New attacks on I.B claimants

theblackrose

Hi Everyone,

I've just been reading through your posts and have to admit that I agree with both sides. On the one hand we live with someone who has a mental disability that often affects him physically as well and 2 years ago he had to go in for a medical. It created a lot of unnecessary stress only for him to be told that he was unfit for work, which we knew anyway (this was actually on his medical records anyway and had been for 7 years!). He is very clever and gets frustrated at not being able to work and often puts himself down because of it. He actually had to be told by a councillor that he was entitled to his money because he felt bad about getting it. He is currently doing some learning which he is struggling with and he volunteers once a week doing little things and this is all because he hopes that one day he can do more with his life. I feel sorry for people like that! People who don't want to be in that situation but haven't got a choice because they just can't be in that work environment! And then you have the people that are to blame for the genuine disabled people being put through all of this........the ones that are just lazy, or claim for silly little things or have drug addictions and use the money to buy drugs with anyway! That just makes the government their enablers!

sunnyone

woodbine wrote: »

Whilst i dont defend it this is a right wing newspaper reporting what the most right wing and reactionary chancellor we have ever had is supposably thinking.When this new govt took over there were already plans in place to change the rules,sadly those with mental health problems are first in the firing line.
What will happen over the next 5 years is that the system will collapse in dissaray,as the number of esa tribunals mushroom and then number of dla tribunals do the same,all this at a time when dwp staff are either made redundant or are not replaced as they leave the service.

I disagree john, any invisable disability that cant be definatly proven will be first and that includes many more conditions than MH conditions.

H/EDS is very hard to prove because there are no specialists in England apart from two who cover a tiny portion of britain, the same is true for so many conditions and then theres those that are conditions of elimination like FMS/ME etc. which are diagnosed by evaluation over time by doctors and any medical cant decided over 10 minutes that someone does/dosnt have it in the same way as MH problems.

Indie_Kid

sunnyone wrote: »

H/EDS is very hard to prove because there are no specialists in England apart from two who cover a tiny portion of britain.

But isn't there a test for it?

BLT_2

Here we go again, every time anyone dares to suggest that people on DLA, IB or any other benefit are actually forced to justify claiming money everyone gets up in arms.

If you meet the criteria you shouldn't be concerned about having to justify your claims, so whats the big deal. There have to be controls or we would all be limping down the office to fill out a form

Indie_Kid

BLT wrote: »

Here we go again, every time anyone dares to suggest that people on DLA, IB or any other benefit are actually forced to justify claiming money everyone gets up in arms.

If you meet the criteria you shouldn't be concerned about having to justify your claims, so whats the big deal. There have to be controls or we would all be limping down the office to fill out a form

If only it was that simple...

sunnyone

sh1305 wrote: »

But isn't there a test for it?

Like many conditions yes and no, there are tests to show the abnormal flexation of joints but that dosnt show pain and various other tests that also dont prove disabilility, some people can show a huge abnormality of joint flexation and have major dislocations but have no disability where as some people will have disabilty with much less hypermobility.

the nerve damage that go along with EDS can also be misleading, it depends on the person as to how much disability it causes.

Indie_Kid

sunnyone wrote: »

Like many conditions yes and no, there are tests to show the abnormal flexation of joints but that dosnt show pain.

I imagine that's the same for most or all tests for disability though. There are no tests for IBS and certainly none that show the pain and discomfort.

Trialia

sh1305 wrote: »

But isn't there a test for it?

Unfortunately, not for hypermobility type, which is the most common. Diagnosis of that is done by clinical observation and family history. Genetic testing is available for vascular type and I think some of the rarest ones, but not hypermobility, which is a pain, in more ways than one.

elaine12022

the new ESA is a scandal, ATOS apparently got the contract as they basically threatened to pull out of doing any other medicals. ..I have been on Incapacity Benefit for 7 years, after thinking I needed a few weeks off (!), I have had regular medicals & form filling to prove I am not fit for work. I have been lucky not to have had to appeal. People do not realise how stressful the system is already - it is not easy to get these benefits, despite what people think..I did apply for DLA once, took me weeks to fill in the form & got turned down, & was not well enough to appeal.. Could I work at all? No I couldn't.. I too am sick of all the scare mongering in the press about the disabled & unemployed. There are not enough jobs to go around as it is...Oh, and living off benefits is not a life of luxury either. I did not get full help with council tax or complete housing benefit on IB, or full help with healthcare...

And what is 'money' & 'debt' anyway...none of it is real!!!

irishjohn

nogginthenog wrote: »

But we dont know if it will reduce the UK'S debt, and we wont know for certain one way or another for several years.
Myself personaly i doubt it!

All the steps taken so far and planned have been explained and the debt reduction value has been stated - rather than just say you doubt it will be reduced - how about expanding and telling us why you think this government's plans will not reduce the debt?