MSE News: Half a million could lose disability benefits

dktreesea

nannytone wrote: »

'make work pay'?
i agree that employers are allowed to pay an unlivable wage whilst the taxpayer makes up the shortfall.
this isnt an issue with benefit rates... it is an issue with employers being allowed to take advantage of the system.

cutting benefits to people unable to work or at a serious disadvantage if finding work is a good idea how exactly?
make them starve and they will siddenly be well enough/less disabled?

i know blind people work, and i worked up until 5 years ago even though i was registered vlind in 1996.
but until that time i had some 'usavle' sight' now i dont.
blind people that hold down full time jobs tend to be at managerial of higher levels.
it isnt so easy for the 'non experinced' blind to find employment

Even if they stop/reduce the subsidies to employers via WTC and private landlords via the LHA, we are still left with a benefits system we can't afford. The government recognises this, presumably, and are cutting (or limiting access) to various subsidies. In any event all benefits are falling in real terms because of the massive devaluation of the pound due to QE/spending beyond our means, which has increased the cost of imported goods way above increases in either benefits or NMW levels.

I think though they fail to realise how strong the lobby groups are in defence of "their" disability and how passionate they are about making sure their members get everything they are entitled to.

I have arthritis, for which I have never claimed DLA and don't intend to either. What I found interesting was when I was first diagnosed, the hospital went to great lengths to try to get me to apply for both the mobility component and the care component of DLA. I didn't apply because the form was so long winded I couldn't be bothered, and because I fail to see how anyone who lives up several flights of stairs can qualify for a mobility payment. Surely if I can't manage stairs the solution is to get a ground floor flat or one with a lift, not pocket £1,000 a year of someone else's money to continue doing what I do now?

It does go to show though, for all the rhetoric on the part of the government about toughening up the eligibility for benefits, and in particular disability related benefits, there is a far more committed group of people out there who are encouraging people to apply for what they are entitled to. And coaching them on how to fill out the form. Not just health care professionals, but all the various supporting groups. So for the mobility, I was told not to put things like, "I can walk up stairs but very slowly" Instead you stress how you need someone with you, in case you need support, because you are prone to falling. Even if both those things are true, how does having more difficulty than the average person negotiating stairs translate into the entitlement to receive money from strangers?

nannytone_2

i agree with a lot of what you say. but you seem to be missing the point of DLA.
money wont make it easier for someone to walk upstairs.... but it could fund a stairlift, which will make their life easier.
i am blind and without my DLA i would be vityua;;u housebound, pr at best have to stay within a smaal atra.

i pay for pertrol and parkingmostly... to allow me to get out and about ( i live in a very rural area)
i have a bus pass, but would stillhave to pay the fare for someone to accompany me. plus the bus to the nearest decent sized town takes 1 hour 45 minutes each way.

i libe in a 2 bed housing association property... there are NO 1 bedroomed places. so i already have to find £20 a week from my6 ESA before i even think about bills or food.
DLA isnt a matter of 'extra' money in my pocket. it is essential for me to be able to function in any kind of 'normal' way

bigboybrother

dori2o wrote: »

It amazes me that people willingly stick the boot into people claiming DLA when they are completely unclear as to how and why the benefit is awarded.

Here's some facts the disabled bashers need to understand before they start to abuse those with disabilities.

DLA is not and never has been an out of work benefit. You can get it regardless of your employment/work status.

DLA is not awarded on individual diagnosis except in the special cases which are normally terminal cancers etc. Those people get fast tracked onto the benefit to ensure they have the benefit of being able to use the money to help with care in their final days/months.

Nobody other than those people are awarded DLA on diagnosis alone. Having Arthritis, or being a paraplegic does not automatically mean you get the benefit, it is how the conditions you have affect your ability to live a normal life.

I could have a condition that affected my life to such an extent that I couldn't walk, or feed myself, or be left alone without supervision. I would likely be awarded DLA for this. Someone else could have exactly the same condition and not have the same prblems and be able to lead a normal life. They wouldn't get the benefit. It isn't the name of the condition you have that matters when claiming DLA.

Bad Backs. Do you people actually realise that this very vague description of a medical complain could mean a number of things for people sufferring from a 'bad back'.

I have a bad back along with my other condition. It is partly a consequence of the way I walk, I have not mentioned it on my claim forms as it doesn't sufficiently affect me bad enough to bother with. I receive no treatment for it and have no medical history in respect of it. However, it is also likely a due in part to a hereditory condition my brother has been diagnosed with, that my Dad has, that my Grandfather had, and so did his Dad etc etc. The conditions causes the spine to crumble as you get older.

My Dad suffers with this very badly. He also has 5 prolapsed disks which cannot be treated, he has ankylosing spondilosis and sciatica plus another condition which affects his nervous system which I cannot presently remember the name of.

He cannot feel the bottom of his legs (though he's not paralysed), he has no feeling down his left side of his upper body due to the pressure being put onto his spinal coloumn. He cannot walk without pain, he cannot sit for more than 20 minutes at a time, this is a real problem for travelling/driving.

He has, as you would put it, a 'bad back'. He gets DLA.

Despite what you choose to believe getting DLA is not at all easy. I very nearly had a breakdown with the stress and pressure caused by the application/appeal/tribunal process. It took me more than 12 months to be awarded it from the date I submitted the forms. I had to write 'war and peace' as an accompanyment to my claim. i submitted copious amounts of evidence and still they denied the claim. Only at Tribunal where the panel could see first hand how I was affected did I get awarded what I was legally entitled to.

Maybe those who bash the disabled for claiming this benefit should take a minute to try and step into their shoes. It's not the party you believe it to be. I'll gladly give you MY money in exchange for you also taking my disability and giving me a pain free, actively mobile life.

Deal?



Thought not.

I agree entirely. It's all about how it affects one's daily routine.

I receive HRM due entirely because I said that I couldn't walk anymore than 27 metres without being in pain and having to stop because of pain and discomfort.

I also receive MRC due entirely to a mental health problem.

Now when I sent in my claim form it was knocked back as not being eligible, yet after I asked for an assessment from Social Services (social worker and an OT) and the DWP contacted the OT I was awarded what I am now getting indefinitely.
I would add that the OT telephoned me when she received the report request from the DWP and between us we put the information down!


Personally it's all a load of mumbo jumbo to me. There we have an OT that spent most of the time chatting about our garden and what aids would I like. She didn't know me from Adam and for all she knew I could have been 'putting most of it on'.
For all the testing she did, ATOS could do exactly the same.

So there we are I have a 'bad back' and am on the way to becoming a 'nutter' and for that I receive around £100 a week.

PIP will definitely sort the wheat from the chaff. It was clear that the OT was 'on my side' from the start. What we need are clearly defined tests (descriptors) with appropriate ranges (0 - 10) with someone doing the test that is independent.
Most of that is what PIP is all about!

At the moment it seems, and is backed up with my own case, that getting a DLA award is as much to do with getting the right evidence, from the right person as it is about filling out the form. Getting the right people on board who are willing to sign away what I tell them is vital.

mazza111

dktreesea wrote: »

Even if they stop/reduce the subsidies to employers via WTC and private landlords via the LHA, we are still left with a benefits system we can't afford. The government recognises this, presumably, and are cutting (or limiting access) to various subsidies. In any event all benefits are falling in real terms because of the massive devaluation of the pound due to QE/spending beyond our means, which has increased the cost of imported goods way above increases in either benefits or NMW levels.

I think though they fail to realise how strong the lobby groups are in defence of "their" disability and how passionate they are about making sure their members get everything they are entitled to.

I have arthritis, for which I have never claimed DLA and don't intend to either. What I found interesting was when I was first diagnosed, the hospital went to great lengths to try to get me to apply for both the mobility component and the care component of DLA. I didn't apply because the form was so long winded I couldn't be bothered, and because I fail to see how anyone who lives up several flights of stairs can qualify for a mobility payment. Surely if I can't manage stairs the solution is to get a ground floor flat or one with a lift, not pocket £1,000 a year of someone else's money to continue doing what I do now?

It does go to show though, for all the rhetoric on the part of the government about toughening up the eligibility for benefits, and in particular disability related benefits, there is a far more committed group of people out there who are encouraging people to apply for what they are entitled to. And coaching them on how to fill out the form. Not just health care professionals, but all the various supporting groups. So for the mobility, I was told not to put things like, "I can walk up stairs but very slowly" Instead you stress how you need someone with you, in case you need support, because you are prone to falling. Even if both those things are true, how does having more difficulty than the average person negotiating stairs translate into the entitlement to receive money from strangers?

While I would never encourage anyone to lie on the forms, like you may have been advised to, sometimes it is about wording. But just because you were advised to claim DLA, doesn't mean you would have been awarded it. My WRAG advisor has been nagging me for 2 years now to claim it, still haven't, because I don't think of myself as disabled enough if that makes sense. Whereas I had no issues claiming it for my dd as I do deem her disabled enough.

On the stairs issue, if you can climb stairs with the aid of a hand rail, walking aid, then you should tell them that. Also telling them how much discomfort or pain you are in. Going upstairs has never been an issue for me, but I come down them on my behind, especially in the morning, probably why my hip has started going out now :rotfl:

And yes ideally move into a ground floor flat, but if you're waiting for social housing to do this. It can be rather a long wait. The dd was lucky that someone died (god, that sounds horrible, just to be clear, the dd was lucky, not the poor lass who died ) just as her condition came to crisis point.

dktreesea

dori2o wrote: »

Having Arthritis, or being a paraplegic does not automatically mean you get the benefit, it is how the conditions you have affect your ability to live a normal life.

I could have a condition that affected my life to such an extent that I couldn't walk, or feed myself, or be left alone without supervision. I would likely be awarded DLA for this. Someone else could have exactly the same condition and not have the same prblems and be able to lead a normal life. They wouldn't get the benefit. It isn't the name of the condition you have that matters when claiming DLA.

Anyone with arthritis is going to struggle, relative to someone without the condition, to lead a normal life. Once it's in your knees/hips/feet it's hard to walk far. How did we get to the stage where we feel entitled to help ourselves to other people's money just because we are afflicted with a condition that limits us in some way and which we have to learn to manage?

nannytone_2

so people with a disability ( any disability) should expect no quality if life? they should be content to have a roof over their head and food ( even if buying food is financally a struggle)?

if you take your argument further ... why should people get any kind of child related benefit? why so they think it's dair to take other peoples money to help raise their children?
why should we have any public services? when did it become fair to take peoples money to provide libraries/swimming pools/hospitals?
you seem to forget that a lot of people that receive DLA actually currently work, or have worked in the past and have paid into the system too.

dktreesea

mazza111 wrote: »

While I would never encourage anyone to lie on the forms, like you may have been advised to, sometimes it is about wording. But just because you were advised to claim DLA, doesn't mean you would have been awarded it. My WRAG advisor has been nagging me for 2 years now to claim it, still haven't, because I don't think of myself as disabled enough if that makes sense. Whereas I had no issues claiming it for my dd as I do deem her disabled enough.

On the stairs issue, if you can climb stairs with the aid of a hand rail, walking aid, then you should tell them that. Also telling them how much discomfort or pain you are in. Going upstairs has never been an issue for me, but I come down them on my behind, especially in the morning, probably why my hip has started going out now :rotfl:

And yes ideally move into a ground floor flat, but if you're waiting for social housing to do this. It can be rather a long wait. The dd was lucky that someone died (god, that sounds horrible, just to be clear, the dd was lucky, not the poor lass who died ) just as her condition came to crisis point.

You don't have to lie on the form. Just use wording that expresses what you can't do, or would prefer not to do without help, as opposed to how much you can do. I am more commenting on the attitude, that someone else, a healthprofessional, backed up by goodness knows what forms/scans/xrays, has decided I am disabled and therefore entitled to other people's money. I have no problem with being labelled "disabled". Anyone who is disabled has to work around their disability regardless of how much or little income they have.

What I am less keen on is the "someone's got to pay" culture we now have around disability. We've turned into a nation where being disabled pays well.

nannytone_2

so what if someone needs another persons help?
if they need transport for instance. is the person providing the help also expected to meet the cost?
without DLA, I have £43 a week left for food and all other expenses after i have paid rent/council tax and utilities.
i cant afford to pay parking/fuel or bus fares for another person out of that amount.
so i should stay at home 24/7?

dktreesea

nannytone wrote: »

so people with a disability ( any disability) should expect no quality if life? they should be content to have a roof over their head and food ( even if buying food is financally a struggle)?

if you take your argument further ... why should people get any kind of child related benefit? why so they think it's dair to take other peoples money to help raise their children?
why should we have any public services? when did it become fair to take peoples money to provide libraries/swimming pools/hospitals?
you seem to forget that a lot of people that receive DLA actually currently work, or have worked in the past and have paid into the system too.

We as a nation should only be paying for welfare services we can afford. Buying food may well be a struggle for anyone on benefits. Why should the disabled have access to so much more money than someone on JSA? Don't they both get hungry the same way?

And yes, I could say the same thing about children. Why are the benefits for children uncapped? And why are they so generous?

LunaLady

dktreesea wrote: »

We as a nation should only be paying for welfare services we can afford. Buying food may well be a struggle for anyone on benefits. Why should the disabled have access to so much more money than someone on JSA? Don't they both get hungry the same way?

And yes, I could say the same thing about children. Why are the benefits for children uncapped? And why are they so generous?

Because people on JSA have the ability to change their situation for the better, whereas many disabled people cannot.