MSE News: Half a million could lose disability benefits

jamespir

Dunroamin wrote: »

Well obviously, if you're ill we'll make allowances.;)

your village called they want their idiot back

FBaby

laptop80 wrote: »

Sorry, but having to apply for your position again, however stressful and unfair, is not the same as being treated like dirt by a 'professional' who is interrogating you from a starting point that you are a liar and probes the most personal aspects of your life during the interrogation.

Also, many of the people claiming DLA are very vulnerable and have mental issues - it isn't all people with bad backs and gammy legs, many of whom are able to and do defend themselves via appeal.

A lot of us being in a s*&tty position doesn't make it right or necessary to target the disabled in this way. It might be an inconvenience for some people to lose their Child Benefit as they earn too much, and everyone is affected by the downturn in some way, but the effects on people who rely on benefits to live are worse.

I hope your employment situation improves and settles down soon - unfortunately the NHS is another plaything of government.

You're right I have been through it enough times now that I can't even be bothered to feel anxious about it anymore. I have tough skin and can take it all on the chin. Too many times in the past did I have sleepless nights over it, the first time, I was a single mum of two children under 5 getting no maintenance from my ex, so see, I might have been on a decent salary, earning too much as you say, but I don't think my situation was any less stressful than some people who rely solely on benefits. I am now in a stronger position, but many of my colleagues are not and the announcement today left a number of them distressed. Any situation where you are at risk or losing what you have acquired is stressful because you have learnt to rely on it, it doesn't matter if you are poor or rich, on benefits or not.

geriann

has anyone else heard about jobcentre/benefits workers being given training to calm suicidal people?
since people started being assessed and moved [forced] into work there's been more cases of people attempting/commiting suicide! very sad, but true.

FBaby

laptop80 wrote: »

You fail to see how anything script based could be an interrogation or personal? So if I read you an extensive script of questions about your toilet habits and other aspects of your personal life whilst looking at you like you were a piece of dirt and suggesting your answers were lies you would be fine with that? That's actually irrelevant, as it would be mandatory. If you told me to stick it, as most people would be inclined to, you would lose your means of support.

These tests and more specifically the way they are carried out strip away the dignity of disabled people - it's precisely their mechanical nature and delivery by a stranger with no compassion for their situation (the opposite in fact) which is dehumanising. If you want to know how disabled people feel about ATOS assessments then Google it; even people who keep their benefits often say they feel violated by the process.

But aren't these the same situation than when their consultant/GP ask them to describe their condition and how it affect them. It's never a nice experience, but we do it because we have to to get treatment (I can think of how undignifying it is to discuss your sex life to an emotionless consultant just so you can be assessed for IVF). Why is it any different to do the same to get an income?

MissMoneypenny

We can't carry on with huge numbers claiming when they aren't that disabled or are not disabled at all. Any reasonable person realises that medicals had to happen. As we have seen from posts on this thread and others, it's not the genuine disabled claimants who fear these medicals.

geriann

i suppose it depends on the person who does the medical.
some seem to believe everyone is lying about being disabled.
some seem to not listen to the person and just put don't what they want on the computer program!

rogerblack

MissMoneypenny wrote: »

We can't carry on with huge numbers claiming when they aren't that disabled or are not disabled at all.

Fraud - which claiming when you are not entitled is - is by the DWPs own numbers about half a percent.
This is not 'huge numbers'.

laptop80

FBaby wrote: »

But aren't these the same situation than when their consultant/GP ask them to describe their condition and how it affect them. It's never a nice experience, but we do it because we have to to get treatment (I can think of how undignifying it is to discuss your sex life to an emotionless consultant just so you can be assessed for IVF). Why is it any different to do the same to get an income?

I'm never forced to disclose anything to my doctor and there is also some relationship there, time to discuss things and make myself understood. The doctor is also on my side and is acting in my interests. A case like the emotionless IVF consultant is a necessary evil, but again, they want what is best medically and it's my choice to see them.

The ATOS medicals are mandatory and carried out by a private company with targets to get people off benefits; many of the people doing the testing couldn't care less and are only doing it for the money. They are also rushed to cut costs and don't account for the nuances and variability of peoples conditions, missing factors that a GP might consider.

Sadly, the whole benefits process isn't just not nice, it is designed to be unpleasant and discourage claimants and the assessments are just an extension of that.

p.s. If you can work in the modern NHS and bring up kids as a single parent you are a person to be greatly admired.

Penny-Pincher!!

POLO_BINT wrote: »

I am in receipt of DLA and have been since the age of 15yrs. I am now 31. Due to my disability and care needs rising, so has my DLA. As I found it hard to write my forms initially, I requested for a Dr to visit me at home instead, so that he could write the form for me whilst he assessed me at the same time. May I add that he couldn't have been a nicer gentleman! I felt he assessed me in every situation within the home and he was careful I didn't overdo things either. Not all assessors are "monsters" as such. When I had to renew my claim a few years later, it was the same Dr again who came to assess me at home and he remembered me and my condition even after all the other claims he had dealt with over the years.

I have an extremely rare congenital condition and I have good days and bad days. My "good days" would make even a grown man cry from pain, but for me I have lived like this all my life and I am proud of myself for each day I get through. I hate the pain, discomfort and worries of who I can ask next to "babysit" me each day.

I was lucky to have been able to have a child what with all my health issues ~ although totally unplanned and it scared the !!!!!! out of me when I found out I was expecting at just 20yrs old, looking back I see how lucky I was as now my condition has drastically worsened and I wouldn't even entertain the thought of pregnancy in my current state.

I have lived my adult life without parents. My mother died when I was 9yrs old and my father moved to Spain when I was 19yrs old. The past 10 yrs I have used all my DLA on the "things" which would allow me to live a more "normal" life in my home. I have been lucky enough also that after every single one of my many surgeries I have had an excellent Rapid Assesment Team member to assist me in creating a better living environment for both my daughter and myself. Helping to get railings up my pathway as a slope for a wheelchair was not possible. Grab rails at front and back doors and also in my bathroom, numerous other disability aides also over the years from sliding commodes, bed boards, bath boards/stools and this year after another huge operation they even helped me get a new wheelchair! All these things seem extremely expensive and all my DLA was going on paying for home helps / cleaners / taxis / and essential items I required like a Highbacked remote controlled electric arm chair (the cost of which was two months DLA) and an electric remote adjustable bed (5 months worth of DLA), I needed these items and i scrimped for almost 2 years trying to save whilst still paying out for home help etc. I wish I had family to help! Being bed-bound or house-bound and not affording luxuries of trips out, I had very little social life and thus very few friends to call upon.

I thought I could live without "scrounging" off the Government initially, how wrong I was! The monies I receive do not cover all of the help I would like or I need. My 12 yr old daughter has taken a lot on, and it pains me to look at her beautiful face as she is lifting my legs back into my bed or helping me to wash. Continually asking "oh.. could you just do this... could you just pass me that" as a mother it is very demoralizing, but she never grumbles! This is a 12yr old currently sitting her SATS, worrying about rushing home to help me as she isn't sure if I found someone to help me that day or not! A 12yr old who was diagnosed at birth with the same congenital condition as myself and knows she will one day, not so long in the future, need the same help herself! A child whose father abandoned her at just 9months old and I believe moved abroad! Who will care for her when she needs it? Her disabled mother? Hurts so much knowing I will never be able to care for her how she does for me. The struggles getting helpers, she will go through all of this too!

Although I praise the wonderful Dr who came on the occasions to assess me in my home, I am fully aware that going to an ATOS review would mean traveling and being assessed in an unfamiliar environment, with none of my disability aids available - unaware of the actual daily struggles of every day living, not too mention night-time needs where my daughter sleeps with her mobile phone should I need help because I cannot afford anymore "strangers" to "babysit" me that month. I live in a 2 bedroom bungalow and have done for 13yrs now, I was awarded a 3-bed house via the council so there was a room for my carer to sleep but I have not pursued this because it would mean more help with stairs, cleaning etc.

Growing up I studied hard, got great grades and then started having surgery! My first operation went t!ts up and I found myself led flat on my back for over a year before slowly doing more and more with discomfort. This resulted in 8 more years reconstructive surgery due to their f**k up! Yet if I was to sue for loss of any sort of "life" I would be called a "scrounger"??!! So I muddled through and I have help from the services available to a disabled person.... and I still fall in the "scrounger" bracket!?!?!

My dad unwillingly moved back from Spain to take care of me and left a great job behind him.... yet cannot look after me as he has to work to pay his own living expenses as he cannot claim carer's allowance due to not having lived in the country for the past 26 weeks

I pay him to help when he can't find work just so I have him around during this hard time recovering. I'd rather him look after me than a stranger! I wouldn't feel embarrassed asking him to do things I needed, yet my pride would rather suffer in silence than ask the stranger helping me because they are so cold towards my needs etc. They come in look about ask if i need anything and after 2 minutes b*gger off to the next person relying on their "help"..... can't win! Arghhhhhh

Most of this is more than likely totally irrelevant to this thread but i'm so annoyed and upset I can't stop my little fingers from typing lol. I dont mean to "moan" or "whinge", I know I have to accept and be happy with what I have been dealt, and for most I live a fantastic life in comparison to so many other disabled people - I am grateful in the fact my condition is "just" bones, albeit never going to get better and not one which is terminal like so many others.

So, after this huge essay, I will retreat back to my lonely pit and await a humiliating grilling from ATOS (or whoever they employ) in the not to distant future in an environment away from my home ..... whilst my Dr, physio, chemist etc all take the time to make an effort to save me the pain, discomfort and STRESS of travel!

I feel exactly the same hun. Its a worrying time when you're a genuine claimant isn't it. Im going to ask for a home visit when Im called in over the next 3 years....could you do the same?

PP
xx

Penny-Pincher!!

POLO_BINT wrote: »

Ohhhh, I hope so! I was under the impression from a friend who was denied ESA and had a review recently that noone got home visits. I do hope the reassessments for DLA in the future allow this as it is my only worry for being reassessed.... getting there and back, silly as it sounds but i do panic somewhat prior to going somewhere i have never been before.... is there parking near? high kerbs? wheelchair access? wide doors? a lift? even crowds! silly isn't it lol!

This is my main concern too as they're not seeing how you actually live at home with all the adaptions and aids we use. I have a stair-lift, walk in wet room, pillow lift, hand rails, toilet frame, commode, etc etc.

Im sure though that they can send a form for your GP to fill in BUT its worded really well, that basically you have to be on deaths door or totally incapacitated for them to come out, but I will give it a go and may be worth you asking too.

Most ATOS centres have lifts, but again if theres a fire, then you have to be able to walk down steps:eek::eek::eek::eek:...yeah right, maybe a piggy back:rotfl: It really is ridiculous IMO, but understand that there are people committing fraud, so something has to be done.

It doesn't make much sense though that someone who has never met you before is going to medically assess you (some not even doctors!), when I have more than enough evidence to prove medical conditions and extensive care needs?

We just have to carry on and stay strong and fight for what we are entitled too. Im glad that we're not on other benefits as such any more, so it literally is my DLA and really do think my care needs warrant receiving PIP when it moves over. Ive worked my scores to a minimum of 26 in the living part of it and 30 in the mobility section. These have been answered honestly and I've underplayed on 2 or 3 bits, but what ATOS decides will be probably different and who knows....they might even cure me and say theres nothing wrong with me:j:j:j:j:j