreign holiday, one with special needs, getting on and off public transport , travelling off to gigs all over the country etc, basically leading a normal life. There is no logic as to who is awarded and who isn't.

I get the sense it would quite simply be too expensive on a national scale. Even Kidney charities and advocacy groups say you ' may' be entitled to help. They are woefully short on actual cases where it has been received.

I've had older clients past retirement age awarded Attendance allowance purely based on receiving dialysis, but AA is generally easier to claim than PIP.

You can do your weeding, mow your lawn and hold a barbecue, you can work at Lidl. Simples.

You don’t get PIP for adhd or even autism. Some people with ND might get PIP but many don’t because it varies so much in how it disables people.

It's based on how your condition affects you rather than diagnosis, so if the system was applied fairly, you'd be awarded because it's had a significant impairment on your ability to do various things, whereas say someone wasn't affected as badly (I don't know the ins and outs of kidney disorders so can't think of an example, apologies!) may not be found eligible.

It's the same with anything - I'm in epilepsy groups where some people are awarded immediately, some people are turned down, some don't feel they need to claim it. It's a sliding scale rather than a "we'll reject anyone with kidney problems" - but all of that relies on a system that runs properly and doesn't allow assessors to lie, which we don't currently have!

In 2024, there were 198,000 PIP claimants with autism listed as their main disabling condition. This makes it the second most common condition to get an award of PIP for out of over 500 conditions listed by the DWP.

The success rate for PIP claims for autism is 68%, compared to an overall average of 53%. So you have a considerably more than average chance of getting an award for autism.

https://www.benefitsandwork.co.uk/personal-independence-payment-pip/pip-health-conditions/claim-pip-for-autism

I planted some sunflowers the other day. Reckon I'm ready for shelf stacking in Aldi.

You know absolutely fine what I'm saying. That's the problem,right there.

Oh boy!

I genuinely don't.

So far, the impression I'm getting is that you've seen people out in their garden - not how they were afterwards or how long it took them to build up to it / recover or how they are on bad days - and decided they can do any job.

So. Autism is a disability however there are 700,000 people with autism in the uk so not even a third are getting PIP.

Autism often has comorbities which are quite severe when combined with autism and other ND.

Pretty sure autistic people that do get pip would happily trade it for a life without autism.

No. I didn't say they can do ' any job'. I said, and stand by my belief, that these people could do some sort of work. Don't like my opinion? Don't care. I'm sick of it.

Yes it does make us suspicious that the suffering is overwhelmingly behind closed doors where there isn’t a single soul to verify it, and the moments of un-suffering happen when there is something enjoyable they want to do. As a disabled woman my suffering is very public and embarrassing, and strikes me down when I least want it (critical moments at work, pushing the trolley in the supermarket and so on). Including one memorable moment when I had to lie down on a pavement and a kind elderly lady helped me into her front garden and offered me a chair.

So. Your original statement was 1000% completely and demonstrably wrong. I wonder where you got the idea that autism doesn't qualify for Pip?

It's as if you can't grasp that many disabilities vary a lot

Tbf if you can work in Lidl you can probably do any job, it's very fast paced and physical.

As do jobs, or are you unable to grasp that?

A n autism diagnosis does not qualify you for pip by default in any way shape or form. There are 4 of us with it in our house, only 1 qualifies for pip.

Those people will involved children getting DLA which won’t be counted as PIP.

There's one more thing needed: Lidl needs to agree to employ you.

Not quite so simples.

https://www.benefitsandwork.co.uk/forum/10-dla-esa-queries-results/139648-specific-common-red-flag-conditions-which-definitely-qualify-for-pip

check this out!!!!!