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.

People don't normally walk to the airport. The car/taxi takes the strain, and the airports offer a wonderful service for disabled people, called travel assistance, depending on your requirements. It can provide assistance that is booked ahead, and takes the strain out of getting on to the plane in the first place.

Exactly

I understand people being unable to work due to physical pain or a medical issue where you are sick all the time.

I'm still confused with this whole "oh I just find being organised and working too difficult and stressful."

Like today I worked in my bed. If I had a call to take I went to my desk. But I just wrote up report today cuddled up in bed.

I've never had a stressful airport experience. Mostly because I can't drive, so didn't have to sort out the time we were leaving or arriving. We then had special assistance at the airport who took care of literally everything. There was a special queue for luggage, a queue jump for security, early boarding.

You don't often get reasonable adjustments like that, that make the entire process so unbelievably simple, in a workplace.

Absolutely people who have trauma should be welcomed into the workplace.

But would you employ someone who calls in sick often? I have nerve blocks every 12 weeks. I'm quite often in pain again a minimum of 4 weeks before I'm due another injection.

Many of us may only go on holiday once or twice a year.i don't know of anyone going on holiday every week

I overestimated my current capability recently and applied for (and got) a work from home job. I sat at my computer today, wrote the email rejecting the job offer and then sobbed. Not being able to work feels awful. I feel completely trapped. This job was amazing, but I am not well enough to do it full time, and I don't want to let them down.

The idea that we're all sat at home living the life of Riley and that because I could go to Disneyland a couple of years ago via plane, I can do this 40 hr a week job now is ridiculous.

What ails you that you cannot WFH?

What job do you do?

A brain tumour and uncontrolled epilepsy.

Why, do you want one?

What has it got to do with you?

No of course not. I'm so sorry. I was just curious. My choice of wording was crap and I hope you get better soon.

I'm an environmental analyst. I just need laptop.

Ok, so I take it that this is a highly skilled job, that you would need certain qualifications for. Would this type of job be suitable for a person who may not be able to work full time, and may not know if they will be able to be consistent in any way, shape, or form, due to the severity of their disability? If they did not have the requisite qualifications, it would be a no go anyway.

If you're happy to get shouted at that's great for you, I'd just hate to think of an elderly or vulnerable person being shouted at because they're a bit slower than most customers. He's actually getting paid to be rude to people and probably ruining their day which isn't a great way to earn money in my eyes.

And no not desperate at all for people not to work-but it has to be somewhere suitable. It's still a different situation from someone who feels they can't cope with work. This man presumably wants and is able to work and probably doesn't care the effect he's having on customers.

He's actually getting paid to be rude to people and probably ruining their day which isn't a great way to earn money in my eyes.

He's getting paid to collect the trolleys, which he does.

Due to his disability he lacks customer service skills / social graces. The vast, vast majority of the public are very understanding when they encounter mentally disabled people - including the elderly, who seem to have a much more mature and tolerant attitude than those that squeal about some hypothetical 'vulnerable' person that's so completely lacking in empathy for the disabled that they'd rather the disabled person was sacked.

🙄

@ThisOldThang "lacking empathy" because I don't want elderly and vulnerable people verbally abused (or anyone for that matter), ok then 🙄I didn't even say he should be sacked I said it doesn't sound like a great situation and customers should not expect to have abuse hauled at them. Apparently they're fine with it though, you've spoken for them all...

With respect, that sounds like a pretty cushy number. Fair play to you, I'm sure you worked hard to get there.
But, one point I have to make, having watched this conversation closely the last couple of days, is that most people who've endured years, even decades, of mental illness wouldn't have the opportunity to do lovely well paid WFH jobs like that. Often physically hard, poorly paid jobs that the well-paid judgers and benefit-scrapping politicians would certainly not be willing to do themselves.
Some of the stuff on this thread is quite disturbing. Almost fascist 'work sets you free' stuff, which is nonsense by the way. Some work is back breaking and soul destroying. It's unfair that those who've been disadvantaged in many ways are often the ones having to do the poorly paid work. Then persecuted if they dare to say 'enough! I need to look after my health' We need a complete overhaul of society.
If the politicians attacking benefits claimants had to do hard minimum wage jobs, they might be less enthusiastic about the world of work. I mean look how much they give themselves with expenses! Way more than claimants get.
I suffered mental illness and trauma for years. I do work now, but unfortunately trauma prevented me getting a degree, so I am very poorly paid. I can't cope with certain work all year round, so I do it a few months and am self employed the rest of the time. My annual income is pitiful, and I've just accepted that now, as I couldn't cope with the persecution of being a benefit recipient anymore. It's very stressful.
So, please, just believe those who say they can't work due to mental illness etc. No option is easy when you're struggling with illness, disability, trauma and poverty on top. It's beyond my comprehension why people are going after the most vulnerable members of society and leaving the billionaires to keep taking unchecked.
I think most of us who struggle really are doing our best for society and our loved ones.

Excellent post@WoodlandLove. Some people just cannot see outside of their own box. As a child I got to know other children who spent months away from school, due to their disability. Different times, and lots of education was essentially lost. Not to mention having to deal with the difficulties of self image, confidence, and other factors heaped on top. You have really summed up some of the difficulties that some disabled people have faced, and continue to do so. People seem very content to punch down, I just cannot understand that type of mentality.

@WoodlandLove vey well said. I notice that the people who WFH and have loads of adjustments are in established careers with the qualifications and experience to match. I bet my last penny of UC that that they are not in entry level NMW jobs. I don't think there are even any WFH jobs that would be that anyway.
I am always a bit amazed at people who seem to think WFH is the solution to someone not being able to work. My own disabilities do not stop when I get home. I am just as unable to do a lot in my own home as I am out of it. And I don't think working from your bed should be normalised in anyway. When I am very unwell, my bed is my safe space. I can take my PRN meds, blast white noise to drown out my own thoughts, and hope I wake up feeling a little more optimistic about things. I do not want that sanctuary to become my workplace.

@WoodlandLove and @XenoBitch, just wanted to add that I agree completely. People are generally very bad at understanding problems that they don't have, and some people believe they understand everything much better than they actually do.
Regarding going after the disadvantaged (of all sorts) rather than the billionaires, I can imagine multiple rationales. On the one hand, the disadvantaged are weaker and make easier targets, so are more appealing to cowards, of which there are plenty. Or it may be some people want to actively ingratiate themselves with the billionaires, and are therefore willing to take on the task of deflecting attention away from them. But I actually think that a lot of people suffer from the delusion that they have more in common with the billionaires than with the disadvantaged. They think of themselves as 'contributors' - not in the same league as billionaires but at least playing the same position - whereas the disadvantaged are just a (barely) tolerated liability. They often lack awareness of what constitutes a contribution and what constitutes rent-seeking parasitism. More than anything they are painfully unaware of how precarious their positions are, and much more precarious they are becoming with each year.