I HATE the name of this forum - Disability and Dosh !

m4rc

billywilly wrote: »

Not back on that topic again?

It would be quite helpful that instead of just saying that, maybe people could give a breakdown on what these extra costs are. To me they are quite mythical. I had DLA HRM & MRC for 19 years and have to admit that I would be hard pushed to account for what those extra costs were.

I have heard people say that they used the mobility element to rent a car. Disabled or not I always had my own car, although I did try Motability for 18 months but had the car taken off me. So that won't wash, because most people have a car anyhow.

If you don't have any different needs to anyone else maybe you are not disabled? Just a thought, maybe you just liked the free money and thought it would be good to scrounge until you got caught out and they took it all away. After all this bitterness and resentment towards people with genuine needs comes from somewhere.

A little list for you, see if this helps:

Accommodation - needing bigger rooms, more room and space, if you need a bungalow these take up more space so you pay more for the same total floor space you would get in a 2 storey building.

Car - if you can get around easily you have lots of options - walk, bus, bike, car share - and if you do need a car you can get something small and cheap. If you need a bigger car and can't get out without one hen what do you do? Apart from simply not get out of course.

Mobility equipment - wheelchairs are not cheap. Some people are lucky to get a free wheelchair but ewe often will not meet your needs. If you use the chair for long periods of time you need to be comfortable or you can get very sore, it can cause injury and pain and suffering. A decent chair can easily cost £10k and some will cost 25-35k. Seating at home, you can't always just pop to DFS for a sofa on 4 years free credit, you may need adapted supportive seating. Home adaptations are available but the fund is not unlimited, and often you will need to pay to make adaptions to your home.

Personal care - if you are lucky you may get someone pop in to help you for half hour morning and night paid for by the local authority, for some that may be enough, for others they need a lot more support. Some people will qualify for and get more help, others have to pay for it. Either way it comes out of an allocated budget, you say people don't have expenses, I don't know of too many care workers who will happily work for free. We all know some of the scare stories around some (very few of course as most care workers are fab) so you want to pay a good rate.

Food - some people can't eat regular diets, specialist food costs more - next time you are in the supermarket check the prices for items in the gluten free section for example. If you are unable to cook you can't cook on a budget and may need to rely on prepared meals, or you may have to pay for someone to deliver meals to you. This costs money.

Parking. Not all car parks offer free parking for blue badge holders, and they don't have to of course. Able bodied people have he option to find so,we here further out and walk in, this isn't always an option if you are disabled and the closer you need to park to your medical appointment or place you need to shop the more you pay. Most hospitals expect you to pay, some people are at hospital a day or two per week costing a couple of pound an hour, can cost £20+ per week easily.

Bargain hunting - it's a lot harder to bargain hunt and save money if your abilities are limited in some way. You may not be able to scour the shops, you may struggle to navigate the Internet, you may have communication problems. Not saving money means you spend more.

Energy bills - if you are at home more and less mobile you will feel the cold more. Our heating is on 24/7 365, this isn't cheap. Not much point turning it off if we go out for 2 hours, it's rare and the house takes time to heat up again. If you are home you are doing stuff at home, lights may be on, TV, electrical equipment uses electricity, that costs money.

Telecare services - local authorities may have a Telecare type service (panic alarms, fall detectors, door guard systems etc) that they can install for free or very cheap, but you will often have ongoing costs, monitoring costs money, some people will pay £10 a week, some more, some will get it free. It's a lottery.

Prescriptions - some people will qualify for free prescriptions, some won't, they are certainly cheaper than paying in full for the medications but it's still a cost.

Clothing - some people will go through clothing quicker, some will need specialist clothing, material they can cope with, items without zips or buttons, some people may fall often and wear things out.

Other equipment - have you seen the prosthetic limbs you get on the NHS? Many people will want to buy their own, and they cost a fortune plus they then wear out. New technology makes life easier, some of the arms and hands available now are incredible, but the price is pretty incredible too. You don't have to have one, but then you don't have to use your hand but you obviously choose to as you like living a normal life, why can't others?

Software - there is some great software to help people with additional needs - communication, input etc - but they are not cheap and also need updating. You may need an adapted computer to use them with too.

Assistance dogs - having an assistance dog for some people is a life changer, they may be your eyes, ears, they may sense you are about to have a seizure or hypo, they can help with household tasks, make you feel safe, they can give you a life. They also cost money to feed and care for. You can choose to buy a dog that you have to feed, insure, take to the vet, worm, groom, vaccinate etc. if you need this dog to help you live these things are compulsory.

Home maintenance - if your windows need cleaning you could choose to clean them, if your lawn needs mowing you could cut it, you could clean the guttering, you my even have the skills to fix a leaking tap, unblock a drain, paint he outside, fix the roof. If you have additional needs most of these things may be beyond your abilities. You may have so,done who can help for free, or you may have to pay.

Cleaning and housework - maybe you can Hoover and scrub the loo, some people can't. Cleaners cost money.

Shopping - you could walk to the supermarket (or drive) and get your shopping, also finding bargains and reduced items. If you can't do that you can rely on he supermarket to deliver, which is great and some are really helpful, taking the shopping to the kitchen and really helping. The delivery usually costs money, sometimes £5+.

Holidays - it's a lot harder to just grab a last minute bargain and get to the airport as cheap as possible and get a last minute cheap flight and a cheap hotel room if you have equipment to take, a wheelchair, oxygen, mids, maybe your mobility needs mean you need more legroom on a flight, maybe you can't access the cheap apartments? Everyone is entitled to a holiday, UK or aboard the fact is it's more expensive to access a holiday if you have a disability.

There's more, but that gives you just a few to show these costs are actually not 'mythical' as you so rudely state. If you don't have any of these costs I would suggest you probably don't have a disability - there you go, I've cured you, though not of your arrogance and ignorance sadly.

fed_up_and_stressed

I was involved in Scope's extra costs commission and once we had detailed my extra costs incurred we totted up that in the last 2 years it had come to over £86,000 in extra costs for me. (Mainly specialist accomodation / loss of pay due to part time working directly due to disability). My disability is of no fault of my own.

Where do i send the bill ? Perhaps BillyWilly is going to give back then the money he didn't "need" to cover any additional costs to the dwp

m4rc

billywilly wrote: »

I'm certainly not biased. I am also disabled, the only difference is that I am now assessed by the DWP as not disabled enough for PIP, but was for DLA.

Neither am I intolerant. I appreciate that some disabled people are very restricted and any help that can be given should be given.

My point was in reply to an earlier poster that said, amongst other things, that ALL disabled people have extra costs. I dispute that as I never did and still don't. So it is NOT ALL people - some do and some don't. Which begged the question that should those who don't have these extra costs actually be awarded these benefits? Then the question arises as to how they became disabled. Should the taxpayers financially support those that became disabled through their own fault? Just the same as the NHS having to fund the cost of medical treatment for say alcoholics and druggies? Surely if you are willing to put your life and well being at risk because of actions that you voluntarily undertook, should some form of insurance have not been taken out which would cover the cost of any NHS treatment as well as providing an income should you become disabled because of those actions?

Disabilities and their causes needs to be researched a lot more and the dwindling amount of money that the government have should be targeted at those that had NO choice in how they ended up disabled and by reference to what the extra costs actually are.
Doing that would save a lot of money.

Go on then give us a disability that should qualify for PIP/DLA but doesn't have any extra costs. In fact give us a disability (I don't need the diagnosis, by disability I mean the things that make the person differently abled, the things that stop you living a normal life) that doesn't incur any costs.

So what you need to do is tell us the conditions someone may have that effect their life so they can't live it in the same way as someone else but that don't incur any costs. It was of course myself who said people with disabilities incur extra costs, and until you can convince me otherwise I stand by it. I know people who pretend to have a disability and hey certainly don't have any extra costs, but I have never met someone with a genuine disability who can live heir life as someone without a disability without incurring a single cost as by pure definition they wouldn't be disabled.

I will await your response and if you have the answer I will of course apologise for getting it wrong.

missbiggles1

m4rc wrote: »

Go on then give us a disability that should qualify for PIP/DLA but doesn't have any extra costs. In fact give us a disability (I don't need the diagnosis, by disability I mean the things that make the person differently abled, the things that stop you living a normal life) that doesn't incur any costs.

So what you need to do is tell us the conditions someone may have that effect their life so they can't live it in the same way as someone else but that don't incur any costs. It was of course myself who said people with disabilities incur extra costs, and until you can convince me otherwise I stand by it. I know people who pretend to have a disability and hey certainly don't have any extra costs, but I have never met someone with a genuine disability who can live heir life as someone without a disability without incurring a single cost as by pure definition they wouldn't be disabled.

I will await your response and if you have the answer I will of course apologise for getting it wrong.

Not wanting to support Billywilly/Andy in any way but my husband has very severe COPD (full time oxygen for 7 years, HR AA for about 4) and I couldn't really say that he has any extra costs.

cbrown372

billywilly wrote: »

You may hate it, but to be honest the disabled do get extra dosh - PIP/DLA/Attendance Allowance. Additionally and if they also receive a means tested benefit they get double dosh - the actual benefit for being disabled + a premium for getting that benefit. - double bubble as they say. So why do you hate it?

Well not all disabled people had no choice in being disabled. Should we talk about alcoholics and druggies? What about extreme sportsmen, drink drivers - in fact there are many categories where self abuse was the cause.

In my case, alcohol played a major part in my disabilities as did my own dangerous actions that I carried out in life. Was I responsible for my own actions that made me disabled? Yes. Should I be compensated with extra dosh for them?

It's such an awful shame, you came to this particular board just over a month ago and made your first post.


https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5228269

You worried over the massive amount of money you were going to lose with no PIP, no mobility car, yet in four short weeks your world has turned round and you have more money than a body needs and no extra needs for your disability. I'm so pleased for you.

m4rc

missbiggles1 wrote: »

Not wanting to support Billywilly/Andy in any way but my husband has very severe COPD (full time oxygen for 7 years, HR AA for about 4) and I couldn't really say that he has any extra costs.

Fair enough, I'm wrong and I apologise.

missbiggles1

m4rc wrote: »

Fair enough, I'm wrong and I apologise.

And I apologise for agreeing with the troll.:)

tomtontom

I've never liked the name of the board either, it's the equivalent of calling the benefits board "Doleys and Dough"!

CTcelt1988

billywilly wrote: »

I'm certainly not biased. I am also disabled, the only difference is that I am now assessed by the DWP as not disabled enough for PIP, but was for DLA.

Neither am I intolerant. I appreciate that some disabled people are very restricted and any help that can be given should be given.

My point was in reply to an earlier poster that said, amongst other things, that ALL disabled people have extra costs. I dispute that as I never did and still don't. So it is NOT ALL people - some do and some don't. Which begged the question that should those who don't have these extra costs actually be awarded these benefits? Then the question arises as to how they became disabled. Should the taxpayers financially support those that became disabled through their own fault? Just the same as the NHS having to fund the cost of medical treatment for say alcoholics and druggies? Surely if you are willing to put your life and well being at risk because of actions that you voluntarily undertook, should some form of insurance have not been taken out which would cover the cost of any NHS treatment as well as providing an income should you become disabled because of those actions?

Disabilities and their causes needs to be researched a lot more and the dwindling amount of money that the government have should be targeted at those that had NO choice in how they ended up disabled and by reference to what the extra costs actually are.
Doing that would save a lot of money.

If you qualified for PIP you wouldn't be saying all of this. Truth is, you want to have your cake and eat it.

CTcelt1988

cbrown372 wrote: »

It's such an awful shame, you came to this particular board just over a month ago and made your first post.


https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5228269

You worried over the massive amount of money you were going to lose with no PIP, no mobility car, yet in four short weeks your world has turned round and you have more money than a body needs and no extra needs for your disability. I'm so pleased for you.

Billywilly just makes it up as he goes along.