To wonder if all those gleeful about PIP cuts are going to welcome people with serious mental health conditions as colleagues and employees?

[Somethingthecatdraggedin7]

Given the amount of ableisism I see on MN I think the likelihood of people welcoming people with serious mental health conditions into their workplace is pretty low.
And yes, these people will very likely now be forced to try to work even though their condition makes it impossible. We are not just talking about some lazy twenty year old who expects to sit at home gaming due to his “anxiety” as many people seem to believe is the case. It will be people with significant impairments to social functioning.
Even if they get support to apply for jobs, and even if they then get the position (doubtful) how accommodating will colleagues or customers be if the person seems a bit odd, or gets adjustments workmates deem unfair?
This is going to be a total shit show.

Lots of people don’t realise that they could become disabled suddenly eg stroke tonight or tomorrow.
Not everyone has partners who will stick around and support them and they would soon be navigating the NHS and benefits system and quickly realising it’s very hard to work or get new employment with a disability.

Exactly! I truly despair at the level of nastiness and hate aimed at disabled people lately. Stirred up mainly by the government. I thought the Conservative government was bad,but I never expected it of a Labour government. How wrong I was. As a disabled person myself,I experience it on a low level nearly every day, from people refusing to give way to me when they can see I'm struggling,to the selfish bastards who take up the priority seats on buses and pretend they haven't seen me. I can see that making disabled people find work is going to end up in a perfect shit storm. Their colleagues will be bitching and complaining about them not pulling their weight and having to take up the slack.

Which is where I worry. We know how inadequate our mental health services are, our vocational training programmes etc. Will there be help in place before people are getting their support cut?

Pre-Covid I did some volunteer work at a centre for adults with learning difficulties, it was really difficult just finding them work experience and they were all desperate and able to work.

I knew who you were referring to. I have two nephews and their dad who claim pip. Admittedly the father does now need it because due to his lifestyle (drink, drugs etc) he is now genuinely disabled and would not be able to work. The two nephews suffer from anxiety. One in particular saw a distressing incident when he was 17 (someone got hit by a car) and he has never worked since. Admittedly yes, this is an awful thing to witness but I have watched two women die in a riding accident and seen a fatal car crash and I am not on a pip due to anxiety. I do suffer from menopausal anxiety but I have to try and work through it with some adjustments. As a PP said we have encouraged low resilience in this country.

I live in an area where there is a military base and a lot of people who do work for us are ex-military (window cleaner, taxi drivers, gardeners etc) and I think of all the things they may have witnessed and seen and probably suffer from some form of PTSD and they still work.

Where does that leave people who have no family, or whose family is unable to help them for whatever reason?

I'm sorry this is so triggering for you

Do you honestly have that much faith in the system that, that will happen because I don't. The ones playing the system will be fine as they know how to and aren't concerned about lying to drs and on forms. The people who will suffer will be the genuine people who don't know how to play the system and don't have the ability to explain and fight their case properly. I really wish people knew the truth of what it was really like applying for pip

I have eupd and bipolar which iv been sectioned for on several occasions and lots of physical health conditions i got turned down for pip initially. People have way to much faith in the system if they think it will only impact people with low level anxiety and depression.

Your family has clearly had a lot of suffering. I’m interested why someone who has scoliosis needs benefits though? It’s not a disability. I am asking from a position of knowing far more about it than I’d like to, btw. Obviously you’re not obliged to answer!

'Mindset'??

Bloody hell.

I really hope you're not involved in the PIP assessment process in any way.

No there isn't. More bullshit propoganda. The Rowntree foundation actually studied this claim rather than simply parroted what they'd read in the Daily Mail.

It found that:

• Even two generations of complete worklessness in the same family was very rare.
• There was no evidence of 'a culture of worklessness' – values, attitudes and behaviours discouraging employment and encouraging welfare dependency – in the families taking part in the research.
• Working-age offspring remained strongly committed to conventional values about work and were keen to avoid the poverty and worklessness experienced by their parents.

www.jrf.org.uk/work/are-cultures-of-worklessness-passed-down-the-generations

Not according to GB news, they're all homeless and living on the streets because of immigrants.

I think this is the issue. People really don't understand that it can happen to them. My earning potential has been severely impacted by disability and PIP helped me fund mobility aids etc even though I'm on a reduced wage. We don't claim any other benefits because DH is well paid. He's now having to be a part time carer to me alongside his heavy pressure career. I worry about his health too.

I'm baffled what has mental illness got to do with brexit. Where do I say mentally ill people voted for brexit. I'm baffled.

So urm reciving benefits and being mentally ill are not the same, I dispise that ablist bull s**T how dare you. Why would you say that?

@Frowningprovidence all the corporates ive worked for for the last 10 years have already had:

• mental health policies
• wellbeing champions
• flexible working
• the option to wfh in times of crisis
• free helplines for mental health support
• access to occupational health and adjustments for disability as standard
• quiet rooms

This isn't new. A lot of places already have a lot in place. I've got colleagues with cancer, chronic heart & respiratory conditions, depression, adopted DC with SEN & trauma, autism. I've worked in offices with colleagues with assistance dogs.

Ah pal, this has been worrying me sick. I'm now my ds's carer but I've worked as a carer in many ways, including palliative, extremely challenging violent behaviour, dementia care, and all types of SEN and whilst many people who do the job are wonderful and compassionate people who choose to do that work, the majority do it because its a job you can hammer the overtime or they can't be employed elsewhere. It also does attract absolute power mad freaks. And lastly, its a job that pays peanuts and really does get monkeys.
The whole care system needs a massive overhaul and I am now a carer for my disabled child and as he gets older I worry more and more what type of people the care sector will attract.
I understood before I decided to change my trajectory that care work was poorly paid, long hours and a job that wasn't thought of as more than being a skivvy but I wanted to work directly comforting people. I one day might write a book about my time as a carer because I have some lovely stories I've been handed down from elderly people and I'd love their stories, advice and tales to be told to other people. But I could also write about the absolute fucking joke the care sector is and how our elderly and vulnerable deserve so much more than the piss poor treatment they get.
The last thing people who struggle to hold down jobs themselves, due to poor mh, significant learning difficulties or even physical issues such as a bad back etc is a job that requires patience, physical graft and dealing day in/out with pissed off staff/clients/managers/families.
Sadly I've a few colleagues kill themselves over the years or die from addiction due to self medication. Often night shift workers will drink during the day to get to sleep and the cycle is vicious.
The care industry doesn't need staff entering it due to force, our clients deserve so much more x

My husband was senior management in a large company, overseeing hundreds of staff and multi million pound projects all over Europe. He had to travel to other countries on a regular basis.

This is not consistent with a 4k a month wage. A role like that usually pays 2-3 times that amount and comes with critical illness insurance.

That's good. I've never worked in a corporate.

So it sounds like people with mental health issues should be targeting corporates.

Someone with MH issues that has been out of the workforce for years, is not going to get a corporate job with all things you mention.
They will be forced into NMW job where you are just a number and not a valued staff member.

Someone with MH issues that has been out of the workforce for years, is not going to get a corporate job with all things you mention.
They will be forced into NMW job where you are just a number and not a valued staff member.

Jobs with my employer include:

• retail roles
• manufacturing
• admin staff
• part time roles

There are roles at all levels in most corporates including entry level and part time work.

Honestly i think a lot of people just aren't looking/trying. I had 3 roles to fill this year and the most junior one took 7 months to fill.

Stop assuming there's no work you can do.

Assume there will be some. Apply first, discuss adjustments for your disability after. We have a labour shortage in the uk, there are jobs and everyone is needed

I’m sure they’ll welcome them in the same way they do now. There are many, many people with really significant mental health needs who manage to work. There will be lots amongst your colleagues that you don’t even realise have those significant needs because they just come to work and get on with it.

Would they get adjustments to enable to them to do their role? Would you even give a second glance at their sparse CV?

You can't discuss adjustments if you don't even get an interview.
Do you think someone with a decade etc out of work is going to be the top of the pile of CVs?