DLA guaranteed until 2014?!

actionman_3

I agree with last post.If someone is as strongly opposed to getting these benefits then dont bother. I am sure there are other people who would be grateful for them.

andyandflo

actionman wrote: »

I agree with last post.If someone is as strongly opposed to getting these benefits then dont bother. I am sure there are other people who would be grateful for them.

Hi I did telephone them regularly. and they kept on sending me forms to fill in - going through the same old questions about care and mobility. I didn't know that I could just cancel it - I thought you had to show why you don't need it.

I'm not opposed to getting benefits - just as long as I can genuinely think to myself that I deserve them. If I can't do that, then I have no right in applying for them do I?

What I found about DLA was the stigma that goes with it. It's as though it's confirmation that I wasn't much good for anything or anybody. That I couldn't cope with. To be honest the hardest bit about 'self help' was having to lose the support network I had, and the medication that I was on. It took me 7 years to learn how to 'cope' without it, but that doesn't mean that life is all rosy - far from it. That's why I am having to claim ESA, because of set backs and becoming ill with other things.

Indie_Kid

andyandflo wrote: »

What I found about DLA was the stigma that goes with it.

But how is the stigma of ESA any better?

suelees1

Each time you ask them to review it - even if it's to say your condition has improved - they send out a form for completion and it then goes to a DM again.

Doom_and_Gloom

andyandflo wrote: »

What I found about DLA was the stigma that goes with it. It's as though it's confirmation that I wasn't much good for anything or anybody. That I couldn't cope with. To be honest the hardest bit about 'self help' was having to lose the support network I had, and the medication that I was on. It took me 7 years to learn how to 'cope' without it, but that doesn't mean that life is all rosy - far from it. That's why I am having to claim ESA, because of set backs and becoming ill with other things.

Hrm, I know people veiw things differently but I find DLA a great help and don't see it as a hinderence (sp?) or having a stigma to it. It helps me get things that without the help I wouldn't be able to get and do things that most take for granted - like going to the shops.
I guess it's like some people saying being in a wheelchair has a stigma to it. Oddly enough a wheelchair for me gives me freedom, made me happier due to that freedom and given me more hope in one day working. It's a lot easier and less painful for me to get around in a wheelchair rather than my crutches. People who know I get DLA don't treat me any different and I doubt anyone would know for sure if I got it if I didn't tell them so I don't understand you feeling stigmatised to be honest.

For me one of the reasons I don't want to claim ESA is that although I can't work due to my disability I don't want to be reminded of that fact by people I don't even know. After all you can work while getting DLA but for the most part being on ESA means you can't (permited work allows however). Not being on ESA keeps my hope alive but I think if I was on ESA - even if only for credits - it would get me down.

andyandflo

suelees1 wrote: »

Each time you ask them to review it - even if it's to say your condition has improved - they send out a form for completion and it then goes to a DM again.

That's what happened - I didn't know that I could just cancel it.
I just kept on completeing the damn forms. Between 1995 and 2004, I must have filled in at least 16!

All they kept on doing was telling me that it would not change then sometimes putting either of the care or mobility from High to Med then eventually to low for both - then NIL. That was a day to remember!!

Then just disappeared off the NHS radar.

andyandflo

sh1305 wrote: »

But how is the stigma of ESA any better?

There isn't any - well to me there isn't. It is no different than claiming JSA. There are so many claiming ESA or IB, it just doesn't feel like I am being labelled as DLA does.

Just thought of something that might help. There is one other benefit that I would flatly refuse to sign up for - Income Support!

I would do anything or anything in order not to claim that. Only once have I been in a Jobcentre - I have never seen so many people that look dejected and forlorn. Waiting for that giro every week. Shouting, swearing at young girls. Like a cattle market. I would find a way of supporting myself.

andyandflo

Doom_and_Gloom wrote: »

Hrm, I know people veiw things differently but I find DLA a great help and don't see it as a hinderence (sp?) or having a stigma to it. It helps me get things that without the help I wouldn't be able to get and do things that most take for granted - like going to the shops.
I guess it's like some people saying being in a wheelchair has a stigma to it. Oddly enough a wheelchair for me gives me freedom, made me happier due to that freedom and given me more hope in one day working. It's a lot easier and less painful for me to get around in a wheelchair rather than my crutches. People who know I get DLA don't treat me any different and I doubt anyone would know for sure if I got it if I didn't tell them so I don't understand you feeling stigmatised to be honest.

For me one of the reasons I don't want to claim ESA is that although I can't work due to my disability I don't want to be reminded of that fact by people I don't even know. After all you can work while getting DLA but for the most part being on ESA means you can't (permited work allows however). Not being on ESA keeps my hope alive but I think if I was on ESA - even if only for credits - it would get me down.

Thanks for that insight.

I know many in wheelchairs, and most see it like you do. But what I can't understand is how you cope with the way people talk to you, avoid looking at you. One friend got really annoyed once when out with his wife. This other friend started asking how he was doing, not at him but at his wife!! I'm here you know!!!

Yes I see your view on ESA, but to me it is only a stopgap, in between jobs so to speak - same as JSA.

Maybe it was just me, but I felt that people were judging me when I was on DLA. Of course most people knew, I told them if they asked about finance or suchlike. You could see it in their eyes - pity!!

Having now got out of the 'system' I'm a little different than you, I chose not to go anywhere, see anybody. I am more than happy being in my own home. I don't or should say can't see what there is outside that I need or want.

I have a television, a laptop so I keep up to date. I have no trust in anybody, excluding of course my wife.

Indie_Kid

Why tell people in the first place? Very few people know I claim it. Apart from my parents, only one person knows - he actually asked me if I claimed it, to which I replied yes. And I'e also had to inform him that I've needed to put his name down on people to contact about my disabilities.

sueturnersmith

Some posters on this thread seem to think that in order to get a Blue Badge you need to have DLA. This is not true.

If you get HRM, then you will automatically get a Blue Badge. But you can also get one if you are virtually unable to walk, without getting DLA.

I applied for DLA a while ago, and am still waiting for their decision. I have Heart Failure, Ischaemic Heart Disease and marked osteoathritis in both hips, among other problems. I am wheelchair bound outdoors, because I cannot walk more than 10 yards without gasping for breath, shortly followed by severe pain in my thighs. I also wake up in the middle of the night gasping for breath, and need help to be propped up to help breathe again. I cannot stand for more than a few seconds, so cooking is very difficult. I am 62 years old, and my husband has had to give up work to help care for me.

I was advised to apply seperately for a Blue Badge, because their decision is quicker, and I got my badge on Friday.

Having read various threads on here, I'm fully expecting to be turned down initially for DLA, but will then appeal. Does anyone get accepted without going to appeal?