So, who is going to employ all these disabled people the government wants to wean of welfare

[Jimisnotmyname]

Really wondering. Not saying it is necessarily a bad thing to encourage those who can work, to work but as a carer for 2 disabled family members, I am hugely struggling to find another job as nobody is willing to give me any flexibility (which I need as a carer) and there are always candidates who do not need the same accomodations I do. I would imagine that many of those currently not in work because of disability or a health condition, will often need a similar level of flexibility. I just wonder who on the the government think will offer jobs galore on these circumstances??

Thank you. Well someone up thread seemed quite insistent that wheelchair users could quite easily go to work because that's what their wheelchair is for 🙄

I want to work. I'm desperate to work. I've lost my career which I absolutely loved. It's soul destroying not being able to. This isn't the life anyone would choose and it's really awful when people think we are choosing it.

What knee jerk reaction are you referring to?

she said period pains, but actually it’s the divorce bit that really infuriated me.

especially when she wafted in to the office a few days in swinging shopping bags whilst her colleagues bathed with work and answering the phone (she was the receptionist). She really didn’t look that anxious.

The Equality Act is not difficult to understand. It's rather patronising to tell people that something is too complex for them. The EA has to be interpreted by employers all the time and they aren't all employment lawyers.

As the parent of a neurodiverse child I find the amount of posters on MN with autism and give this as a reason as being unable to work astonishing.

They are well enough to type out reasoned arguments on mn but can’t countenance getting any job as they are either too anxious, shy, etc etc.

I am raising my DC to understand that , yes they have challenges, but there is a future of work for them. I’d hate for them not to think that way

If we’re forcing people on long term sick to go to work, is the job market booming enough to support this incoming mass of applicants? I fortunately have a job, but frequently look around for other jobs out of curiosity. All that’s out there in my area is HGV drivers, or care work that requires a driver. I don’t drive and can’t afford to 🤷‍♀️

Wishing him well that he will find something that suits him to the ground and makes him happy.

There needs to be a database of employers who are prepared to take disabled people on with adjustments. Then work coaches can refer people to those employers? But thoughtfully, and they can check in on the employees to get them settled in and make sure they're happy and coping.

I have limited capacity for work, so I set up my own business so that I can work within my capacities, but I don't have sick pay and can't progress from here, I'm doing all I can.

I would love to get a wfh job that's flexible enough for me to earn more and work to the limits of my usefulness rather than having to play it safe and stay skint.

So just googling, there are currently around 800,000 job vacancies in the UK, while there are est 1.7 million people on job seekers, then around 4 million on disability, so I’m confused as to where they think all these jobs for disabled people are going to magically come from if we don’t even have enough vacancies for those claiming job seekers? Or is that me not understanding?

At my first PIP assessment I scored zero points. None. Nada.

This is despite reams of evidence, the LA moving me into adapted housing, my OT referrals to wheelchair services and adaptation departments at the LA and hospital, my employer's reports and their referrals to clinical psychology and OT. They came out to do the assessment and saw me unable to move, sit up, engage, etc.

They said I was fit and healthy and did not qualify for PIP.

It definitely applies to me.

I hear You

Its like the poisoner, Graham Young. Though he had been released from Broadmoor, He was employed by a company and he was he Tea Boy !!
Couldn't make it up .
Sadly some co workers died.

Grief is not a disability nor should it be treated as such.

It’s a normal human experience - horrific when it involves someone like a child - but it’s something we should consider that we might need some time off work for, but not long term sick leave.

Sorry, I forgot that spectacularly low paid jobs are reserved for healthy people only.

Yes. Years ago interviews were a two way thing. The employers were seeing if you were a right fit for their organisation, and the person being interviewed was also assessing the environment, role and conditions to see if it was the right fit for them.
When you have a disability, it is very important for the job, conditions and environment are the right fit for you. Otherwise you wont last long there.
Forcing people into any job means that you can't make that decision for yourself. End up in unsuitable work to keep the job centre happy. Then end up becoming too unwell or burning out and having to go through it all again.

I find this so hard to know, because while in the one hand I do believe that so many people are disabled and miserable, the truth is also that most countries don't have anywhere near this welfare system and it turns out people will in fact find solutions if left with less choice.

I believe the people who say their kids need separate bedrooms for mental health reasons. I believe they honestly believe so.

At the same time, most countries I have lived, for most people, that would have never been possible, often instead 7 people of three generations sharing a 30m2 flat and... people live their lives as well.

The question is what explains the state of despair in the UK? Because it's not normal.

We can raise our children to want to be part of the workforce but we can't influence those who probably won't want to employ them. Currently only 30%of autistic working-age people are in employment.

I'd absolutely love to tell you of the dark place I was in at one time in my life, but I'll spare my dignity by not revealing the shameful gory details of just how bad things got.

I was extremely and I mean extremely good at compartmentalizing. I could go to work and transform into an 'actress'. I did my job. And I did it well.

I used to come home and fall through the door and hide in my bed (with bottles of booze sometimes at my worst ) on my days off.

Being that 'actress' and keeping the facade up at work, I owe my sanity to.

Thank god, I caved and sought help (didn't reveal to gp just how bad I was) and tried medication. It was transformative, like a bloody miracle had happened (not overnight obviously).

So don't tell me someone who goes to works anxiety is 'mild'.

I accept some people need signing off work. That's absolutely reasonable.

But once again, that's not the target audience. Anxiety is another condition that is open to abuse. Because you can't 'prove it'. So it's a lovely label for the workshy. I can see that as someone who's most certainly had it.

I haven’t read the full thread so haven’t seen if you made other comments but if you are as physically disabled as you describe, then you should be being supported by the state. I’m not sure many people would disagree with you and others in the same situation being supported.

A friend of mine has two sons in their 20s, both on the spectrum. They’ve got through school and college and now work full time but they get PIP. Even she says she doesn’t know what it’s for because they don’t need it. This is what many people have an issue with.

I haven't been able to secure a position because no one will employ someone who is completely housebound, confined to bed and spends 10 hours a day in the bathroom, cannot focus due to various medications, faints multiple times a day, cries out in pain and cannot wash and dress themselves.

HTH.

I am bipolar and hold down a job fine because I don't take lithium, which is a terrible drug with many side effects. Get your friend to go back to the doctor and ask to be changed to a different medication - such as risperidone. You'll be amazed to discover he is able to work after all and will have a much better quality of life.

Agree with the data base idea.

I was always more than happy to employ people who would only work part time /from home when I was a manager. Was happy to accommodate disabilities. But really struggled to recruit to the roles we had, despite making flexible/hybrids working clear on the adverts. We didn't get many applicants to our entry level roles even though there was heaps of scope for career progression too.

At my first job I was a low level manager, and we employed a lot of people with intellectual disabilities. It was back of house hospitality, the kind of thing anyone can do. Employing people with disabilities was really hard. We as managers had no training, and the people below us who were on minimum wage had no training and no idea why we had employed people (and kept people on) who couldn’t do the job quickly and easily. There was animosity towards some staff who were disabled because they were “bad”, and there were some nasty incidents. Higher ups also moaned because we had bad food times and people were out late ect.

We asked for more training and help, upper management (who don’t actually have to deal that much with other employees) gave us useless equality and diversity training. We did end up finding practical solutions, but it was trial and error, and frankly way above my actual pay grade. They should have just trained us.

But the kind of jobs lots of these people are going to get are simply not equipped to help them thrive. Unless the government is going to actually help employers understand disabilities better, and have mandatory training not just on equality and diversity but practical ways to help, it will be useless.

It might be that they can write a good answer on an anonymous forum where they have time to form the sentences and make it make sense, but will freeze and not be able to do that at a job interview or accidentally sound like that weird person that people tend to avoid. If you can't get past the interview, you can't get a job. It's not like in the past you can just go into a workplace and get given a job. Also many jobs are now customer facing which might be their weakness. It's harder to work and keep away from the general public.

But you are absolutely deluded about what employers “have” to do. Therefore, it appears that it is a topic that is too complex for you to understand.

A lot of us were diagnosed in later life and did not have the support your DC have.
If I had been diagnosed as a child, life would have probably turned out a lot differently now. A lot of people especially women, that found out they were autistic later in life felt relief but also a lot of anger and grief for a life they missed out on.