Are you made to feel guilty for claiming benefits?

tom9980

If you feel guilty your genuine and have no cause for concern.

cit_k

tom9980 wrote: »

If you feel guilty your genuine and have no cause for concern.

Wrong way round, its the non genuinne that have the least cause for concern. The genuine are getting sc*wed over whilst the non genuine lie their way through any changes.

wild666

What really !!!!es me off is when people say "well why don't you work then? There's lots of jobs you could do!"

Something similar to the above was said to me by a jobcentre plus employee nearly 2 years ago, what they actually said was "There are plenty of employers who take on disabled people without any work experience" I replied "Name them?" you could have heard a pin drop, the silence was deafening, they couldn't wait to get me out the door.

wild666

I used to be a carer for the ex and was once told why don't I get a proper job. My reply was to ask them how many hours they had worked in the last 7 days? I think they said they had done over 50 hours work in the last week, my reply was "I have done 168 hours in the last week and for a lot less money than you're being paid" They tried to say that no one can go a week without any sleep and I replied that I didn't say I didn't sleep but wherever I am I am on call and that included being asleep.

I now use this phrase when asked what do I do "I am a government artist" when they ask what a government artist does I reply "Draw benefits" they are usually too stunned to reply or just laugh and walk away.

dark_lady

In Take a Break this week they have done a two page spread "Smile your"re on Cheat TV. I would expect this from the Daily Mail or the Sun but not from a magazine which has claimed to support carers and the disabled in the past.
They have several cases on these pages including the case of George Nuttall and his wife Julie which contains the sentence "His wife was GIVEN a Motability car." !!!!!!?! No one is given a car. They have to pay for it out of their DLA. I dont normally buy Take a Break,i tend to like it for the animal stories. My fave mag is a monthly called Red which i get every month,and i also occasionally buy Psychologies which i find a very intelligent read.
According to Press Gazette Take a Break have recently had a change of editor to someone called Rebecca Fleming. Either the proof reading or fact checking leaves a lot to be desired or this was deliberate.
Needless to say i am disgusted,disheatened and very disappointed in them for this.
Will they be balancing this out with an article about someone who found it hard to get the benefits they were entitled to. I wont hold my breath.
When inaccurate,biased and discriminatory reporting like this seeps into society it plants the seed that disabled people are second class citezens and creates suspicion and resentment towards the disabled. This leads to an increase in attacks and assault on the disabled and situations like the one on Winterbourne View,the care home featured on Panorama recently. If society keeps being conditioned into believing that disabled people are somehow worth less then situations like the one at the care home are shockingly not surprising and sadly will happen again.

A_Flock_Of_Sheep

Best not to tell anyone what benefits you receive. It's nothing to do with them.

If they - the nosey person - have kids then doubtless they will be getting child benefit. If they are retired they will doubtless be getting another benefit - the state pension also a free bus pass "benefit" and possibly a free TV licence "benefit". If they are single they will probably be getting the 25% off council tax "benefit".

All in all I think most people will have some form of "benefit" now or when they retire.

A_Flock_Of_Sheep

hoperer wrote: »

What you mention is not accepted as a 'benefit' people see them as their entitlement.

I agree, but it is the disability/sickness benefit that causes so much hatred. Receiving CT, HB WTC or CTC means nothing. People automatically think 'sciver, cheat, scrounger' whenever IB/ESA/DLA is mentioned!

Perhaps we, the disabled, need to re-educate society that the Over 60/65s are the biggest scroungers by having free bus travel everywhere, free television and money paid in to live off every week?

Or those with kids who expect the state to pay towards them?? Talk about being a sponge eh?

I am not sure of society's views on Disabled people who work but get DLA and "in work" benefits?

jetta_wales

A_Flock_Of_Sheep wrote: »

Perhaps we, the disabled, need to re-educate society that the Over 60/65s are the biggest scroungers by having free bus travel everywhere, free television and money paid in to live off every week?

Or those with kids who expect the state to pay towards them?? Talk about being a sponge eh?

I am not sure of society's views on Disabled people who work but get DLA and "in work" benefits?

I only pay for half a TV licence :-) stupidly though a black and White licence is cheaper than a licence for somebody registered blind. Go figure.

There will always be people that simply like being ignorant because they enjoy vilifying people. DLA is to aid us to live a life closer to that which we would if we were not dissabled. Thus work is completely irrelevant to it, but nope some just think since it's a benefit of some kind then they can lay into you for receiving it if you are not dirt poor. Maybe they just think all dissabled people should be poor, who knows.

happy_lass

MoneySaverForever wrote: »

Hi all, I think many of you will know what I'm talking about because I've been made to feel very guilty by one or two people over the last few months ever since I started to claim benefits and it's not a nice feeling at all. I don't like how they talk down to you or make out that they're somehow "better" than you because they work or don't claim benefits like you do. I've always worked but I can't work right now because I'm very ill and I sometimes feel like just giving up but I know I have to keep fighting no matter what. I doesn't help that people judge me without really knowing me and I even had one horrible man ask me if I had a job when I was at the shops the other day and when I said I wasn't working right now, he remarked that I was very lazy and should be ashamed, a young girl like me. So unfair

I'm sorry if my post doesn't make much sense but I hope it does xxx

you should of just told him to mind his own effin buisness. Ignore ignorant people, they know nothing of your circumstances. :beer:

clemmatis

A_Flock_Of_Sheep wrote: »

Perhaps we, the disabled, need to re-educate society that the Over 60/65s are the biggest scroungers by having free bus travel everywhere, free television and money paid in to live off every week?

Perhaps we, the over60s/65s, need to tell you we don't get free TV licences, don't get full state pensions unless we have a full contribution record, and are a lot more likely to be disabled than younger age groups but can't get the same benefits (no mobility component) if we apply after the age of 65?