Has media coverage of benefits made anyone else feel guilty claiming PIP?

[JustHereForthePIP]

With all the fury in the media about benefits and scroungers, has it made anyone else feel guilty they get PIP, like it somehow makes you "less than". Or you shouldn't claim if you could scrape by without it?

I realised my household (me and 3 disabled DC) get quite a lot in disability benefits. But as none of us had any issues applying for PIP/DLA (all went through with no appeals, just accepted on the medical evidence) we're probably all quite far over the threshold to need it. As in it's bloody obvious we're disabled.

I think part of the guilt is that I still work as well, although I know it's not an out of work benefit. Oldest DC is in final year at school and also died a supported weekend job to build life skills. So we have other income, but still get DLA/PIP.

BhandraBhai your disgusting!

I guess I do because I was a Social worker and got epilepsy, then got Multiple Sclerosis, then got COL4A1 (1000 in the world) and finial had a stroke. I guess I like everybody to know that I was a Social worker before I got sick, and I worked with epilepsy and MS for 9 years.

It was the stroke that finally got me AND I get paid ill health retirement so no benefits (30 years). That makes me feel better!

So yes it does.

On behalf of my DW (who gets it at the enhanced rate): "No, of course not!"

It's made me upset that people I know, who have genuine disabilities and a lot of extra costs for their healthcare/travel to appointments etc, get nothing, when some people who seem to have it much easier get nothing.
But I definitely wouldn't grudge anyone, and if I needed it, I wouldn't feel guilty claiming it.

If you feel guilty then you are probably one of the recipients who genuinely has a claim for it.

Those who don’t feel guilty will be the ones who - in my honest opinion - don’t have a legitimate claim for it.

Yes hugely, It doesn't help that I claim for MH issues including anxiety.

Genuine question - what extra costs do you face because of your anxiety?

It's because I have a legitimate claim that I don't feel guilty.

I'd prefer to pay for some asylum seekers than some of the national born scroungers. People who've been given every chance but still blame immigrants for their lack of opportunity.

Sorry but how are 'scroungers who have had every chance' the same as people who have disabilities?

I understand there are some people who are living off the benefit system and just do not want to work and avoid finding a job but these are not the people that are on PIP.

The PIP assessment is very strict and notoriously difficult to the amount of points needed to qualify.

People who just can't ve arsed to work can't just claim PIP. You need evidence to show you meet the threashold of each descriptor such as needing assistance to wash or needing assistance to cook a meal.

The people on Job seekers who do whatever they can to secure a job or not the people on PIP or LWRCA.

Do NOT feel guilty! A proper society's more than capable of protecting and providing for those who need and deserve it.

No one would choose to be disabled, with all the struggles it entails. Don't take on the useless judgement of others. They don't know what it's like. Also even top rate pip is fuck all in real terms. It should be more.

It’s about £600pcm which is not “fuck all” to most people.

I feel guilty. I’m on pip because I had cancer. I’m cancer free now which is why I feel so guilty by my DP reminds me of the frequent days that I literally cant move from the sofa, my memory is shot and I’m going through a chemical menopause caused by chemo.

id never claimed before and in fact a high tax payer pre kids but I still feel guilty

Fair point. A little empathy to immigrants wouldn't go amiss given the current backlash against disabled people though. You could argue that there are too many migrants that don't deserve to claim asylum but it equally could be argued that some of the PIP applicants don't deserve to claim either.

I'm not arguing for either group. Does the previous poster really think that getting rid of immigrants will give disabled people more funding. She shouldn't depend on it (or he).

That would be high rate daily living and standard mobility roughly.

Some people get £120 a month for just standard mobility.

Its very difficult to get higher mobility and daily living. Most people who have that have been to tribunal to win it.

No, stopping benefits to foreign people probably wouldn't make a difference to British born people receiving PIP.

But if you are here arguing that British born disabled people (who most likely have contributed to taxes at some point in their lifetime) don't deserve PIP how can you justify immigrants coming here, having never paid into the system, deserveto claim universal credit?

No for my daughter. We've struggled for years with so many needs, sensory and care. I've only just got it as i never applied for it and it's only for 2 years until she's old enough.

She's benefitting from it hugely. It's a tough process so I can't see how they just give it to anyone. If you get it you deserve it. I am more worried about the government who will probably win the next election. I dread to think what poor innocent people wiill do and made to feel like. The poor kids and innocent people who really do need it.

The whole point is : if you can work and contribute you should. If you can't you should be able to access a safety net.

I would argue if you come to a country, you should be working and contributing. If you need social housing and you cannot work then you shouldn't be able to enter the country.

I would live to go and live in Australia. But I'm disabled and have no way to support myself. So I can't.

I would not expect to turn up on Bondi Beach and expect a house and mobey each month.

I think this is really insightful. I probably have a lot of internalised ableism and try to hide my disability as much as I can. I obviously need to work on this.

No, I do not feel any guilt over the benefits me and my husband receive.

No one should ever feel guilty claiming a benefit that they are entitled to. If the powers that be decided your children were disabled enough while you still work then they are entitled to claim. I was finally awarded on my third claim and I was awarded a years worth of back pay after a tribunal for my second claim.

@SunCloudRain

How old is your son ? Maybe think a bit laterally about what might help him to gain skills and independence.
I adopted my son age . He was already in receipt of DLA. He was in special school and had what was then called a statement, now EHCP. There was a lot of stuff in that statement which he just didn't get. So I spent the money on things which replaced them - swimming lessons, tennis lessons, even a personal trainer. We worked on his hand/eye coordination, gross and fine motor skills, not walking on tip toe, core strength so he could sit and stand up straight. Later on it was extra tuition in English. I was just a bit imaginative about his needs and how they could be met. He did go on to get PIP which is now up for review. We have agreed that he has progressed so much in the last 2 years that we will decline the review and stop it.

No I dont feel guilty. I have just been awarded PIP following a diagnosis of incurable breast cancer.
Apart from a two year self funded career break when I was 40 ie no benefits needed or claimed, and a year adoption leave, I have worked since I was 21 and left uni. Im 61 now.
Maybe I will recover enough to go back to work, maybe I won't, maybe I'll just die prematurely. But for now I need the support.

But they can't claim UC or anything else until they're awarded LTR, which can take some time and they don't get anything that anyone else doesn't before, during or afterwards..

I think its insightful of you to recognise it for what it is. If it helps think about your children. Would you think it fair for them to be poorer throughout their lives than an able bodied person in the same job, when both worked equally hard, because their disabilities cost them money for things the able bodied person doesn't need to pay for? That's what PIP is for. To try to address the cumulative years of financial disadvantage people often face, however hard they work.

Why would I feel guilty? I had to do a mandatory reconsideration to get it.