I have just found this on the BoB site, which may save some valuable spoons, and may get through to some MP's...
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Hi all,
please feel free to copy and paste this into an email,adding or subtracting bits of your choice,and send to your local mp.
Im sure that if loads of mps get loads of emails from disabled/ill people affected by the proposed changes,it just might go a small way to get them thinking about their disabled constituents futures under these rules and how they themselves might gain or lose support at the next election.<br /> <br /> <span class="line-through">-</span><span class="line-through">-</span><span class="line-through">-</span>-<br /> Dear <br /> Please read below a letter drafted by a disability group which I have copied and pasted into this email,it reflects the views of 1000s in your constituency and millions countrywide! Ive also added a few personal additions.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> BENEFIT REFORM<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> The program of welfare reform and cuts is proceeding with alarming momentum. The thought behind it is that the only way out of poverty is going to be through work. <br /> <br /> I am writing to ask you to step back from this one size fits all thinking and to remember that there are some people for whom work is unlikely to be a realistic option. Please remember the duty of care to them and imagine how they are feeling as this pressure to work is heaped upon them.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> They feel that for them the covenant on welfare seems to have been broken. They have been caught up as collateral damage in this push back to work and they feel very afraid.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> They had never expected that the Conservative, Labour and LibDem Parties would all abandon them like this!!!!!!!. <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> No party is demonstrating any understanding of their situation or offering them any reassurance or protection. They cannot believe that all three main parties continue to sign up to the delusion that they can be forced back to work by pressure and removal of benefits. <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> Unrealistic and cavalier talk of ?helping? them into work is ill informed and adds to their fears that politicians do not understand the reality of caring, illness and disability. <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> Employment Support Allowance is a disaster for the seriously ill and disabled because neither ESA group has been designed to meet their needs. <br /> <br /> Welfare reform means ?conditionality? and ?conditionality? is completely inappropriate for people with a diagnosis of a severe and enduring disability. ESA has two sizes to fit all and the seriously disabled do not fit safely in to either group. <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> The ?support? group admits only a few of the most severely ill and offers people no help or hope. The second group ? the work related activity group ? the WRAG ? is not a safe place either. The WRAG is predicated on ?conditionality?. It is now proposed to be time limited to one year (this decision will take effect from 2012). It has coercive elements of pressure and sanctions which are completely inappropriate for disabled people. <br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> There is absolutely no reason why there can?t be a third option ? a group free of pressure and sanctions where disabled people can get help IF they want it without the pressure. Instead of Mr Grayling wringing his hands about how to allocate people with a severe diagnosis between the two inappropriate groups ? why doesn?t he introduce a third group that would actually meet their needs<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> And why, when everyone wants disabled people to get out and live fulfilling lives would anyone take away Disability Living Allowance ? the life line that makes this possible. DLA is an essential benefit that was specifically designed to provide financial support towards the extra costs incurred by people living with a disability. <br /> DLA payments have enabled hundreds of thousands of disabled people to maintain a degree of independence and quality of life that would have otherwise been lost to them. Because Middle and Higher rate DLA are both also passport benefits to enable family members to claim Carers Allowance, removing or reducing DLA will not only have an enormous financial impact on disabled people it will also impact on their carers ? a double blow which will especially hit hard those families on the poverty line.<br /> <br /> It is even more alarming that the Coalition plan a new regime of ?non medical tests ? as happened with Employment Support Allowance - a ?test? you are planned to fail. Cutting or reducing DLA will in many cases have a reverse effect on employment and remove the financial support that helps some disabled people get ready to go out to work.<br /> <br /> I am outraged at the Coalition?s intention to remove the Mobility Component of DLA from those people in residential homes, and will strongly oppose this proposal. <br /> <br /> Please also be aware how much the proposed cuts in housing benefit will bear down on carers and the long term sick and disabled.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> Can I ask you if behind the enthusiasm for welfare reform there is any residual understanding of how this feels to people for whom work is probably not going to be the answer to poverty? People who now feel abandoned by all three main political parties and will never forget this. Please look past the fantasy and wishful thinking at the reality of what these cuts and reforms are actually doing to them.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br /> Personally,my condition has got worse since the june budget speech by George Osborne,simply because of stress and worry about my future.<br /> <br /> Im not asking you to write to any ministers on my behalf,I`m asking you to think very carefully about many many people in your constiuency affected by these changes and place your vote according to your conscience.
Yours sincerely,
Read more: thebrokenofbritain.proboards.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=general&thread=169&page=1#ixzz1CT7aLFWA
Glitterknickaz!