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?

But what if someone has unpredictable bad and good days? Some conditions are manageable until a flare-up and then they’re incapacitating.

Maybe someone could work on the good days, but Lidl is going to replace them pretty fast if they’re repeatedly off sick.

What actually is your practical solution to that, that would actually work in the real world?

It's almost as if you can't grasp that jobs vary a lot, too.

And then not sack you because you're off sick.

Always a million reasons not to work. So many reasons.

Which conditions, out of interest?

Part time benefits. Only fair, no?

But this is actually a really good reason that has no workaround that I can see? If someone is off sick a lot they will get fired. Thats just a fact isn’t it?

Yes, a lot of valid reasons.

And many, not.

You don’t get pip for an autism diagnosis you get it for having symptoms that meet thresholds and autism is a spectrum.

And have vacancies. There are 3 Lidls in my town. One vacancy and it is for a store manager.
I have heard Lidl is meant to be a good employer, so I would imagine vacancies go fast, and to the best candidates.

I would not know about that.

Ah.

Is part of the initial online application those stupid multiple choice scenario questions that are guaranteed to weed you out if you’re autistic? They need to get rid of those if they want more ND people in work .

And when autism has such a wide range of self reported symptoms such as these, I can see why the success rate is so high:

You may be happy to get into the bath or shower but then struggle to initiate getting back out again, either because you are thinking about something else, enjoying the sensation of water

It may take you more than twice as long to get dressed as someone who is not autistic because you are sensitive to the touch or sight of certain fabrics

You may take more than twice as long to read a sentence or a couple of sentences than someone who is not autistic because of difficulties with executive functions or concentration.

If I applied for PIP, and cited all of the above, who would be able to disprove it?

Ok, what's the workaround for this one?

Anyway, good luck finding all these understanding employers willing to take on all of these people with complex disabilities, and issues. I hope that they will have understanding staff also, who are willing to stand in, at a moments notice, at any given time.

Just one example I can think of off the top of my head is Crohn’s disease. I know someone who suffers with this who is unable to work for exactly this reason. She mostly is okay actually but she has completely brutal flare-ups that can go on for a very long time.

Even the most sceptical posters on this thread would have a hard time denying she’s disabled, I hope. She’s had multiple surgeries, part of her bowel (I think? or colon?) removed, has a stoma, is on a complex cocktail of medicines including immunosuppressants.

But on a good day she presents as totally fine. No way could she find an employer to accept her level of absence though. And this is someone educated to Masters level, who did actually always work until her condition became too serious. What hope do others have?

Are there any disabilities that aren’t complex?

You wouldn’t get PIP for those 3 sentences, it’s a massive 14 page long form with a high tally you need to reach with a lot of evidence.

What evidence would you give for the showering?

Just so we're clear, should I warn potential employers that I'll likely be absent a lot, get fatigued out of nowhere and am not allowed to do potentially dangerous tasks like cooking, using hot water etc unsupervised before I get the job, or afterwards? I need to get my CV brushed up seeing as I'm perfect for a job at Lidl.

Yes, my ex is autistic and applied for a job with Asda. Not shop floor, but in IT. He was weeded out by the test too, despite IT being the career of choice for a lot of autistic people. He was super experienced, loads of references and qualifications. Failed the multiple choice test so his CV not even looked at.

The employment levels for people with autism is not great, and that is not for lack of trying. Employers want square pegs to fit in round holes.

If disabled people are going to be in work, then employers need to give them a chance.

Work from home admin?

Not sure what you're trying to say here. My adult child is autistic and showers can send them into shutdowns for hours. They have to be planned out in advance and not close to any other activity. This is just one example of how restricted their life is.

Do you suffer this way?

These things are real for autistic people.

Of course you could make it up, you could also pretend you have a bad back, seizures, the list is endless, what does that have to do with the real challenges autistic people face.