| Sometimes life in my head is not easy.............muddled thoughts for today. | for everyone |
Sometimes, life in my head is not easy. Yesterday I watched the Panorama documentary ‘’Disabled or faking it’’, the sad but true tale of how our present government are doing their very best to prevent legitimate claims for disability related benefits being awarded to genuinely sick and disabled people. Naturally I was enraged (and very sad), some of those cases were heartbreaking. Today, while shopping in my favourite discount store, I came across a local disabled lady using a mobility scooter who was complaining loudly to any one and every one in earshot, about the programme, the system, the government, the lack of empathy etc, etc, etc………..naturally I whole heartedly supported her.
My rage at the injustice of our system rose. And then, while complaining loudly, she said ‘’well if they do stop this I’ll just have to live on my £250 per week and I know I can’t manage on that’’. I thought that was a bit odd, I had assumed she could lose every thing because of the system, turns out she was going to lose part of her benefit and be left with £250 per week; and that’s more than I get to live on every week. Then my poor muddled mind felt very guilty, did a bit of a flip and thought maybe her needs were much greater than mine, maybe she has to pay carers or something. So by this time I’m feeling angry with the government, sorry for the disabled lady and guilty for questioning the amount she receives. I thought I recognised myself falling into the ‘divide and rule’ trap the government set for us……………the ‘pit the poor against the poor’ strategy, it always works. So now I’m feeling stupid for falling for it as well as guilty for questioning her and again; she had my whole hearted support.
And then……………she committed the ultimate crime. She started saying how the government ‘let all these foreigners in’ and how these foreigners cost so much and how if they all went home and the government stopped any more coming in we (presumably she meant the indigenous British population) would all be so much better off.
Well that was it. She lost my sympathy vote and I left. Off I went, losing all sympathy for this stupid bigoted lady and did what I had to do and then went home.
But…………..my restless mind doesn’t like letting go. So this evening I find myself revisiting this scene, I’m plagued with thoughts of;……..ummm yes well she IS bigoted and stupid, but being bigoted and stupid isn’t exclusive to the able bodied and her moral judgments don’t actually have any baring on her right to benefits. So now I’m feeling guilty again, because I allowed myself to be distracted by the irrelevant. I’m also mad as hell with the government for putting so many people through this bloody awful, cruel, stressful and completely ‘not fit for purpose’ assessment for disability benefits. I feel sad for all the people who have suffered under this system and have every sympathy for those who stand to lose some or all of their benefits. I’m also angry with ignorant bigots (able bodied or disabled) who only add more pain and distress to an already bad situation.
Like I said…………..its not easy living in my head
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You might find this interesting.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2012/aug/02/atos-disability-benefit-tests "Richard Hawkes, chief executive of the disability charity Scope, said the tests were deeply flawed. "Just this week the government and Atos, the contractor that carries out its fitness for work test, have come under a great deal of criticism about how this assessment is being delivered to disabled people. Yet in less than a year from now, disabled people could have to go through two deeply flawed assessments in the same month to get the essential financial support they need to live their lives. "Disabled people are incredibly anxious and afraid that the switch from DLA to PIP is just an excuse to cut the support they need. The decision about which private company will run the assessment is of little significance to the thousands of disabled people who are just deeply worried about losing their financial lifeline," Hawkes said. Campaigners say achieving the level of saving required would mean cutting about 500,000 people from the benefit roll, which would lead to arbitrary judgments being made. A spokesman for the charity Disability Rights UK, which has helped the government with technical aspects of the test, said: "We are looking to ensure all companies assessing disabled people sign up to principles to ensure the assessment process works as well as possible." |
forgetmenot525 wrote on Aug 1
bernardv said
 Over
here (I'm told) they have a contract which can't be broken but must run
its natural course. ATOS are awarded £2,000 for each person they take
off disability benefit. If the decision is over turned by an independent
tribunal thay don't need to refund the money. And yes, the ATOS
examiners are given targets to meet 
I
don't know if you watched the programme Bernie but the bit I hated the
most was that government minister looking straight into the camera and
saying over and over that there are no targets. Lots of people will
believe him, seems like lies lies and more lies is all that politics
consists of these days.
I think every one would have more respect for them if they were honest, no chance of that though. |
forgetmenot525 wrote on Aug 1, edited on Aug 1
That's
a bit of a myth, just another tool in the divide and rule campaign.
Government figures confirm that those attempting to deliberately defraud
the system are a tiny fraction of all claimants, the amount claimed
fraudulently is so small that it is far far outweighed by the cost of
government anti fraud activities. Its a case of sledge hammer to crack a
wall nut.
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forgetmenot525 wrote on Aug 1
I'm
not surprised Emma, any one who watched that programme would be
enraged, what they are doing is awful beyond words. Bevan and all those
who worked with him would be horrified.
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forgetmenot525 wrote on Aug 1
This
lady IS a bit odd, I’ve no idea why she quoted the figure £250 but she
did and yes it is weird, but she is not a ‘plant’, she, and her little
mobility scooter, are a familiar sight around the town and I guess its
possible that as well as her obvious mobility problems, she could also
have learning difficulty or mental health issues, because she is
certainly quite strange at times. And if she does, that could explain
why she became so agitated about the panorama programme, and then got
carried away with her very public vocal outburst. And, what ever caused
her outburst, it shows how easy it is for people, including me, to
become judgmental and unsympathetic to her distress. Like I said, I
truly believe the government deliberately pit the poor against the poor;
it’s a ‘divide and rule’ campaign they should be proud of. And; I know
more than enough about the dreaded Atos assessment process to know it’s
totally’ not for purpose’ and its primary objective is to meet
government targets and deny legitimate benefit payments to the most
vulnerable members of our society.
My own brother-in-law went for over a year with no income because he was assessed as fit for work by the Atos assessment process and not entitled to any disability related benefit, but his GP flatly refused to sign him fit for work which left him not entitled to job seekers allowance. He turned 60 last year, he has heart disease, severe asthma and breathing difficulty, dangerously high blood pressure and chronic pain. After about a year of fighting the system he was awarded benefit. BUT; within a year of that, his wife, my sister, was called for a reassessment with Atos. They had scraped by on her disability allowances for a year and as soon as he was awarded his they reassessed her and passed her as fit for work. She has arthritis, high blood pressure, asthma, diabetes, and severe other medical conditions that I don’t fully understand. She had a failed knee replacement 5 years ago and has had chronic pain and very limited mobility since that time. In one assessment she was told she doesn’t have a mobility problem, she just needs a wheelchair!!. Her benefit was reinstated last week. I offered to go with her to her next assessment but fortunately that wasn’t needed. They have been going through the system now for more than two years. And so Aaron, yes, I agree, the whole thing is a bloody disgrace. |
ATOS ( a french company) have been banned from operating in the US because of their practises.
Over here (I'm told) they have a contract which can't be broken but must run its natural course. ATOS are awarded £2,000 for each person they take off disability benefit. If the decision is over turned by an independent tribunal thay don't need to refund the money. And yes, the ATOS examiners are given targets to meet. If they meet them they receive a bonus. |
think it's a complicated issue. And there do need to be reviews but
they should be done in ways that don't make genuine claimers feel
discriminated against but enables people who are abusing the system to
be identified. I think it must be hard to assess people as well as for
example pain can be so subjective. If you have a member of staff who
complains of back pain and says that certain things aggravate the pain
it's difficult to argue against that. You can't know how the pain feels
to them. On the other hand it's galling if you suspect that in fact
they are in very little pain and just using the back problem to get out
of doing things they don't want to do. (Or claiming they can't work so
need to be supported.)
I also think our national health system is great but is struggling against all the demands made on it. I do think that being a national service it should be consistant - treatment available to you shouldn't matter where you live. We need a benefits system that takes care of those who need it but people shouldn't be better off on benefits than those trying hard to hold down jobs and support themselves. |
hedgewitch9 wrote on Jul 31
I
watched it too. I wasn't surprised but I did become enraged. My
great-grandmother worked with Nye Bevan to establish the NHS and it, and
the social benefits system, are being made a mockery of; they are
supposed to be there to treat and support people who need it, not to be
slyly dismantled by bigots and heartless thieves.
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aaranaardvark wrote on Jul 31, edited on Jul 31
I
found the behaviours of the lady in question very odd, why would she
say that she gets £250 per week on top of her ESA or whatever, even if
its true?.... that just seems weird to me. Perhaps the government have
started planting people in shops loudly complaining that because of
benefit cuts they'll have to downsize their Bentley and settle for a
Mercedes instead. I have accompanied someone on one of these Atos
assessments which are like something from Brave New World, populated by
unhelpful, unsmiling personality disordered staff in a bleak 60s
building I had the feeling I was in a film about Britain after the Nazis
take over. Despite their deliberate unpleasantness the Benefits Agency
overturned the Atos decision and continued to award a benefit that had
tried to stop. Atos staff are paid bonuses to deprive disabled people of
an income .... in my experience they are all scum. Hope that has helped
to unfuddle your head, whatever this woman was going on about Atos and
the government have made her the subject of their attacks....eugenics is
alive and well. Like I say they are no better than Nazis, bent doctors
and corrupt nurses looked after by humourless zombies...that's what Atos
is all about.... any damage to their already rock bottom reputation is
to be strongly encouraged I think!
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forgetmenot525 wrote on Jul 31
I
forgot to say...............because if you don't live here maybe you
don't know; this government have completely reorganized the system for
sick and disabled people to claim benefits. It really seems as if their
aim is not to be fair and just, but to cut costs and deny benefits
regardless of need. The whole system is a shambles.The government and
the private company working for them claim they are NOT working to
targets, but every one else knows they are...............the object of
the reorganization is simply to save money however they can.
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artprevails wrote on Jul 31
Seems
that many of the governments these days have flipped from being kind of
easy going about qualifying folks to being too stringent. We all need a
happy medium. Let those who need it get and those who do not, get
less. I don't know, it isn't an easy fix. We are all facing such big
national economy crisis that anything and everything is up in the air. I
am sorry for the lady- perhaps her loudness gets many thinking, even if
they are offended. And you meant well, eh friend? I am sure you did,
you did listen and you have wrestled a great deal. Perhaps you were
meant to ponder things such as this today.
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greenwytch wrote on Jul 31
oh
bless your heart, Loretta.......i have been there and done that with
these sort of thoughts, too...i guess for some people, being enabled to
be 'Ghetto Fabulous' is simply not enough!
i've known of some folks in this lifetime who have fed their dogs and cats hamburger meat, because the welfare and food stamps programs won't allow them to buy actual dog and cat food - and still, those same folks have the temerity to look down at others who will at least make the effort to wash car windows and such to make a bit of honest money.... seems there is just no justice nor any easy answers for any of it. |
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