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?

Plus quite often fibromyalgia may be a misdiagnosis.

With my condition (Myasthenia )I can go from ice skating in the morning to literally unable to hold by head up or speak or swallow by the afternoon because the more I move my muscles the worse the communication between the nerves and the muscles until they won't send signals at all any more. So if you see me active one time and in a chair another it doesn't mean I am faking it. And sometimes I use the chair preemptively as a tool to help with pacing. So I might feel fine but know I have a long day ahead and using the chair means I will feel well enough to safely drive home. (My eye muscles stop working if I over do it and my eyelids just close)

Quite a few people I know who now have a myasthenia diagnosis were originally told they had fibromyalgia (because if we overdo it we often get horrible muscle pains for days afterwards)

More available GPS and mental health practitioners to assess people would be more appropriate in terms of the method used to determine fitness to work.
Im not convinced filling out forms yourself is appropriate especially when only 16% are currently backed up with sufficient third party evidence.

I will be interested to hear what, if any, changes are made to assessment methods, criteria and evidence.

Sounds awful & I have never heard of this condition before.

I will forward your post onto my friend.

Thank you

I can't see that happening.

Mobility equipment is VAT free if you have a recognised disability, arthritis is one of those conditions. Plus, arthritis is ridiculously painful, its exhausting and miserable.

@Stirabout I actually agree with this - employ doctors and specialist to do the assessments and weed out those who are scamming but make it a smoother process for those who are genuine. Doctors would also likely be more able to assess if the persons situation was unlikely to change and therefore less often for reviews. Surely this investment would save more than it costs

And yet employers continue to try and force people to come into work when WFH could be an answer for so many. It was such a backwards step after Covid to try and force people back into commuting and forcing days in the office.

I think the problem with ASD is that the spectrum is so large. There are people who can live a relatively normal life and people who will need care for their entire life grouped under the same umbrella. Everyone knows someone with autism, so feel entitled to throw in their opinion because their cousins sister is fine and can work full time as a lawyer, so why does my son need 1-1 supervision and can't count money? The whole system is a mess, and I am desperately disappointed in this labour government and our bloody first past the post voting system which basically forces us to choose between tory tories and Labour tories (I didn't vote for either), and afraid for my son and his future along with others like him.

Because people struggled through. I was one of them. I have had a very tough life and my thresholds for coping and getting on with it have always been very high. I just assumed I was unlucky and that life generally was supposed to be a big struggle. Then I was diagnosed and I came to learn why I'd always struggled. My previous life adversities gave me a certain perspective on life though - ie that it could always be a hell of a lot harder and at least I wasn't having to deal with those things anymore. I had my freedom and a roof over my head. My expectations of life were low and based on survival and reasonable physical health.

People in general, now have far higher expectations. They don't class a happy life as just surviving and not being abused etc. Ds struggles. He's autistic and has some physical challenges, but he had a good upbringing with no serious challenges. He has low resilience and classes each minor setback as a disaster. He's often miserable and classes himself as depressed. His expectations are often reasonable, but he doesn't put a lot of effort into making them happen. Some of his expectations are too high and he needs to adjust them. I think this is what's leading to young people having anxiety and mental health difficulties. Sure, life is a struggle, but the sheltered upbringings that a lot of people have had (including ds) are adding to the low thresholds of coping. We have a friend whose adult dd is the same. It's a shame and I'm not saying they're not suffering, but people used to be more realistic about life and did used to have to get on with it. The pathologising of normal reactions to stresses and strains are doing everyone a disservice. Anxiety and depression are usually treatable. I'm not talking about talking therapy either (which can actually make things worse). Medication is far better now with wider options for adjustment if they're not effective, for whatever reason.

Be more stoic. Life is shit. Everything is a struggle. Expect little. Everything else is a bonus. I'm gen x and an auld plodder. There are generational differences in expectations.

I know people will come back at me and say "but genuine mental illness is crippling". Yes. I know, I've been around it enough and my own depression floored me for some months. You have to meet recovery half way though. There's no magic wand.

Nope anybody with an autism diagnosis can’t live a “normal” life as they are managing a disability.To get a diagnosis it needs to significantly impact and impair life. Autistic people are incredibly resilient, some are contending with adhd and other co morbities too.How it presents will mean some are better than others at handling some aspects from life but none will be living a normal life as such as all will be managing a disability that impacts their life significantly.

Sorry I don’t think this is true Many autistic people including my dd don’t pathologise normal emotions as they don’t understand them and struggle to even identify or even vocalise them. Many women and girls mask, plod on and self medicate, SH, try to kill themselves , succumb to EDs..

Dwp will.need more staff if cuts go ahead, if more people need to now go into the job centre and have appointments.
More admin staff needed?
Anyone agree.

They’ll need whole new teams to offer targeted support to employees and to liaise with employers surely.

this Article is interesting and
disagrees

They have deployed 1000 extra work coaches apparently. Our area has been advertising for roles in GP surgeries as like health coaches to help people with CV's etc for some months. I assume they are thinking if they offer people support in the GP surgeries it will seem less like DWP forcing them back to work ?

Some news headlines on that subject

Specifically says about early intervention. Which is most successful before age 5.

So really we need ASD screening to be part of child development checks and for HV input to not be optional. To get children assessed if needed before age 5 so they can have targeted support.
CAMHS needs sorting too for older children needing diagnosis and support. The delays aren’t acceptable anymore in light of what the government intends to do re benefits.

It’s complete bullshit and written by a private American company pushing ABA therapy. Saying any autistic person can meet their dream and goals is laughable.

But was it written by someone with lived experience? Or was it just one of those "experts" who can't grasp that we're all different?

I think this is a very honest and informative response.

I agree that people expect a lot, and the smaller pleasures people used to enjoy just aren’t seen as enough now. People are quite entitled and believe they should have the best of everything, good enough isn’t good enough now.

My brother sounds similar to your son. Our upbringing wasn’t easy. But we’re many years down the line now. He’s always been depressive and quite needy, he’s never grateful for what he has and has tantrums when he thinks life is unfair or it isn’t going his way. He’s 26 with a flat (gifted deposit), good job which is the one he always wanted, he’s in good health and has no major disadvantages yet sent me a series of pathetically self pitying texts and went on SSRIs because he failed his driving test. Yep, seriously. He said it was (his words) ‘just so unfair’ and ‘ruining his life’. He passed on the third attempt which is hardly unusual but was unbearable in the interim frankly. He seems to have absolutely zero awareness that others have needs, it’s very much all about his feelings, and he can be very dark and a quite aggressive if he feels people aren’t instantly validating them.

The piece comes from a group of professionals that deal with children and their lives moving forward
So it focuses on the research in that area
I think it’s clear though that people in need, need support and benefit from that.

However
The point of posting related to research on ‘living a normal ‘ life.
of course the perception of normal is not the same for everyone.

My dd will need an expert in all her conditions and somebody who is prepared to take responsibility for her safeguarding after their recommendations and forced job meetings and interviews.

Not it’s a crappy American website selling controversial ABA conversion therapy.

And I can guess how work coaches will perceive the lives of others , much the way PIP assessors do leading to people getting 0 points and having to go tribunal. It will be the professional version of ‘well you look fine to me’ and if you don’t like that they’ll issue sanctions .

No
This is a whole group that cares for children with autism and their lives moving forward
This isn’t just one individual
Scientists and workers in the field.
If you read the whole article which I’m afraid I can’t link they note individual differences as well and much more

It absolutely is not by people who care it’s pushing ABA therapy which is abusive conversion therapy that leads to increased suicidal idealisation and MH problems further down the line .