New medical checks for disabled

[Kaloki]

Article

So confused

"Ministers propose to end the automatic right to disability living allowance"

What automatic right??

"Welfare support will also be conditional on disabled people acting on government instructions to "better manage or improve their situation if appropriate"."

Right.. that sounds like it's going to be really helpful.

It's just another disgraceful attack by this gov on the most vulnerable in society - as if it's not hard enough to get DLA as it is!

Here's a 'Have your say' on the Direct Gov website (much good that will do.... )

here

I came to MN just before switching everything off but now I am going to bed with that gnawing feeling that you know a night's sleep is not going to help. Was talking to DH yesterday about this (general changes to DLA and treatment of disabled people on the horizon but wasn't expecting it so soon..........)

They want to call the new benefit PIP (Personal Independance Payment ). Typical - start with a 'cute' name and go from there.

Oh and they are tying it up with getting back to work. What about the children!!!

"?employment: DLA can act as a barrier to work rather than enabling people to live independent lives"

Do these wankers still think that DLA is some kind of unemployment benefit? They've been in office for months: surely somebody could have enlightened them?

this doesn't surprise me.
our love con man of a prime minister and hit government have no idea about disabilities and seem to want to make disabled people seen as scroungers.
makes be bloody angry as people like my dd who cannot walk or talk are going to be the ones who pay for their ignorance.
so whilst everyone is protesting about adults paying for their adult education, this will just all slip through.

They're also saying that they're not decided whether or not to review kids' DLA, but then state they'd reduce payments for kids that got help in school.....

Reductions for those who have aids and adaptions....

Help in school, aids and adaptions, neither of these reduce the additional costs inherent in living with disability.

it is not just children though, this will affect adults too,
but I think they would love more kids in MS as it is loads cheaper for them

cory It's ridiculous isn't it? And not at all worrying because a govt who don't know what DLA actually is are so the right people to make changes to it.

Why doesn't Cameron know about DLA, given how disabled his own son was?

Guess it's because he didn't need the money.

I think the Government know that DLA is paid regardless of whether the person is in employment. The point they are trying to make I think is that DLA as well as other benefits that may be paid to a disabled person disincentives work and so the disabled person does not try and get into work.

Seems a bit callous to me

my ex was given DLA as he was paraplegic, despite being in an FT well-paid job.

He used his DLA to save up and buy a spanky new (unmodified) kayak.

"disincentives work"
so pray do tell
who is going to employ dd
she is 15 and severely disabled, can't walk/talk or do anything.
what work is she going to do.

Howcome every time there's a thread about DLA, someone comes on and says 'but dd can't walk or talk, she will never be able to work'?

FFS, can you really not get over your own experience of disability enough to see that other peoples experience of disability may mean that while they are currently entitled to DLA, they may not actually need it. Disabled is not a 'one size fits all' description.

Read what Highlander said. There are plenty of people that can do what her ex did. And yes, it's shit to be disabled, but the county can't afford to pay for disabled people that can support themselves.

It pisses me off that just because someone os entitled to a blue badge they are seen as needing handouts from the government. Sometimes they do, and they should get it, with bells on. But some disabled people don't need it. Being disabled does not mean that you are useless and are unable to contribute to society. It can mean it's impossible for you to work, but it doesn't always.

More support should be put in place to enable disabled people to work, employers should be able to claim money of the government if it costs them to make adaptations for someone. It could cost more than DLA, that would be fine. It's not the money I begrudge it's the attitude. but for lots of disabled people they would probably be happy to work if it was made possible for them, and some would voluntarily give up DLA if they were given the opportunity and the right support to work.

I know some amazing disabled people, and am been part of a team that has supported them to truly amazing things. Please, don't discredit the contribution people can make from a wheelchair.

"More support should be put in place to enable disabled people to work"

DLA has fuck all to do with not working. DLA is not work related. Working people can receive DLA. DLA can be claimed by people who work.

Have we cleared that one up yet?

Right,

"FFS, can you really not get over your own experience of disability enough to see that other peoples experience of disability may mean that while they are currently entitled to... "

I'll assume you mean ESA not DLA.

The point of people coming on to these threads and saying, "but dd can't walk or talk", is that the way ESA is currently decided on is dodgy as it is, and tends to assume even severe disabilities are to be worked around. If they want to crack down further on ESA then they are not exactly going to get more accurate.

Bt aside from that, you are right, more help needs to be in place for helping disabled people into work. Rather than trying to take away their safety net.

I know that DLA has fuck all to do with working. That's not really the point. The point is that if someone is capable of supporting themselves without goverment assistance then they should.

I also know that DLA can can enable people to work by paying transport costs or whatever. But imho, that money should come through the employer if that's what it's being used for. More people would be able to work if they had they right support, simple things can make a huge differnce to people. Like having the right wheelchair, which plenty of people wrongly have to go without.

I really don't know enough about ESA to be able to say much, except that whatever government benefit we are talking about doesn't make much difference, people who don't need it shouldn't get it.

No, being disabled does not = wheelchair bound. And people that have hidden disabilities will have a hard time claiming what they are entitled to, as they already do. It's not nice, but something does have to be done to prevent fraudulent claims, so other tham making people prove beyond doubt that they are disabled, what else should be done?

I can see that a persons own experience of disabiltity is likely to be foremost in their mind when they hear proposals like this, and maybe my words were quite harsh. It does grate on me though. Nobody is going to expect a non walking, not talking child to go out and earn money. People need to look beyond their own experience if they want to provide a rational, valid opinion on a policy like this that affects millions of people in vastly different ways.

There is an automatic right to DLA when you have a disability, and there shouldn't be. It's the same as people who are worth a fortune being entitled to child benefit. If they don't need it, they shouldn't get it. We simply can't afford it.

I just think that more appropriate support should be in place, and people who need it should be given everything they need, not just a token payment, which in many cases doesn't even begin to cover the costs that can be associated with a disability.

They do need to overhaul the system, with ability and individuals being the new focus.

"There is an automatic right to DLA when you have a disability,"
bollocks
if that is the case how come so many get turned down?

"The point is that if someone is capable of supporting themselves without goverment assistance then they should."

Curlymama, do you claim Child Benefit?

Just thought someone should ask.

"There is an automatic right to DLA when you have a disability,"

Living in cloud cuckoo land there.

People are turned down routinely because of backlogs and scarily because the person dealing with your claim has not come across your disability.

In an attempt to save money the govt are going to stop more deserving people claiming dla then scroungers claiming dla.

I am seriously worried that my ds (asd) will get denied dla again under the new proposals. He will live at home with us forever, he is incontinent, he is violent, he is non-verbal and unable to make decisions.

FFS. It really doesn't take long before someone asks the child benefit question around here does it. Yes, I claim child benefit, because I need it. Although, financially I was much better off when my children were born and I thought it was ridiculous at the time that I was entitled to something I didn't need.

Where have I said that people shouldn't get things they need?

There is an automatic right, if you can prove you need it. It should be easier to prove it, I don't know how, but that's something that should also be reassesed in the overhaul.

There is an automatic right, if you can prove you need it

have you got any idea, how you have to prove it, how much time and form filling and getting back up information is involved????

No, I don't have personal experience of applying for DLA because I am lucky enough not to need it. All I know is what people have told me and what I have read on here. It sounds like a truly awful process to have to go through.

I don't have any suggestions about what they could to to change it though, in a way that would make it easier for people to prove they need it while stillmaking it difficult to claim fraudulently. Do you?

Do you think people should be able to claim something they don't actually need then?

No curlymama we don't think that is ok. On the flip side though, do you think the system should be "tightened up" so that genuine claimants struggle just so a few fraudsters get caught?

"I also know that DLA can can enable people to work by paying transport costs or whatever. But imho, that money should come through the employer if that's what it's being used for."

Except it doesn't, and won't. It would be great, I agree. But what happens instead is the disabled person gets passed over in favour of the able bodied, less expensive applicant.

Taking DLA away will not help more people into work.

"And people that have hidden disabilities will have a hard time claiming what they are entitled to, as they already do. It's not nice"

No, it's not nice. In fact, not nice is the biggest understatement. Think 6 months of trying to deal with the extra costs of the disability while on the equivalent of JSA. 6 months of stress and worry. 6 months of dealing with idiots who don't know the first thing about disabilities, and who are quite happy to treat you like a criminal. And if you are really lucky you'll get caught out by a system where no one talks to any other department and you don't receive any money for 6 months.

"Nobody is going to expect a non walking, not talking child to go out and earn money. People need to look beyond their own experience if they want to provide a rational, valid opinion on a policy like this that affects millions of people in vastly different ways."

You say this, but I know of a blind person refused DLA. Would you say they'd need a little extra help? It may not have occurred to you, but most of us do end up talking to people in the same sort of situation as ourselves. So we don't tend to go by our own experience alone. If I only knew the problems DH and I had I'd probably write them off as fluke. It's the fact they are repeated all over the country that scares the shit out of me.