Can I just take the time to give my heartfelt thanks to all those on Mumsnet who have taken an interest or action over the crisis currently facing all the disabled and longterm sick.
I don't want to hijack your site but we have so far been given no other voice in the media, despite the long and hard efforts of many.
I will confess - I am not a Mum. It was the biggest wish of my life that I would be. However, I was in an accident when younger, that left me with so many problems, I felt I could not bring children into the world when I could barely look after myself without help.
I had to get into debt simply to survive and pay for care in the early years. I then spent years scrimping by to pay the money I had borrowed back to the banks as I felt it a moral duty. I could have gone bankrupt and let the banks bear the burden and now I wish I had!
I think the public has been grossly misled by this government and the previous. A concerted campaign in the media has left the public to think that everyone on benefits is a scrounger - this was deliberate, so that when the unthinkable assault on the sick and disabled began, the public would not complain. They haven't. So far.
I have every sympathy for Riven and hope she will get the help she needs. But I don't want anyone to be under any illusion that this case is unique. A photo op with Cameron must not hide the reality of what is really going on.
Disabled people have been living in fear since the emergency budget in June and the Spending Review in October - we have even been blamed by IDS for being the cause of the financial mess the country is in!
The public do not know that the current changeover from Incapacity Benefit to ESA will begin for existing claimants in March. This means being subjected to a computerised medical by ATOS, paid millions by the government to do their bidding,where people are being deliberately found fit for work when they are seriously ill and disabled.
It is practically impossible to get put in the ESA "Support" group, even if previously deemed as unfit for work for life under the old system. GP letters, Consultant reports are ignored.
The government says it wants to get disabled people into work, yet the test has no practical application for day to day ability in a work environment. It was labelled as causing misery to thousands by declaring people fit for work when they were not by Danny Alexander, only weeks before the election.
Most of us are struggling just to get through the day. This has been made so much harder by the constant harrassement in the press. There has been a sharp increase in the numbers of disabled people reporting they have been verbally or even physically abused in the street. Many say they are now too afraid to leave their homes for fear of this or that someone who "can't see anything wrong" with you, will follow the governments instructions to report them to the DSS. Many disabilities are hidden. Going out one day for an hour may be at the cost of extreme pain, exhaustion and several days having to recover. This is the bit no one sees. The days and nights alone of pain and tears - and fear.
Many also say they are storing up their medication as a final solution if all these changes go through. I know this is true - I am one of them.
The purpose is not to get disabled people into work, there are no jobs and if we could work we would. We are not all wasters with no education milking the system. Many members of the public seem to think "Shameless" is a documentary.
The only purpose is to turf everyone of Incapacity Benefit onto Jobseekers Allowance, to save the extra few pounds a week meant to cover the additional costs of illness.
Now they are to get rid of DLA, using the same test, which ignores anything you actually say or any evidence from specialists. It is to be replaced with PIP. The expressed intention is to remove 20% of claimants. Yet the DWP own figures say that only 0.5% of claims are fraudulent. It is already an extremely hard benefit to get, requiring medicals and tons of supporting evidence and usually an appeal to a tribunal.
This benefit is available to those with a disability who can work to help with additional costs of adaptations, transport etc. Many who lose their DLA will also lose their jobs. People are already losing their homes.
My plea to Mumsnet is please do not fall for the politician smile and blandishments over Riven. How can there be "sympathy" for one in the media, when the knives are out for all those who are not.
Please support the online petition and the one month to heartbreak blog
Thank you for reading.