Shame

I remember sitting in my bedroom as a teenager, and realising how fortunate I was to have been born into this country. We weren't starving, like they were in Ethiopia. We weren't at war, like they were in some parts of the world. We always had plenty of clean, fresh water available, and always had food on the table. Most people had a roof over their head, and those who didn't had help available. We had councils who helped people, unions that helped workers, there were safety nets in place for nearly every eventuality you could think of. We may be struggling in our every day lives, but we had it made! I realised this as a teen, and my ambition became to help people world wide who weren't so fortunate to have been born into a country like this.

Unfortunately, I no longer believe we are fortunate. I feel shame. Total and utter shame, at what this country is doing.

How much of that remains? When I try and tell certain people about the difficulties of being sick or disabled in this country, I frequently get a response along the lines of "At least you're not starving in Ethiopia". Why is it more acceptable to starve here?

Are people really starving here? YES! 

The government has pretty much gone out of it's way to eliminate any form of income for people who are sick or disabled, and have made it very difficult to get by for those who are simply working class at the minimum wage end of the spectrum. If you weren't born with a silver spoon in your mouth they see you as scum, and we are to be treated as we deserve! 

Take my own example. I cannot claim Contributions Based Employment & Support Allowance (CB-ESA), because the DWP (Department for Work & Pensions) paid my NI (National Insurance) stamp last year. Their type of stamp does not count towards benefits, only towards your pension (should you be unlucky enough to live that long). I cannot claim Income Related ESA, because I am living with someone who earns over £8000pa (the threshold is somewhere around 7000). His outgoings are not taken into account. So, the fact that his outgoings are nearly equal to his income is irrelevant. He cannot afford to support me. As such, I am currently living off hand outs. They won't last forever! There is no point at which I can suddenly claim CB-ESA, as while I'm in this situation the DWP pays my NI, thus cancelling out the possibility indefinitely. It also seems that I will be unlikely to receive DLA; the DWP are putting off giving me a decision month after month. My suspicion is that they are waiting for PIP (Personal Independence Payment); under which I definitely will not qualify. There are no other benefits available to me, no safety net to catch me, nothing. I'm not the only one, there are hundreds, probably thousands of people in this situation across the country. The inevitable is that these people will become homeless, probably starving to death.

DLA was never intended for people to live on. It was intended to be some money that helped disabled people live a normal life contributing to the community. Something those who designed PIP seem to have forgotten, despite it's all encompassing name: "Personal Independence". They have made it virtually impossible for people who are genuinely disabled, to claim. For example, one of the descriptors is that claimants be unable to walk 20m, where it used to be 50m. They have cut down the criteria similarly throughout the assessing process, and have taken out some things under which people used to qualify. They've introduced descriptors, suggesting it is now another tickbox computer based system, similar to that of ESA that assesses people.  So, unless you are wheelchair bound, and almost totally unable to do anything for yourself, you're unlikely to receive PIP. Genuinely disabled people will lose their DLA. For many this means losing their car; that is their ability to get to work. Similarly for some it's losing the money they use for public transport. For some it is money used to bring in respite carers. So many people will be very suddenly thrown into situations where life is totally unmanageable.

And yet suicide is illegal.

It isn't just DLA though, please do understand that. ESA has recently changed, making it more difficult to receive again. More changes are being brought in, in April too. At present, when you apply for ESA, if you are turned down you can appeal. You still receive some money (£70pw - the Assessment Rate) until your reconsideration, appeal, or tribunal are finished. The Assessment Rate is being scrapped. You will no longer be allowed to appeal straight away, but must have a mandatory reconsideration first. To be fair, many decisions are overturned at 'reconsidertion', BUT, the DWP has no time limit on how long their reconsideration's take; so people will be left without money indefinitely. They say that they will be processed as quickly as possible. 

No comment.

What happens when someone has no money? Probably first of all, they go hungry. The government has at least seen fit to open more food banks since they've been in power (that in itself shows us that they knew what they were doing to us); but the housebound and bedbound can't get to food banks! And what of those who have specific dietary requirements (I'm talking Coeliac, etc, not vegetarians)? The next thing that probably happens is being unable to pay the bills. The phone gets cut off, then the electricity and gas. Their landlord may be understanding to start with, but if they're sitting in his property not paying any rent, he's losing money, so at some point they get turfed out of their home. Homeless, starving, and ill or disabled. That's what our government is aiming for!

At the moment, most people can claim a Crisis Loan when they find themselves in that sort of situation (not I, due to the other half's income). So what's the government's next step? They're removing Crisis Loans too!

They're also removing Legal Aid for people going to tribunal over their ESA, DLA, or PIP, decisions. In case you're unaware, there is a long convoluted system involved here. If someone disagrees with the decision made on their application (which they usually do, since the DWP deliberately underestimates people's needs), they can appeal. The appeal goes through reconsideration, at which point it can be changed, but if it is not it goes to Tribunal. If they still disagree with the decision then they can take it to the Upper Tier Tribunal. At this level people really need legal advice, and preferably legal representation, if they want to stand a chance of winning their case (they put people through all of that, just for £90pw). And that legal advice will no longer be available; because the government don't want people to win! They don't want to spend their money on the plebs.

There's more. Much more. The so called "bed room tax" for example. I'm so sick of it. It has now got to the point where I think we'd all be better off in another country. If there was a country open to receiving us, I have no doubt that there would be a mass exodus of sick and disabled people from the UK.

I'm actually kind of surprised that there has been no attempt on the lives of any of the politicians involved with all of this change. Yes, by definition the sick and disabled would be unable to carry out such an act, but we're not the only ones who are totally incensed by it all.

I wonder whether they realise that they are backing everyone in to a corner. It's basically going to be a choice between a life of crime, a life on the streets begging, or suicide. All of which are illegal. I suspect it's the latter that they are waiting for, but I also suspect it's the life of crime that most will turn to.

Some benefits articles

I am totally exhausted. I've had a number of tabs open on my browser for days, possibly weeks, intending to write about them here. I give up. I'm just gonna give you a few snippets and point you in the right direction. Sorry. This blogger needs some rest!

"The poorest 20% of the 2.7 million households receiving disability benefits will lose 16% of their cash income plus benefits-in-kind, four times as much as the richest 20% of households, according to a report published by the Norfolk Coalition of Disabled People."

Disabled people are ‘collateral damage’ in government’s austerity war new report reveals

Peter was advised to top the amount of Jobseeker’s Allowance up with Income Support. Being ill myself I was unable to advise Peter and to my horror realised that he had a payment of £55 pounds per week for both of us to live on and pay our bills with in our rental property.

Dying man 'has only 12p a day to eat'

Ministers are also examining the idea of ending the annual inflation-linked rise in benefits, though this would require legislation and is a longer-term prospect.

Benefits could be frozen as Osborne tries to save £10bn from the welfare budget

The Department for Work and Pensions, who hired the French IT firm to help them slash the benefits bill, have admitted finding out in a survey that 55 per cent of people who lost benefits in the crackdown had failed to find work.

Benefits bosses admit over half of people ruled fit to work ended up destitute

Welfare benefits versus tax cheats.

A friend of mine posted this on Facebook the other day.

It says "Public Finance Warning. Tax cheats stole your benefits. Tax cheats cost the UK £95 billion a year". 

It is not an image I would share on my own Facebook. I don't believe people are automatically entitled to benefits, so 'stole your benefits' doesn't strike the right chord with me. This image is clearly aimed at benefit claimants. It needs to be aimed at people who do not claim benefits. People who think that benefit claimants (benefit cheats in particular) are causing the UK's money wells to run dry.

I do not know whether it is an accurate statistic. I do know that in 2010 it was estimated that tax cheats were costing the UK £70 billion a year. It's a scary figure.

The total cost of welfare benefits in the UK last year (2011) was £121 billion. Yes, that is a staggering amount. I find it astounding that the amount tax cheats cost the country is close behind though. Just imagine if we had that money back. There would be no more need to target the benefits system with such vehemence.

The total cost of welfare benefits in the UK in 2010 was £188 billion. A lot more than the following year. The cost of sickness and disability benefits however, was only £26 billion. You can see the vast chasm that is the difference between sickness and disability benefits, and the money lost to tax cheats.

The cost from tax cheats looks to be nearly three times that of the cost of sickness and disability benefits alone. The cost from actual sickness and disability benefit fraud will be minuscule in comparison.

So why is the government not doing anything about tax cheats? Why chase those who already have no money instead, when they could win back much much more money so easily?

Britain’s great benefits divide: The boroughs that claim most - and least - revealed

A Survey Of The UK Benefit System

Tax cheats cost you £1,150 a year

£50 fine for errors

Hundreds of thousands of people are expected to face fines of at least £50 for "preventable" errors in their benefits claims.

Benefits: Thousands face £50 fine for errors

It would seem that people are up in arms about this fine of £50. So let's see why ...

If you are claiming state benefits, and do not inform the DWP of changes to your circumstances, you may be fined £50.

Changes of circumstances are any of the following:

• You got married or formed a civil partnership.
• You got divorced or your civil partnership was dissolved.
• You became widowed or a surviving civil partner.
• Someone else you are claiming for has died.
• You separated from your partner or moved in with someone.
• Someone else moved in or out of your household.
• You changed your name.
• You changed your address.
• You changed your Post Office.
• You changed your account details.
• Your income has changed.
• Your pension has changed.
• You have changed the number of hours you work, or the amount you earn has changed.
• You are ill and cannot attend the Jobcentre.
• You have started a further education course.
• You are going away from home, for any reason.
• Your savings go up to £5,500 or more if your savings of more than £6,000 go up or down (We may need to see a bank or building society statement).
• You have remortgaged your property r taken out a home improvement loan.
• Your home loan payments have stopped.
• You had an emergency that stopped you attending the Jobcentre.
• You have had any other changes you think we need to know about.

You can download the DWP Change of Circumstances form on the following link. I am assuming you can use the same form for all benefits. It is ridiculously difficult to find information on this. It seems that the time you have in which to inform the DWP of a change of circumstance varies according to which benefit(s) you are receiving, and which change has happened. As such, I would say that it's simply advisable to update the DWP as soon as you can.

Change of Circumstances

If you do not update the DWP, you are essentially committing fraud. As such I personally consider it fair for them to fine people. I am hoping that they are writing to people to check that they are correct about a change of circumstances before issuing fines though, and that they are being sensitive in cases where a loved one has passed away. However, I do not think that this 'change' is something people should be getting their knickers in a knot over.

The title of the article is 'Benefits; thousands face £50 fine for errors'. What a stupid title! It is not errors at all. The word 'errors' makes it sounds as if they will be finding people who are applying for benefits, for errors they are making on their application forms. Many people have simply read the title of this piece and reacted with alarm. They don't know what errors they could be penalised for making on their forms. Spelling errors? Getting the date wrong? Thankfully none, but sadly, so many people simply read the title of a piece and react rather than reading the whole article.

I'm now going to sit and watch the misinformation spread.

Frustrations; how long have you got?

When I asked one of my friends with M.E. what her frustrations were, this was her response:

"Have you got 3 weeks to read it lol? Its the most frustrating illness I've ever come across. You can't plan, you feel like you're living on luck, you're in pain every day, getting benefits to which you should be entitled to is luck of the draw, you fight to get better which makes you feel worse, you feel useless when you can't even make a meal or string a sentence together. If you have a 'good day' (which is a term I don't like as I am rarely symptom free) its frustrating to try and not be 'normal' as you know you'll pay for it over the next few days. You worry about what people think if they see you out doing something most others take for granted like shopping as to other people you look 'normal' and don't look ill. Its difficult for people to understand how you feel...and if one more person says "Oh, I get tired too..I just....blah blah blah...you should try that" I'll possibly use some of my precious energy in punching them...if the pain in my arms allow it!!!"

The benefits system is blameless ...

Another of the large popular newspapers is becoming aware of the problems with the benefits system and the changes therein. This is an item on their website, a video, so presumably not an article that was published in the newspaper. It's very powerful.

Julie, suffering from Fibromyalgia and three herniated disks, has also developed a sleep disorder and depression due to the pain. She won her tribunal on the 27th of February, then received a letter on March 20th informing her that she would lose her benefit on April 30th due to the changes; she is living with a partner who is earning £800 a month, so they lose £400 a month because she's been claiming for a year already. They put her through the tribunal for nothing, wasting her time, causing her a great deal of stress, and wasting tax payers money. She took an overdose at New Year because of the stress. She states that it's humiliating going through the motions.

"This is just .. the red tape, knowing I've got to go to court again. The lack of help and understanding I've had from certain areas of Job Centre Plus, especially the appeals section. Given duff information, being spoken down to, just not knowing if I'm ever going to get money again. If that happens, what do I do then? I'm struggling really hard to go on, and fighting all the time, but that's all you can do really."

Richard is a carer for his wife, who suffers from asthma and arthritis. She has been found fit for work despite being unable to use her hands. As such they have been placed on joint Job Seekers Allowance, presumably replacing sickness benefits and carers allowance. Despite raising their grandchild they receive only £105 a week on which to live. They were docked a months pay when Richard missed two appointments with the Job Centre due to medical emergencies with his wife. In the clip he shows that his electricity metre has only £3.99 left on it, which he says will last until Saturday. He won't be paid for another week and a half. Opening a cupboard he shows that he has a few tins of beans, explaining that it has to feed three people until they're paid, but states that they're lucky as some people don't even have that.

"It's a fine art to survive on the bare minimum. Once these sanctions come into place and they take that away from you, you've got no chance. I'm at boiling point. I'm at going postal point, you know. Honestly, it's up to that point now, where I want to scream and shout at the top of my voice and nobody's listening. I'm a positive person. I always try to look on the bright side. I've always made the best of what I've got, you know, and to be in the situation where I'm losing control of my marbles, so to speak, is not something I'm used to, and it's not something I enjoy doing."

David Cameron stated "If you're vulnerable and in need we will look after you. If you hit hard times we'll give you unprecedented support."

He lied.

"A DWP customer recently attempted suicide. This was said to be the result of receiving a letter telling him his Employment and Support Allowance was going to stop."

"A DWP spokes person said "It remains rare to find incidents of self harm where the benefits system is said to be a factor, but we are not complacent when it comes to ensuring that our staff can provide the right support and help to those affected. We ensure our staff are highly trained and ready to help people, however vulnerable they may be and whatever pressures they face. We have worked hard and continue to do so, to improve the way the Work Capability Assessment works for those with mental health issues." "

I disagree. It is not hard to find incidents of self harm where the benefits system is a factor. It is simply a fact that the Department for Work and Pensions is not aware of it. My doctor was very aware of the stress this system was causing me last year. He saw the self harm injuries inflicted upon myself as a result of panic attacks I suffered when trying to complete forms for Employment and Support Allowance and Disability Living Allowance. I personally know dozens of people under going this stressful process. I know that many of them simply cannot cope with it. I am certain that many of them, too, have self harmed. Self harm is not something that is easy to discuss with ones friends, or personal professionals, let alone disjointed professionals such as our MPs or an Atos assessor. When being assessed for ESA or DLA, why would we think to mention that we wish to commit suicide because of the process we are undergoing at that very moment?

It aggravates me that the DWP representative states that they "have worked hard and continue to do so, to improve the way the Work Capability Assessment works for those with mental health issues." They completely fail to appreciate that it is their Work Capability Assessment that is causing many people mental health issues. I had no problem with depression at the time I started to apply for Employment and Support Allowance. I have been struggling with it ever since.

And I know I am not alone.

I think it is time that we told them. I think the government is delusional. They have their heads in the sand. I am well aware that they suffer from a bad case of 'only hearing what they want to', but if we do not all speak up, then they simply cannot hear us. We cannot complain about their ignorance if we do not fight it. So let us all be brave. If you have self harmed, or you have considered or attempted suicide as a result of the stress caused by the Work Capability Assessment process, or anything related, please please write to your MP and tell them.

Hatred of those on benefits; discuss!

When I heard about what had happened to the Philpotts, my reaction was not dissimilar to that of Carole Malone, though for completely different reasons. I was shocked obviously, and sad that anyone would lose one child to fire, let alone six. Like Carole though, I was almost not surprised. Over the last few years the government and media have been stirring up so much hatred against those on benefits, that when someone with 17 children, living purely on benefits comes to the publics attention, it isn't all that surprising that one person, out of the thousands or millions that have a grudge against such people, 'takes action into their own hands'. Of course, we don't actually know that is what happened, because as yet they don't know who caused the fire. This is the opening to the article I've linked below though. An article in which it discusses this hatred.

Owen Jones "Hatred of those on benefits is dangerously out of control"

The media have mislead people so much over benefits that everything is now completely misunderstood, even the simplest things. I've read comments on articles recently where people simply cannot comprehend the difference between Disability and Sickness. People seem to think that if someone is a little bit sick they suddenly receive a free car for the rest of their lives. My own father, when I told him of the predicament I was in a few months ago, responded by telling me that I would be fine as I could claim £26,000 a year in benefits and have a council house. Worse than this though, some journalists are deliberately misleading the public (Rob Liddle, to name one).

I want to throw my toys out of my pram and declare that it isn't fair. I never chose to be ill. I certainly did not choose to lose everything I had in life. I don't want to be unemployed or struggling. Sometimes, these people deliberately stirring up hate against me is more than I can take. I don't see why I should be ashamed of who I am. Why should I dread meeting new people because of the inevitable question 'so what do you do?'.

I often wonder how anyone can believe the ridiculous claims made in the media. I cannot personally imagine hearing a 'fact' and not questioning it or thinking about it. It seems that people just accept these things at face value though. If they actually stopped to think about it surely they'd realise it's all rubbish. How can they possibly think that ALL families on benefits have countless children, a free car, a free house, plasma televisions, Blackberries, Nike's, etc? Surely the evidence before them contradicts what they are being told? When they drive through drab council estates who do they think lives there? A class even 'lower' than the 'lowest'?

I'm lost in working out what it is that they're trying to achieve. I understand that they are demonizing those on benefits ... all benefits, not just disability and sickness benefits ... with the aim of getting people on side, so that decreasing benefits actually goes down well with the general public. I understand that they wish to decrease benefits to make what is truthfully a minute saving in the grand scheme of things. But what do they think is going to happen? The truth of the matter is that people living on benefits are already struggling to make ends meet. An amazing amount of people are simply living on Housing Benefit and Job Seekers Allowance. Housing Benefit pays only 80% of their rent, so a huge amount of their JSA goes on paying off the rest. They receive £67 a week; this has to pay the rest of their rent, their bills and living expenses. It's not easy. If this amount if cut further they will be pushing people over the edge. As it is many people are relying on the generosity of others; on handouts, spare rooms, free meals. Not everyone has generosity available. People will starve, or freeze. They are essentially pushing people to suicide, or at least that is the way I see it. I'm sure they realise that, and I'm sure that the thought of claimants decreasing, no matter what the cause, makes them quite happy. It decreases that 'class' after all.

Last year, when I was too sick to get out of bed, too brain fogged to work out how the benefit system worked, one of my friends said to me 'Do you think they'll just let you rot?'. He truly believed that the system has the best interest of every individual at heart. But how does the system magically know when I cannot do anything for myself? How can they know there is one person out there who is totally alone, without internet access, unable to get out of their house; someone who simply has all usual avenues cut off? They will let you rot. They will, and they do.

So that's me. I've said my piece. I am glad and a little encouraged to see The Independent covering the hatred of those on benefits in this manner, and I hope that others start to finally see the light too.

BMA to ballot on Work Capability Assessments

All of this is quotes, because I am completely brainfogged at the moment and know I would completely fluff up trying to explain it myself. People one one of the Facebook M.E. groups have been kind enough to explain it for me so that I can blog it, but they wish to remain anonymous. Hopefully I can come back to this when I am a little more alert and draw my own opinions and discussion ... we shall see!

Firstly, we have breaking news:

BREAKING !!! BMA to ballot on Work Capability Assessments !!! #WCA #Atos #DWP

103 HAMPSHIRE AND ISLE OF WIGHT: That conference, in respect of work capability assessments (WCA) as performed
by ATOS Healthcare, believes that the:
(i) inadequate computer based assessments that are used have little regard to the nature or complexity of the needs of long term sick and disabled persons
(ii) WCA should end with immediate effect and be replaced with a rigorous and safe system that does not cause
avoidable harm to some of the weakest and most vulnerable in society.

103a SCOTTISH CONFERENCE OF LMCs: That conference, in respect of work capability assessments (WCA) as performed
by ATOS Healthcare, believes that:
(i) the inadequate computer based assessments that are used have little regard to the nature or complexity of the needs of long term sick and disabled persons
(ii) the WCA should end with immediate effect and be replaced with a rigorous and safe system that does not
cause avoidable harm to some of the weakest and most vulnerable in society.

The GMC will be forced to institute a full investigation and under an obligation to take action to halt the assessments by revoking "Approved Medical Status" to testing centres. The motions were submitted by the Scottish LMC Conference and Hampshire and Isle of Wight LMC. Motions 103 & 103a can be viewed here:

http://www.bma.org.uk/images/lmcconfagenda2012_tcm41-212632.pdf

Which was complete and utter gobbledigook as far as I was concerned. So I asked for clarification. This is where we believe things stand:

"In order for a health professional to work they have to register with their governing body - GMC for doctors, RCN for nurses and HPC for allied health professionals (OTs, physios, etc). On top of that, they can join other organisations and trade unions, so BMA is an organisation which represents doctors, unison is the trade union for nurses and allied professionals.

"As the GMC are the governing body, they set the standards that doctors have to meet in order to continue practising as doctors but they also set standards for the organisations which employ doctors.

"So if the GMC decide that ATOS aren't using doctors in the right way then they can remove their approval which then has repercussions for the doctors working for ATOS and looks bad for the government."

...

"GMC are there to protect ultimately the public...so if the voting is successful and become BMA policy, GMC will have no choice but to investigate not just in terms of how the doctors' operate and good medical practice but ultimately to protect the public against such practices. Without BMA and GMC backing the doctors would be vulnerable practising in ATOS centres..and that may effect things like liability insurance etc and it would be a huge blow/set back for the government and in particular the implementation of PIP."

Voting for something on this matter is taking place on May 23rd. Hopefully I'll understand it by then.

Can anyone say 'dictatorship'?

A friend of mine spent a couple of years working for VSO in Eritrea. When she came back she described to me a system that I simply could not believe. When Eritreans are young it is decided for them what career path they will take, and they are then lead through the system to that path. They do not have the choice that we do. I was horrified. Ok, so as a teenager I had no idea what career path to take (as a child, I knew I wanted to run an insect hospital), but I would not have been happy for someone I had never met in a government building somewhere, to write down next to my name 'road sweeper', or 'football player'. I can't imagine living in such a society.

Yet, it seems, some of us may be headed in such a direction. Both The Mirror and The Daily Mail have published shocking articles about our countries benefits system in the last couple of days. What is most shocking about them is that both newspapers are actually disgusted at what our government is doing to the sick and disabled. Both have previously played heavy hands in the propaganda against us, aiding the stigmas of 'lazy people' and 'scroungers', so to my mind, if these papers have picked up on how horrific the situation is, it must be seriously dire. (Though the cynic in me wonders if they've just realised they can scandalize a new market of reader).

Taken from Sonia Poulton's article in The Daily Mail:

"Let me be clear. There is nothing wrong with getting hands-on experience that will enable progression in your chosen path, and we've all done plenty of that, but there is everything wrong with being forced to work in a place that has nothing to do with your aims and ambitions and everything to do with creating a labour force that verges on slavery to the system."

"Disabled people will now face the prospect of unlimited unpaid work or they will be subject to cuts in their benefits. For millions that is nothing more than a line on a page but for many terrified and suicidal others, it is anything but."

Obviously, I understand a fair amount about of how the new system works. I am in the WRAG group myself. I had not realised though that I could be forced to take a work placement. When talking with the Job Centre, they conveniently left that piece of information out. Take a look at the job advertisement from Tesco above. The salary is "JSA plus expenses". Many of those commenting on the article are horrified. It is assumed that this is less than minimum wage, slave labour. It may well be, but since the hours are 'to be confirmed' we cannot be certain. I will be looking at similar job advertisements to work this out though. I have always believed Tesco to be a good, even generous, employer, so I am dearly hoping these assumptions are incorrect. That aside, I am still horrified that I, a graduate, who was so looking forward to developing her own career before I became ill, could be told to take a job pushing trolleys, which would very quickly disable me further. What no one seems to have noticed when looking at that job advertisement is that JSA plus expenses is a lot less than ESA plus expenses. Not good!

"We, as the country, are, quite literally, paying the consumer giant to make even more money. And we are doing that by having our taxpayer funded job seekers work free for the company."

It isn't right that large corporations such as Tesco benefit from free workers. If this is how the system works, it is most unfair. I would have presumed that the government would actually be making Tesco pay the worker the equivalent of JSA though. Ever the optimist aren't I.

Taken from The Mirror:

"Neil Coyle, of pressure group Disability Rights UK, said: “The idea that disabled people should work but receive no financial recognition for contributing is perhaps a level of abuse in and of itself.”

"He added: “When Conservative backbench MP Philip Davies suggested disabled people should work for less than the national minimum wage he was castigated. But it now appears to be Government policy.” "

What is perhaps most alarming is how the country, has made such an about turn. As Neil Coyle points out it was not that long ago that that the notion of the disabled working for less than minimum wage was laughed out of the news, and yet it is now a reality. How has the government manufactured this situation? Colour me a conspiracy theorist, but there has been an awful lot of disability hate articles appearing in the media over the last few months. I can't help wondering if these facts are related.

Quoting Sonia's article again:

"If nothing else the Coalition are proving themselves, over and over again, to be worthy defenders of the rich. If you're in the top percentage of income earners in this country then you, too, should be OK."

And this is what most annoys me. Tax breaks. Not just generous salaries, but salary increases. Bonus's. All for the rich, not for those of us at the bottom of the ladder. How can they not care that they are literally taking from the pockets of the poor?

There are three million unemployed in this country. How would you feel as one of those unemployed if you knew that jobs were being made unavailable for you because someone who was sick or disabled was being forced to take the position you could have had, that the company 'employing' them is not paying their wages, and that the person taking the job will probably be made a lot more ill by doing so?

I have one final thing to say on this. I believe there will be an epidemic of sick and disabled people who have no income soon. It won't take many years. Those on contributory ESA (ie, those who have actually paid their taxes to be able to afford to be ill) will cease to receive ESA after one years illness. The government has put a time limit on how long you can be ill for. So, what happens when after a year you are still ill? I have been ill for over ten years now. Many others have been ill nearly as long, or longer than me. Under this system how will they survive? Who does the government think will support them? Care for them? If I was not with C, there would be no one to care for me! Without benefits these people will lose their homes, their possessions; they will end up on the streets.

I would not be surprised if we see people leaving the country. When people realise how dire the situation is, I believe some will take the last of the money they receive or have saved and seek refuge in other countries. I am not suggesting that other countries will support us in the way that we support so many asylum seekers in this country, but that living in a country that is cold, damp, and mouldy is not conducive to good health; those who realise this may well seek a warmer, drier, healthier climate, and simply live on the streets there. I will not be surprised to see English refugees abandoning this country.

I will leave you with some of the comments from Sonia's article in The Daily Mail:

"Sonia writes about the workfare scheme. The ad from Tesco offering permanent night shift positions for benefit (£67.50 a week) plus expenses is reproduced above. This is slavery and madness, and will affect everyone who works for a living by driving wages down even further. Personally, I will not darken Tesco's doors again.
- Jane, Brighton, Sussex"

"Wherefore now, Britannia? Are there no prisons, are there no workhouses?
- Dystopian, UK"

"Well said, Sonia. I honestly think these measures are getting through because people don't really believe it's happening. Soon we will have sick people dying on the streets (having been 'sanctioned' for being too unwell to work for nothing) and unable to pay for healthcare. Councils will keep moving them out of sight. It really IS happening ... And you're right, it's happened before. [... cut]
- Cherry, Herefordshire"

"If people knew the true horror of this they would be marching on the streets on how badly the government spend our money. Take it from me an income for a couple/ person /family of £140 a week and less than £6000 savings very little complicated state help is within your reach.........out of work, sick or disabled it just does nt matter...your ok. £26000 cap is a load of rubbish on benefits if your lucky you have £10 a day to cover every thing. Homelessness yes will be on the rise and they don t want them or people on benefits in the areas like Westminster, NASA cos they are rich.
- Janet, York "

There's a lot more if you want to go and look at them. There are a lot of angry people out there!


[Edit]
Since I wrote this post, Tesco have publicly stated that the advert you can see above was a mistake. I am relieved!

I've got M.E. I'm not a benefits cheat

It is with a little sadness that I share this article. It was written in August 2010, so well over a year ago now, and things have not changed at all. It's quite a long article, and it's well written, so I can't really nick bits of it to share with you. If you're interested in how people with M.E. (and similar illnesses) are treated, then I would indicate to you that you can click the title of this blog post to read an article that describes perfectly what myself, and various others, have been and are repeatedly going through.

It is a personal account, describing the process and the writer's personal experience. It is because the process is so badly flawed that many people with M.E. have to rely heavily on other conditions they suffer with in order to actually claim ESA. I'm now kind of wondering how I got through, since my assessor completely ignored my back problem all together.

National Union of Journalists Speaks Out

The National Union of Journalists today released a statement asking journalists to stop calling disabled people scroungers. You can click the title of my blog post to see the whole article, but there are also some snippets below.

I personally find it interesting that it states the rate of Incapacity Benefit fraud to be 0.3%, and the rate of Disability Living Allowance fraud is 0.5%. 0.3% being the lowest benefit fraud statistic. Given the demonisation I've personally felt from people I have met and people I know, it is evident that the press coverage of benefit fraud has indeed lead the public to believe otherwise.

"Over the last few months we have seen a continuous drip-feed of stories which have promoted a range of inaccurate and generalised accusations against disabled people with long term health conditions. As a result disabled people have faced greater hostility from the public, with many claiming that they have experienced hostility, discrimination and even physical attacks from strangers.

"The Work and Pensions Select Committee on Incapacity Benefit have themselves criticised the Government for the language it uses when it releases and comments on official statistics on the incapacity benefit reassessment programme resulting in some media using terms such as "scrounger" and "work shy". 

"Rather than offering constructive support to disabled people, certain stories and features have portrayed disabled people as unsustainable, unproductive and even not disabled at all, but profiting from fraudulent benefit claims"

I've not personally experienced violence, but hostility I have. In fact, one of the reasons I left a dating site earlier this year was the number of people who had a go at me when they discovered that I am incapacitated. The most hurtful incident was Easter Sunday (long time ago now). Having spent Easter very sadly alone I went to the Chinese take away to get something to eat. A new person working there asked me if I had just finished work. I said that I had not. He then asked me what I do. I explained that I do not work at present. I didn't even say I was ill or claiming benefits, but received a mouthful from him asking whether I just intend to live off benefits for the rest of my life. He then had to answer the phone, otherwise I'd have given him a mouthful back and asked for a refund. 

I agree with the NUJ. The media is deliberately stirring up hatred against the disabled and incapacitated. I cannot begin to imagine why. There is a lot of benefit fraud happening. People claim Job Seekers Allowance with no intention of actually working again. Everyone I know who claiming sickness or disability benefits, would much rather be healthy and working. 

One of my friends summed it up beautiful recently. He has Cystic Fibrosis. He is on high rate mobility, and therefore has help with costs towards a car. Someone expressed to him that they were envious. His response was that he would gladly exchange them the car for their healthy lungs.

Rant - I figured this warranted it's own post too

God's truth ... I would rather be working than ill. I would love to get up at 7:30am, drive myself to some work place, see familiar faces, sit down at my computer and sink my teeth into a piece of work I didn't finish the night before, greet my boss as he enters with his tie all skewiff coz he slept on the settee again ... and then go to lunch with colleagues, actually be able to eat food I like without worrying about the repercussions it'll have on me later in the day or that it'll send me to sleep within ten minutes of eating it. I'd like to sit watching the clock through the afternoon waiting til I can drive myself home again, and then STILL be able to do what I want with my own life in the evening.

People don't realise the luxury they have. All of you out there who curse the sick for pushing your taxes up ... YOU get to work every day .. YOU then get to go home at the end of the day and do far more activity in those few hours after work than I have managed to achieve throughout my entire day ... YOU get to see people, whether that be to argue with them or socialise, you still see people ... and YOU get to build a life. Why the f*** would I have given myself a pay cut of over £12,000 to claim frigging benefits???

Thank you

In June of last year, my husband Ian, and I, went to Egypt. I became ill in Egypt, presumably having caught a bug on the aeroplane. On return to the UK I did not recover, but became far more ill. At first it was a chest infection, but as I failed to recover for months I concluded that CFS had got me, and was going to take me away from this world. Honestly, that's how bad it felt. I was bed-bound. Telling someone you were bed-bound does not sound so severe until you describe what it implies. No, I did not have a few months rest in bed. I was in bed because I could not move without agony. I was so weak that I could not lift my limbs. Eating physically hurt; my jaw ached, my stomach hurt, my eyes hurt and felt weird, the smell of the food actually made me retch at times, and when I did eat it was not accepted particularly graciously by my body. Simply sitting up in bed was frequently too uncomfortable to be realistic. I wore incontinence pads, as I was scared that I would not get to the bathroom when I needed to because of the pain and fatigue in my limbs. Every part of my body felt useless .. dead. THAT is what being bed-bound means.

So, in November, when Ian sat on the bed next to me and simply said 'I want a divorce', I honestly didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Had I had the ability to do so I would either have hit him with a brick (there were no bricks available mind you), or told him he was a selfish bastard with the timing of British Rail. Nevertheless, he was right, our relationship was crap, and doomed, and I'd wanted out of it for ages myself. So I agreed to a divorce. It was a struggle. My first struggle was getting my head around everything, not even just getting out of bed. It became apparent as soon Ian had asked for a divorce that his intention was not to play nice. He threatened me that if I didn't do things his way, if I sought legal advice, he would make all the money disappear. So I found a solicitor who did legal aid and would do home visits when Ian wasn't here.

It was been a slow, torturous process, the last eight months. The first step was getting myself well enough to get out of bed. Amazingly, knowing that freedom was ahead of me helped. My doctor had been telling me for months that if I was free from Ian, I'd start recovering. He was right. I have no idea of how I managed it, but with Ian being gone I had to start looking after myself. It's mostly been bread, tinned fish, and water, but I've been doing it.

Early in the year, Ian cancelled my credit card. It was linked to his bank account so I do understand this, but it was my life line; I used it only to buy food and fuel for the car. His reasoning was that he could not trust me to not drain the account. So I applied for benefits. While I waited for a response from the DWP I asked my mother if she could loan me some money. She wrote back to me telling me that she had no money to loan me, and then she gave my sister £4000 the next week. With sick notes from my doctor I started receiving ESA (Employment & Support Allowance). It took only a couple of months for them to call me up for a medical assessment, one of the most stressful experiences of my life (yes, more stressful than the divorce). As anyone who has been reading my blog will know; I have been extremely close to the edge of another breakdown.

I've had an amazing support network. For the last ten years the only social life I have known has been Ian's family, and occasionally interaction with Ian's university friends. I've made friends on the Internet though, who have proved to be the only people there for me. Thank you everyone.
Thank you N for always being online, listening to my complaints and daily gripes.
Thank you M, for coming to the solicitors with me and looking after my babies.
Thank you BV, for being a refuge, a sister, and a best friend to me.
Thank you A, for being an escape route.
Thank you BW, for being a shoulder, and strong for me, again and again.
Thank you J, for bringing me joy.
Thank you L, for all of the legal advice you've given me over the last few months.
Thank you S, for listening and caring.
Thank you T, for sharing my pain, and helping me laugh.
I wouldn't have survived without you guys.

I've had so much to deal with. I just cannot fathom that I have made it through. The divorce is over, except for needing the house to sell. The medical assessment for benefits is over. My health is nowhere near as good as it was at the beginning of last year, but I am no longer on deaths door. I feel like I'm at the end of the tunnel, in the light, looking back into the tunnel in complete disbelief and awe that I made it through.

Thank you so so much.