Independent Living Fund for severely disabled scrapped

[Rannaldini]

Another genius idea here

Bloody hell. Are they stupid?

It'll cost more to have people in care homes and more people will end up out of work as a result.

My understanding was that this quango has been on the ropes for a couple of years now, after being heavily criticised in an independent review (2006 or 2007 I think). Surely the same job will now be done by a more accountable government department?

hmm - that would be a nice thought. But you'd have thought if they were going to continue offering the support under a different name/department they'd have started doing it from elsewhere as soon as the decision was made - not stop all new applicants dead in their tracks. There is nothing there (Except for a care home/hospital) for people that would have applied now.

oh - hang on a minute - bloody hell - it's just dawned on me. Very very sneaky. They're scrapping DLA mobility allowance to people in residential care. Shut down the funding for independent living (where they would be entitled to their mobility allowance) - bung them all in care homes - and so be able to cut the number of people claiming mobility even further

is this where direct payments come from?

I don't think people will end up in care homes, there simply aren't enough places, and I very much doubt this government is likely to fund any more.

What will happen is that people will become prisoners in their own homes, with just about enough money to feed themselves. And that will be it. They won't be able to experience the real world like the rest of us, they will exist in complete isolation.

I worry that this is all about the Tories feeding their mates in the private 'care' industry. David Cameron should be hanging his head in shame, though he never seemed to grasp the concept of social inclusion for disabled people.

Dave. Why have you forsaken us?

Dear Cripples, Scroungers & Whingers,
Don't you know there's a recession on? There's nothing wrong with you lot that some fresh air and honest labour wouldn't sort out. And remember, my own experience of having had a disabled child means that if you question my policies, you're being super mean. Anyway, do fuck off. You're putting me off my dinner.
Merry Christmas,
Love,
Dave.
xxx

I know people who, thanks to receiving direct payments, are able to go out and work (and pay taxes).

Love it Riven. The way the govt are rushing things through, the ticket to Dignitas may come on the first or second day of Christmas

Ticket to Dignitas? House call from the local vet more like.

Good article here although I suspect that however many good articles there are we won't see much in the way of change. I get the impression that all this has been planned for a very long time. And yes it IS being rushed through, they have even cut "consultation" times (not that it looks as though they'll change their mind, however many consultations they pay lip service to) and quango after quango is being binned - voices in government that disabled people fought for over decades are being scrapped as irrelevant and costly. They don't care. They just don't care.

And the most terrifying thing of all is that if you ask someone who has no experience of disability in their life "what will happen if you become disabled" the VAST majority of them do still think that the government will "look after" them. HA BLOODY HA.

yes Grumpla. I was under that illusion before I had my disabled son. The illusion that there is 'somewhere' to go and lots and lots of help.
Ha ha

It is a joke, dave the con man, really seems to hate disabled people.

Yup, sure there'll be someone along in a mo.

Love the cartoons, ThisIsANiceCage and the Twelve Days (Daves?) of Christmas, Riven. Well, we chose our government and we made our bed, so we'll have to lie in it.
Oh, hang on - no we didn't.
It wasn't enough, it wasn't nearly enough - but at least our bright students, our children - made Cameron and Clegg extremely uncomfortable when they showed them how THEY felt. It was good to see some unease on that pudding face.
But not uncomfortable enough. C and C should be having nightmares. The Spirit of Christmas Yet to Come should visit the pair of them this year. Cameron might then see that his late son was Tiny Tim, and it just doesn't do to shit on the Tiny Tims of this world.

[bisciut] for this vile government

or a even, for you bastard tories!

So disabled people in residential care can no longer access funds which allow them to go out or pay for power chairs and other mobility aids.

And this allowance which essentially keeps disabled people out of residential care is being scrapped.

Nice.

Fuck you Dave

I have written to my Mp who it turns out is on the all party parliamentary disability group with initial thoughts on the DLA reforms.

Am collecting info for the detailed response but the letter to Maria Miller from Rhydian Fon James is a [long] starter.

here

Why is the consultation period so short - and over Christmas and probable bad weather (even without this extra cold period.)?

And here's a little gem from MM -
^Miller said that she shared concerns about coverage [demonising scroungers, cheats, you know the usual stuff] of benefit abuse and fraud.

But she said that the rhetoric was being driven by the media and that it was "not particularly helpful to suggest that the government is putting forward that view".

She added: "It's one of our motivations for reforming Disability Living Allowance (DLA) because at the moment we have a benefit which is too open to abuse [HOW SO?] and the sorts of stories that drive such a negative impact and image."^

from the Disability Now website. Reading things like this just make me want to cry and it seems there is nowhere to focus my anger.

Ironically there is little coverage about the reforms themselves. I first heard wbout them here [thanks!] and the Guardian seemed to be the only paper that covered it. It will effect 3 million plus which as I remember is more than those effected by the CB changes. Even ESA got more coverage but maybe because the press could latch onto the fact that it was concerned with unemployed people.

and and again.