Despair at public views...

[Triggles]

I think I've hit bottom on reading threads on all the "DLA cheats and benefits scroungers" that people post. Honestly... are people REALLY like this??

It is this type of thinking that sometimes makes me want to stay indoors and never speak to people or go out in public. It makes me fear for DS2's future, his safety, and his well-being.

And on top of that, I am tired of all of us having the responsibility to "educate" these people in their indignant disgust at all the "disability cheats and scroungers" clogging up "the taxes we pay."

I had a post deleted within 10 minutes of posting it simply because I made the comment "if this is real"... so MNHQ deemed that I was calling the OP a troll, even though it was a throwaway comment in the middle of the post. Plus numerous other posts were deleted for same type of flimsy comment.

Other threads, however, regularly have posts that are offensive and insulting and state that certain disabilities are non-existent and offer up anecdotal evidence on a regular basis in order to skew opinion that we that receive DLA (for ourselves or for our children) are only out to shaft the government so we don't have to work and can live off benefits. These and many other disablist posts are left for ages, some not ever deleted.

I'm tired of disability being classed as "undesirables" that apparently are not worth defending or standing up for. Disabled people fought and fought the upcoming cuts and nothing gets done. A group of women that have had their breasts augmented privately get national news time when protesting about this PIP implant (which, don't get me wrong, I'm sympathetic to a point about it, but it seems priorities in the media are highly skewed) and the NHS's stance that they first need to go through their private physicians to have it replaced first.

Why can't people understand that ANYONE can be disabled.. it could happen to anyone at any time....

And don't even get me started on the nonsense about wanting longer school hours and less school holidays that they're looking at. DS2 can barely cope with a full day now. How many children with SNs would end up being pushed out of MS schools if the school hours were from 7:30 to 5:00pm?? How many realistically would cope?? And people struggle to get statements now.. how in God's name would they get funding for all those hours?? Maybe I'm
misunderstanding this, but it seems like a horrendous idea to me.

Okay. Obviously, I should not be reading AIBU tonight... or politics... or in the news.... sigh...

noope stay away from AIBU if its getting to you

I havent even finished trying to fill in the DLA form. Have had it months stored on PC but its so mentally depressing so I manage a question then turn off. Its enough dealing with dx stuff and LA/school and the ups and downs of that without trying to fill that in and probably get turned down as seems to be happening first off for most people at the moment.

where did you get the 7.30 to 5pm!!! thats a 9.5 hour day! no child could cope with that let alone a SN child!

I know... unreal, isn't it? People are saying "oh the teachers can't deal with that long a workday....." um... but the children can!??!?!!

I told DH I'd homeschool before I sent my children to school with those hours.

They're trying to get more children in longer school hours, so they can push more people into "work"... that way they can tell people that childcare isn't an issue anymore... nevermind the fact that the jobs just aren't there

I hear ya!

Amuses me cos the worst offenders for "benefit claimant bashing" are often 10 year + coddled housewife types, who don't have a clue how vulnerable they'd be in the "real world" if their high-earning men dissolved their stepford existence with an affair. A situation sadly more women than should fnd themselves in through no fault of their own when their higher flyers trade them in for a younger model.

I just tire of all the "oh I know all sorts of scroungers - claim to be depressed, bad back, blah blah blah"...

For God's sake... I don't discuss all the details with my close family and friends, and I imagine many others are the same way. So how do these people "know" so much about their finances and all these details? They GUESS and they JUDGE.. that's how!!

grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

OH! well I am alllllllrighty then seeing as i have a toy boy 3 years younger LOL

Must add totally without the money though...............................but hey the looks are ok

There would be no way by NT daughter could cope with being at school that long! I take it that it would wipe out study and homework then? DS is part time as it is. I would be home schooling should that stupid idea come about.

some people do know everything about their friends though Triggles or they just dont like someone having something they havent. A lot of peoples cups are always half empty.......

Interesting point made by peter white (on radio 4, yes I know I am that old fart... )

fraud rate for DLA is (on the governments own stats) 0.5%

a lot lower than many other benefits....

Thought that might be useful number to quote...

heheheheee sign I'm an old fart as well, I suppose. I don't listen to the radio much though. May have to do so, rather than MN'ing sometimes.

It's quoted lots of times on these threads, but people ignore it. One person just kept steadfastly saying "it doesn't matter.. I'm not disabled.. this doesn't affect me so I don't care..." basically. Nothing like a completely closed mind. It just makes me sad that so many people feel that way....

I hear you as well Triggles. I have often thought that in this society if you're young, old or disabled or otherwise not seen to be a healthy and productive part of society, you're part of some invisible underclass. These people who post such crapola on AIBU wouldn't get it even if diagrams were drawn for them. Also such people deliberately misunderstand DLA and benefit entitlement and don't want to hear what it is really about. Ignorance is bliss to these people as is denial.

Also some would not readily shop in someone who they knew to be defrauding the taxpayer (out of some twisted desire to remain loyal to said person) yet they bang on about all these "scroungers" by guessing their situation.

before i had ds, i must admit that most of my experience of the lives of people with special needs was from my mum who used to work with adults and children with sn, but I really didn't have a clue. I don't think anyone on these boards should feel a responsibility to educate, but just by talking about your lives with honesty and passion, I have learnt more from mumsnet (through friends on here and even threads like the foul AIBU ones) than anywhere else.

It is very easy to bury your head in the sand and just hope that disability won't touch your family, but it really can happen at any time to any one, and when it does happen, boy do you realise just how much advice and support you need to navigate your way through this new world of forms, appoinments, tests and meetings, and that is on top of the sheer panic about the health and future of your child and the impact on the rest of your family.

I know it feels like beating your head against a wall when taking part in some of these discussions, but you make a huge difference when you do, I know you all did to me.