Ok who wants to swap £2500 a month in benefits for my husbands MS and my epilepsy, narcolepsy and fibromyalgia.

[bluebirdblackbird]

Well according to a lot of people on here we are on a good thing.

the 20 seizures I have in a week, chronic pain and night terrors, losing my memory after a seizure, pissing myself, hallucinations. They are all great fun. Not to mention the amount of times I have been accused of being drunk after a seizure.

or there is my husband. Diagnosed with progressive MS. Cronic Pain, shaking, cronic pins and needles, weakness in limbs plus losing mobility. Had to give up his teaching job 4 months ago after gradually reducing hours.

Not to mention the judgement when we use a blue badge because we look ok in that moment. And apparently labour are going to find us both work. Yippee cant wait to meet the employer who is going to take us both on. I am sure pissing my chair on a reg basis won’t matter to them or the losing counciouness at least a couple of times a day.

i am just fed up of yet another they are on benefits and get money and it’s not fair stamp stamp stamp. The bastards have saved up for a holiday- it’s not fair. The bastards have a mobility car but they look fine, OMG- they have got new carpets or a new sofa.

since I am guessing they none of the moaners would actually swap places with us if they could then STFU.

oh and that pip that is easy to get- my husband gets lower rate for both and that is despite providing all the evidence and appealing so we are off to tribunal. He can’t even dress himself most days and he can’t hold a pan safely or manage his medication plus many other things. If he stays on the points he is on he will lose his pip completely under these new labour proposals.

but most people know someone who’s friends, aunts, nephews, stepdaughters, cousin twice removed who lied and got it. I was taking to a lady in a wheelchair who does not get any mobility component of pip at all.

And as myself and several other posters have pointed out, @Fireandflames has clarified that she does not claim the mobility component of PIP so it’s totally irrelevant. She clearly has been truthful about the distance she can walk and as a result she was not awarded mobility allowance. The distance you can walk has no bearing on the daily living component activities assessed - they are determined on the overall level of disability. So would you care to explain what exactly you think she’s doing wrong ? You asked me about the number of steps. I told you that’s not how walking ability is assessed, and explained how it is assessed. So what’s your problem ?

I have regular carers in for my mum - home care. And she has also had 24 hour care at one point. My DiL is also a care worker. And I beg to differ. Carers are no longer allowed to lift patients. They have equipment to do that. The carers who came in to mum had all that equipment as well as a fully equipped wet room - they still refused to shower her if she said she didnt want to. This was despite her having advanced dementia and my having her LPA. I stopped using local authority carers when I discovered mum had gone weeks without a proper wash and they were using bed bath wipes every day, despite the fact that she was incontinent.

Mum now has a private one to one carer and things are much better. I absolutely am not denigrating carers at all - they should be paid more for what they do. It’s a shitty job in a lot of ways and we’d be lost without them. But like any other areas of work, there are good and bad. You cannot hold one cohort of society up as an example of supporting benefit claimants. It’s a social contract and we all pay in in one way or another - including people on benefits, who can be tax payers too. Something that is often forgotten in discussions like these.

I did all that, up to Mandatory reconsideration, I can't face the trauma of an an appeal at the moment due to more ongoing health issues found unexpectedly last week. All medical evidence was supplied.

I think my issue is i overstate my good days rather than focus on the bad. I just don't have the energy to go through it all again.

I'm well aware it's how illness or disability affects a person, but forgive my incredulity at someone being able to walk 28,000 steps a day, in that case they are athletic level fit. Maybe if they spent less time getting steps in they might be able to work as a fitness instructor or walking tour guide. I'm actually stunned at this and angry, I'm still having to work full time due to having a mortgage :-(

Just mentioning someone’s activity on other threads will get you deleted. It’s trolling. And having read her posts on this particular thread, I can’t see anything to suggest that she is claiming mobility component of PIP - in fact she’s clarified that she isn’t. So what’s the problem ?

Why are you incredulous ? As has been explained several times, there are some conditions which require the disabled person to keep moving in order to deal with pain and stiffness. Some are in more pain when they keep still. I’ve come across many disabled people who prefer to stand rather than sit because they are in less pain that way. That in itself doesn’t mean they are fit for work. . If you look at that posters’ other comments you’ll see that she has multiple disabilities - the need to keep moving is just one element, but in spite of that you’re suggesting she can work as a fitness instructor !!

And as has also been pointed out, the ability to walk has no bearing on the daily living component of PIP - that is decided on the effects of the condition on each activity assessed.

I think it’s really sad when disabled people start criticising and questioning the level of disability of others. I can well understand those without a disability having little understanding of the complexity of disability - you have to live it, either personally or through someone close to you to understand. But disabled people are better placed to understand that no disability affects any two people in the same way, and that disability is complex. There is always more than meets the eye, so should we really be sitting in judgment ?

Don’t know what this means. You’d have to tag whichever of my posts you’re asking about.

No, they don't. I've worked since I was old enough to, and did up until a couple of months ago. I've paid my fair share in, thanks. Plus, if I was able to work, I'd be more than happy for some of my tax to go towards helping disabled people survive.

By the way, I didn't say care workers etc were well paid, or low skilled. I completely agree that they should be paid more. However, that isn't the fault of disabled people, and they can change things if they desired. We can't.

However, that isn't the fault of disabled people, and they can change things if they desired.

Not everyone is capable of getting a higher paid job. It’s not as simple as “just do something else”. That’s as bad as saying “disabled people should just find a job they can do”.

Nah. It's far easier for someone able bodied to do something about their lives than it is for a disabled person who can't function. You can't convince me otherwise.

They have the OPTION to do something else. That's the point. I don't have the option to do anything other than lie here waiting to die. Can you really not see the difference?

They have the OPTION to do something else.

And if they don’t have the ability to lesrn the skills needed to do something else? Or if they are disabled but don’t tick the right boxes for PIP?

I could say that you’re able to post on MN so there are things you could do (that is not actually what I think, btw). I know people working in manual, unskilled jobs who can’t acquire the skills to get online.

Empathy needs to go in both directions,

Why don’t you read her other posts…

however I need to walk the dog so I’ll leave you sparring

When they start to have empathy for me, maybe I'll start to have empathy for them. But while social media is filled with that type of person, screaming about how all disabled people are scrounging frauds, and don't deserve help, then I'm afraid that no, I don't have any empathy towards able bodied people who can work. Quite the opposite.

I am not sure why you feel anger towards that poster. Whether she gets PIP, or not, has no bearing on your own situation. Comparisons are futile.

Someone that is able to walk 28,000 steps a day is capable of some work...
Nothing you say will convince me otherwise

People on this thread and on mumsnet think it's so easy for working people. It isn't. We are told to put up and shut up. Dare we say our pov and we get hounded on.

Aww, diddums. At least you don't have to wear nappies, be washed by someone you don't know, and be confined to bed so you can't see the outside world, go anywhere, do anything, see anyone, live in agonising pain, not be able to eat normal food, etc etc. Honestly 🙄

I have no sympathy for you when you speak to people like that.

Not everybody thinks like that though, most people are just trying to get by. But disabled people getting PIP, or not, will not improve some working people's lot. Not forgetting to mention that a lot of people in receipt of PIP, are also working. You will not find more money in your pay packet, as a result of some people losing their PIP award, if these changes that are being proposed, are actually implemented. People seem to need to have some group of people, or others to vent their frustrations on, instead of looking up, they constantly look down. It is madness.

Agree, A lot of the posts are indeed sanctimonious (with a generous helping of mansplaining added in)

Don't come with the sympathy vote. It doesn't work for me.

Ok, so.

I get pip and I work.

I've just been through my finances. I'm on minimum wage. I get lower rate daily living allowance and lower rate mobility .I will be £20 a week negative if I lose pip. That just for bills to keep me in my house.

That doesn't include food. That's just my bills and I'm in a HA property.

So if I lose my pip I lose my house.

I get about £102 a week in pip.

At the moment I work 20 hrs a week and have a £40 food budget and I have around £20-30 extra a week for social/clothing.

And some of you are seriously suggesting thats too much?

Yep. I say this to my DH often. He covets someone else's lifestyle and I remind him (examples for the purposes of demonstration)

1. They have a nice house because he lost both his parents and she lost her mum in their early 20s - want to swap?

2. He has a nice car because it's a company car and he works 100 hours a week - want to swap?

3. She has a brand new Motability car because her knees have gone aged 40 and she has 2 young children - want to swap?

4. He earns enough that she doesn't have to work but she's desperate to be a mum and their final IVF has failed - want to swap?

5. They regularly go on holiday because she has multiple disorders and doesn't know how long she's got left before she's immobile - want to swap?

These are all anonymised examples of people in our lives who he's envious of at face value. But I remind him if you want the nice bit you have to accept all the challenges that come with it.

You have my love and best wishes OP. I'm sorry you have so many challenges and aren't feeling supported by the system and the proposed changes. My view is yes there are people gaming the system but to presume everyone is denies the bloody hard stuff the rest have to deal with. It's not right to make everyone suffer because someone's claiming more than they're entitled to. It's like whole class punishments for kids because someone was naughty. It's not fair and it's not the rhetoric I want to hear from my government.

I don't want your sympathy 👍

Don’t think this poster is looking for sympathy actually. These are facts, and are aspects common to many disabilities.