Disability hate on MN

[IClaudine]

Hi MNHQ

Since Sunak’s announcement on disability benefits, there has been a big increase on MN in hostility towards people who receive then.

The abuse, hate and outright lies (my neighbour’s son’s cousin’s wife climbs Mount Everest but gets PIP etc) being spewed on MN towards disabled people, a group with protected characteristics, has been dreadful and very distressing for disabled people and their loved ones to read,

Please can you do something?

Here is a small selection of the threads where the disability benefit bashers have paid a visit and had a field day. There may be more, but I can’t face searching for them!

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/5064828-to-be-terrified-about-pip?utm_campaign=thread&utm_medium=share  

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/5065470-people-who-work-have-anxiety-too?utm_campaign=thread&utm_medium=share

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/5066670-aibu-to-hope-that-able-bodied-people-will-support-disabled-people-against-the-tory-attack-on-pip?utm_campaign=thread&utm_medium=share

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/money-matters/5064856-pip-vouchers-to-replace-money?reply=134966246&utm_campaign=thread&utm_medium=share

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/money-matters/5066331-do-you-feel-bad-for-receiving-a-high-amount-of-uc?utm_campaign=thread&utm_medium=share

@dontcallmelen , I’m in no position to decide who may be ‘undeserving’ but I also think that those who’ve done well for themselves don’t deserve to be punished either.
If we want a country that can offer appropriate support to those in need we must also support those who create wealth. It will never benefit those who need help to cause those who create wealth to leave or keeps their wealth elsewhere. Success for all comes from encouraging everyone to make the best they can of themselves. The pie can grow.

PIP is a disability benefit that isn't means tested, and can be claimed when in work.

@3usernames , thanks.

On another, someone asked why an anorexic would get PIP as they "don't have food costs".

Wtaf

@Lovepeaceunderstanding of the course the pie can grow, but it does needs to be fairer I have no problem with anyone being wealthy, but the sheer nastiness & vitriol on some of those threads is uncalled for it’s not a race to bottom we should have a government that wants the best for all its citizens & not the hateful narrative that is peddled by the government to divide & conquer & set people against one another.

You can’t really be a true supporter of free speech but then ask in the same sentence for threads to be shut down that you don’t like. It’s fine to be in favour of some kind of censorship and I would not disagree that it is actually a good thing in quite a lot of situations, but we do need to be honest about it.

That said, do you honestly think that shutting down these threads will make things better or worse? Because when people see that they aren’t allowed to express their opinions, it generally entrenches them rather than causing people to rethink them.

Isn’t it better to remind these people that the stories about benefit scroungers are hugely exaggerated by the right wing press and that their are many, many real people using the system in exactly the way it is supposed to work? That if there are more people claiming disability, particularly when it comes to mental health, it is because it is a rational response to the rotten state of our society and our economic system?

You’ll probably struggle to persuade many of them, but there are those that aren’t sure what to believe where threads like this one and comments on other, less friendly threads may make a difference.

Suppressing things generally makes them worse - confronting often makes them better.

Still no mumsnet hq response then?

Are we too politically unpopular to be worthy of support?

Disabled lives matter too (not taking away from blm more that perhaps we need to take a leaf out of that book)

Look up the spoon theory.. it makes a lot of sense.. it has been updated to the fork theory

The idea of people gaming the system to get PIP is laughable. I'm sure a sliver of people do, but I've no idea how.

I need PIP. I should be entitled to it as I struggle enough. I can't apply for it. I'm so frightened that I'll be humiliated, called a liar, or have to go to court (something I'm terrified of after experiencing a serious miscarriage of justice a few years ago), that I just can't get anywhere with it.

I managed to get the forms sent to me recently. They made me feel so sick to look at that I tucked them behind the shoe rack near the door.

Even thinking about it now, I'm on the verge of tears.

So how the fuck anyone thinks this should be made even harder for vulnerable people, I really don't know. I hate to wish ill on other people, but I really do hope something happens in their life to make them able to experience compassion.

I strongly suspect MN will just blank this because it's easier for them.

My mental health team were always trying to get me to apply for PIP.. but also said I would need to consider the effect on my MH of even doing so. It is brutal.

I never bothered. I can't even fill in the forms for council tax support (about 20 pages where I live), so I pay the full rate.

I think its "disabled people are actually people too"

The way some posters on here talk they clearly think disabled people are sub human

And tbh it's not the vitriolic posters which get to me, because it's usually obvious to most posters that they are idiots. It's the ones who make out they are so reasonable, and they want disabled people to be looked after but.....

And those buts go on for fucking ever until you realise they aren't reasonable at all, they aren't interested in the actual data or stats, they just want to keep pretending their points are reasonable and that they are nice, lovely people really to get those who don't need to think too much about these topics on their side

Thank you for starting the thread @IClaudine it's absolutely a big issue on here at the moment in particular

That's exactly it. I need to think is it worth potentially becoming suicidal just to get told that I'm imagining the impact on my life.

I could really do with the extra help. It's such a struggle trying to manage without it. But it's ridiculously difficult and long winded to get anywhere with it. I should just be able to say I'm struggling and get a letter from my GP/psychiatrist/rheumatologist to confirm it. That should be it. A court should be the absolute last point of recourse in an extreme minority of cases, not a routine occurrence.

People who want to make it incredibly hard to claim have already got their wish. Congratulations to them.

Oh, yes, I've seen a YouTube video years ago about this. Rings a bell now!

Spoon theory is gold for people like me and my family. www.thebraincharity.org.uk/whats-spoon-theory/

It helps us pace, manage and explain how our chronic illnesses/disabilities impact on certain things.

And another one

Friend would rather stay on Benefits www.mumsnet.com/Talk/money-matters/5067183-friend-would-rather-stay-on-benefits

From that thread:

I have always thought there was a benefits cap of about £26k. I thought Osborne brought It in. It turns out if you have a child claiming DLA you are exempt. Even if the child is at school all day. You can claim as much as £3000 per month. I think this is all tax free money too.

Looking at the election results today, the Tories are done. Let's hope the letters of no confidence flood in & Rishi calls a General Election instead of being kicked out by his own party.

I'd probably qualify for lower rate on one or both of the elements of PIP, but like you I can't face doing the forms. I'm currently on ESA, and having to deal with the reassessments for that always makes my mental health significantly worse. Last time I got a call from my GP surgery in the cab on the way home, asking me to come in, presumably because I'd sent up some safeguarding red flags in the interview. And yes, taking a cab was a necessity, as I literally could not have managed the journey on public transport, due to both my physical mobility and my mental health at that point.

Please try to claim PIP, there are loads of organisations put there to help.

@Nat6999 the Tories are toast. It is good to see.

I’ve been looking into applying for PIP for my daughter. A friend of mine is an advisor and in his opinion, she’d definitely qualify.

However, when we rang to ask for the forms to be sent out, the person on the phone was such an absolute arsehole to her that she burst into tears and they hung up on her. She refuses to try again.

And then you see claims that they’re ‘handing out disability benefits like sweets’. It’s just bullshit.

The system is abhorrent (as many testify) I've been to hell and back for the past four years trying to sort my own PIP and DDs DLA. The DLA telephone call handlers speak to people like shit, and regularly put the phone down on callers. (I was on the DLA thread on here for about 6 months - it's a common theme)

In the end, my GP took charge and recommended that I had a home visit for both claims. This is where a DWP officer comes out and completes the forms for you / with you. They obviously work for the department, and are not there to advise per se. However, they fill these forms in every day, and they take what you say and write it in the 'correct' way. I had previously waffled, and even with all the supporting medical evidence, got turned down (and again at Mandatory Reconsideration and Tribunal where I just wasn't able to advocate for myself)

So many people are put off and it's hardly surprising. There are so many who aren't claiming (as with many benefits) yet the rhetoric is always that it's 'unustainable' etc.

Check if you can apply online. There's talk about it. But I'm not sure if it's still being piloted or has been rolled out

i gave up years ago posting on threads about disability. the wheelchairs on busses and accessible toilets where the end for me.

also I don't think people realise that if your an adult with a disability and live in a care home you lose all you DLA/PIP apart from the mobility part. same with ESA you only get to keep about £24.50 a week...what riches.