Stop the Abolition of DLA

[Glitterknickaz]

The government are proposing to get rid of DLA in favour of PIP. full consultation here

Riven started a fantastic thread in Chat with the very pertinent point that this applies to everyone, that every one of us could be just one step from disability themselves.

There is NOTHING in the media about this. These proposals could mean poverty for the disabled and their families in this country. It could leave some in residential care completely isolated from their families and support networks through the removal of the mobility component.

My family has already been hit three times through the NHS, education and aiming high, via the cuts, if they now remove the money from our pockets we are going to be in a heat or eat situation.

Please MNHQ do something, as many are oblivious to these proposals and what they will mean, including those who themselves already claim DLA.

[JaxTellersOldLady]

I have signed the petition. My parents and PIL rely on this DLA to live and get around.

Without going into too many personal details my mother cannot get necessary health care/operations for herself because she is my Dads main carer and of course if she is in hospital who will provide everything that my dad needs?

I live 400 miles away and do what I can to ease things for them, my sister god bless her, does lots and lots for both of them on a more practical level.

This is a far bigger issue than most people realised I think.

[FooffyShmoofer]

Signed.

[Mouseface]

Jax - exactly. If you mother wasn't able to care for your father, what would happen?

This certainly is a bigger issue. For far more people than might have been thought.

[poshsinglemum]

I'm with you.

[goingroundthebend4]

im in with a wheelchair ye sit increases ds moblity but dont think they have one that climbs steps or where his arms keep going as long as a 6 year okd child can walk .Oh and that aid they provide is to heavy for him so i had to purchase a lightweight chair now shall i send them the bill

[Mouseface]

Can you imagine if we all sent 'the bill' in?

[LaWeaselMys]

sorry was being daft (am a bit knackered, although not as much as some of you!)

go to Care For Carers

[docfunk]

I have just joined to post on here after reading about the DLA and the family in the papers with the disabled child not getting much help and having a discussion about it at work I wanted to get some more point of views,

I have a 11 yo boy,when my partner found out she was pregnant went to the doctors etc,then we had a scan, we were told this scan can tell the sex of the child and if there are any abnormalities with the fetus,thats why it is so early in the pregnancy. With Medical Science as good as it is these days it will spot pretty much any problem early on, so my question is. Why if a pregnant mother knows their child will be very disabled do they go ahead with it,surely they understand that the child,if born will need special care 24/7,that it will cost a fortune and put a huge strain on their lives, fair enough if they are rich and can afford private carers 24/7 but if they are not why should they expect help given to them for free and burden the rest of the already stretched health service?

[Mouseface]

[PacificDogwood]

Petition signed.

Who was it that said something along the lines of 'it is a measure of any society how it treats its most vulnerable' or something similar?

Measured against that benchmark we (as a society, I mean; individually we are all marvellous of course ) have little to be proud of...

[confuddledDOTcom]

Oh heck, just followed a link from Facebook to the BBC to here (through Riven's link)

I see the trolls are out on this one too! MN must have had 100s of new members this year all coming to set us straight on something!

Shall I go to the other thread and fetch the crash helmets, pillows, wine and paracetamol?

[Mouseface]

Actually, balls to the biscuit.

doc - I had all the scans, all the appointments before giving birth, took all the advice given to pregnant women.

Infact, I had additional scans due to my own health issues.

Do you know what? NOT ONE of the scans picked up DS's life threatening heart condition, or his restricted airway, narrowed jaw meaning he was unable to breathe without tubes for the first 4 months of his life, or his cleft palate, or the hole in his heart.......

Or any other of his conditions.

NOT ONE.

So, I'd seriously think about what I were posting if I were you.

And for the record, even if the scans had shown his disabilities/conditions up before birth, I would NOT have terminated the pregnancy.

As is my right.

Now please, go away unless you have something helpful to add to this campaign.

[ThisIsANiceCage]

If you're talking about the case in the papers, I understand (from people here who know Riven) that her daughter was injured during birth.

Other people may have religious objections to killing an unborn child.

For myself, I became disabled as an adult at what should have been the peak of my working life.

There are many ways to become ill and disabled: tomorrow, docfunk, it could be you. Or your 11 year old.

And by the way, Riven was specifically worried about asking for help because she said there were people like you out there. It was hard to imagine. Now here you are, joining MumsNet specially to say her daughter should be dead. Nice.

[PacificDogwood]

docfunk, you have a right to your opinion, but frankly it is offensive. And incorrect (wrt all disabilities being detectable before birth). If your, or any other child were to have severe and complex needs after an accident say, should society not be burdended with the cost??

Shame on you.

[Mouseface]

confuddled - yes please, large glass of wine is needed here.

I'm a little bit cross tonight.

[ReclaimingMyInnerPeachy]

Docfunk thats not so

scans only pick up some congenital abnormalities and theyc an test for certain genetic disorders

So many things are missed or happen later; autism cannot be picked up, CP tends to occur later or even after birth

People walk out in front buses or catch a virus that causes brain damage

Scans and tests pick up far less than we often think and I do worry that people think they get the all clear for an NT baby when its most certainly not

[KalokiMallow]

docfunk
a) not everything can be tested for,
b) not all tests are offered to everyone
c) not all tests are 100% accurate
d) some people have enough money/support at birth but circumstances change
e) some disabilities are not there at birth
f) some people do not agree with abortion
g) some people long for the baby so much that they cannot bear to give up on it

oh and
h) a disabled person is worth 10 of you

[docfunk]

I don`t know the circumstances of her child's problems, it was just that story that started the discussion at work.

Mouseface,your childs problems were not seen in the scans,OK fair enough nothing could be done.
But if a mother knows there will be problems for the rest of the childs life costing the tax payer hundreds of thousands of pounds do you think that is fair? They had the child it is their issues not the rest of the populations.

[Triggles]

docfunk before you get flamed, I will point out that (since obviously it hasn't occurred to you) some disabilities are NOT visible on scans. No scan will show severe autism, for example. And many disabilities occur at the birth, due to an abnormal or difficult childbirth causing lack of oxygen in the baby or physical trauma. Some disabilities occur after the birth and are due to trauma or severe illness of some sort.

Oh, and just a note, those scans that involve "medical science as good as it is these days" ??? They couldn't even tell if our DS2 OR DS3 were boys or girls during the pregnancy. So, no, scans are not always that good. There are tons of things that can affect their accuracy.

Not to mention that your idea that only babies of wealthy people have a right to life is appalling and sickening. Have a

[Mouseface]

[kittycat37]

docfunk

you sound like a eugenicist - uuuggghhh, you've made me feel quite sick, I didn't know people really had opinions like that apart from in 1930s Germany.

[ReclaimingMyInnerPeachy]

Much as I do detst docfunks opinions (and really I do) I also think the media spins what can be tested for.

I know my autism; just handed in my MA module on aetiology so i think we will agree yes?

We're nowhere near a test, not even a glimmer: yet the media makes it sound when they find a link in say 0.00001% of cases that the test starts tomorrow

And I think docfunk needs to consoider what life is really like: all my sons were born when we were financially OK; redundancy and- whoosh.

[Mouseface]

OMG - doc

Did you really just post that?

[docfunk]

Peachy...
Close on the heels of a cancer-proof baby being born in UK, screened in the womb to exclude a cancer-causing gene, a new research raises possibility of prenatal screening for autism by potentially identifying the condition in unborn babies.
Scientists at Cambridge University discovered that high levels of testosterone in the amniotic fluid of pregnant mothers was linked to autistic traits in their children, the Telegraph reported on its website on Monday.
The findings raise the possibility of undertaking tests in the womb to detect the condition, which would allow parents the controversial ability to decide whether to terminate fetuses. Experts are now calling for a debate on the consequences of the screening process, called amniocentesis, which is already used to detect Down?s syndrome in unborn babies.
?If there was a prenatal test for autism, would this be desirable? What would we lose if children with autistic spectrum disorder were eliminated from the population?? professor Simon Baron-Cohen, director of the research team, was quoted by the Guardian as saying. ?We should start debating this. There is a test for Down?s syndrome and that is legal and parents exercise their right to choose termination, but autism if often linked with talent. It is a different kind of condition.?
Experts from the university?s autism research centre discovered the testosterone link after studying 235 children from birth to the age of eight. They found that when high levels of the hormone were found, children showed autistic traits such as a lack of sociability and verbal skills by the time they were eight.

[KalokiMallow]

"possibility"

Yeah.. you might want to look that word up.

I mean I could say there is a possibility of you developing empathy, but it doesn't mean you will.