More Stupidity

The Coalition Government plans to scrap DLA in favour of a new objective benefit called Personal Independence Payments and will include a medical assessment in order for a claimant to prove entitlement according to a public consultation paper into DLA reform.

So the attack on sick and disabled people is set to continue! Please share this frightening information with as many people and groups as possible so that a proper campaign against scrapping DLA can be coordinated. I can see these changes bringing out a huge number of people onto the streets in protest to show the government that ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!!!

The full consultation can viewed and downloaded here;

http://www.dwp.gov.uk/docs/dla-reform-consultation.pdf

The following comes from that said report;

THE GOVERNMENTS APPROACH TO DISABILITY BENEFIT REFORM

We propose to replace Disability Living Allowance (DLA) with a new cash benefit – Personal Independence Payment – which will contribute to the extra costs of overcoming the barriers faced by disabled people to lead full and active lives.

The benefit will reflect changes in society, such as legislation. Disabled people are rightly not prepared to accept being restricted from playing an active part in society. We need a benefit that helps contribute to the extra costs of living independently, in a way that is right for each individual.

The benefit will continue to take account of the social model of disability. The assessment will be objective, reflect the impact of the barriers disabled people may experience, and make sure they are treated as individuals.

Central to Personal Independence Payment will be a new, fairer, objective assessment, which will allow us to identify those who face the greatest need, in a more consistent and transparent manner. We are developing the new assessment in collaboration with a group of independent specialists in health, social care and disability, including disabled people.

Personal Independence Payment will be based on need not income and will be a more active benefit, recognising changes to individuals’ situations and taking account of the support that disabled people can access to help them live independently. Where possible, we will signpost individuals to support that may help them manage their condition. We will ensure that the award continues to reflect the individual’s changing needs over time by building in periodic reviews.

The new benefit will be introduced in 2013/14, so there will be further opportunities to feed in views on how we might deliver it. We are already involving disabled people in developing the new benefit and will continue to do so.

We will introduce a Bill that will set out the high-level legal framework underpinning the new benefit, with the detailed requirements set out in secondary legislation.

Responses to this consultation will be used to inform secondary legislation on this detailed design, including the new assessment process. Where possible, and in particular on the new assessment, we will be publishing draft regulations during the passage of the Bill.

WHAT WILL STAY THE SAME

We want to be clear about what we propose will remain the same under the new system. We recognise that there are a number of features of DLA which many disabled people value, in particular the ability to spend the money in a range of ways to meet their personal circumstances. That is why Personal Independence Payment will remain an extra-costs benefit, providing cash support and allowing disabled people to spend the benefit in the way which best meets their individual needs.

The new benefit will not be means-tested or taxable, and payment will not depend on having paid National Insurance contributions. It will continue to be available to those who are in work, as well as those who are out of work.

Support will continue to be provided to children and adults up to the age of 65. Individuals who receive the benefit before reaching 65 may continue to receive Personal Independence Payment if their needs continue. We will keep the upper age limit for receiving the new benefit under review, given the changes being made to the State Pension age.

We will continue to support those in the most difficult circumstances by
maintaining special rules for people who are terminally ill. Claims submitted under these rules will be fast tracked to provide financial support as quickly as possible.

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I can not stress the importance of getting this information to as many people as possible. If you run a group which has interests in protecting disabled people please copy this message and forward it on to others.

If you are a member of such a group or organisation please forward this message onto whoever runs the group or organisation or anyone else who may be interested.

This shocking treatment of disabled people can not be permitted to continue!

This I took from the facebook page Welfare Rights. With thanks to Steven Preece.

I am again seeking legal adivce about my benefits. I have been told by several people including my own MP Sir Peter Soulsby, that they think that I should be on the higher rates. The DWP have said I am not able to work yet they are saying im not disabled enough to get the higher rates. I now have the support of my local councilor Ross Grant.

I dont choose to be disabled I dont think that anybody would. I would love to be able to go out and work again. That way I wouldnt get comments like im being greedy or lazy.

Most of my family go out and work and it seems that I am the only one not able to. I have to watch every single penny I get coming in. Sometimes my account gets overdrawn and my accoun accours charges.

The government are now going to cut benefits for people yet again. Will we be going back to Victorian times and having poor houses. Pick Pocketing is susposed to be illegal yet with the government cutting peoples money surely thats what they are doing? More people will be turning to crime to be able to live. Then again I suspose that people would be better off in prison. They would get 3 meals a day, no bills to pay and more human rights.

News Article

I read a news article today passed on to me by friend. This gentleman had major brain surgery and the DWP expected him to go back to work 2 weeks later.

pa.press.net, Updated: 03/08/2010 06:56
Brain op man told to return to work
A man has received an apology after his benefits were stopped by officials who he claims told him he was well enough to return to work just days after having brain surgery.

Bryan Haigh, 50, from Leeds, underwent the major operation to remove a tumour from his brain on July 20. He said bosses at the Department for Work and Pensions decreed in a letter dated July 22 that he was officially fit to work and they could stop his £65-a-week benefits.

But a spokeswoman for the Department for Work and Pensions said: "Having reviewed the case, we have arranged for Mr Haigh's Employment and Support Allowance to continue. We have contacted him to apologise and inform him of his future payments. If anyone is unhappy with a benefit decision they should get in touch with Jobcentre Plus, and we will look at it again."

The next thing they will be trying to force me back to work. There is already 2.5 million people not working in the uk, if they dpeople who are to sick to work where are they saving money in the end.

Update

Again I reapplied for Disability Living Allowance at the middle rates. Again I have been turned down. In basic terms because I have coping methods it makes me less disabled. They don't take into account I can never work again.

I have also lost some of my housing and council tax benefit. They seem to let Asylum seekers have no trouble having money, yet people who have lived in the country all their lives get shafted. In London an asylum seeker gets paid £2000 a week in housing benefit, after being moved from a house only costing £800 a week housing benefit because she didn't like the area. I am not a racist but they need to think about the people in this country who need help first before helping others.

There is people who get high rate disability for having an addiction or just being depressed. If they have an addiction surely giving them more money gives them more money to spend on it. If someone is depressed, they should go out and get a job perhaps that would stop them feeling so depressed.

I have been told by people to stop complaining and be grateful for for what I get. If I could work I would are they or anybody out there, willing to find me a job that I can do for 3 hours a week for a full weeks wages then I would work.

I read in a news paper about a war hero who lost a leg. He has been told hes not entitled to some benefits. This is completely wrong. He was fighting for our freedom he deserves all the help he can get.

This government and the last seem to think if you can cope your not entitled to help. It needs sorting!

Helping Other People

If a person has got something to offer no matter what the age of the person then they should do so. We can all learn new things from each other. I have been reading a 14 year old girls blog about her life with Neurofibromatosis.

Her blog is refreshing to have a younger persons view on the condition. I like to share information with as many people as possible. That's why I started this blog. If one persons views are changed by it then I'm happy. You can learn just as much from a young person than an adult.


I have been getting negative opinions about my disabilities. The people in question seem to make comments without doing any research of their own. If I make statements or say something I always research it first to make sure I have my facts right.

It is dangerous just to assume something is right in your eyes. If someone is going to comment on someones way of life, they should make sure they have the facts first. You can do more damage just speaking without thinking than just taking a moment to think before you speak.

New Blog

I'm going to start this blog of with a poem from Rudyard Kipling

If

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or, being hated, don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise;

If you can dream - and not make dreams your master;
If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with triumph and disaster
And treat those two imposters just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to broken,
And stoop and build 'em up with worn out tools;

If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breath a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on";

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings - nor lose the common touch;
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run -
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
And - which is more - you'll be a Man my son!

What I think Kipling is trying to say is that if you try your hardest then you should be proud of your self.

I was thinking the other day about all these servicemen and women who go to war for us and come back injured. They do not complain, yet they do not get treated with the respect they deserve.

A lot of these people will never be able to work again but they still keep smiling. I read in a newspaper about one serviceman. This man had lost both legs in a mortar attack. He now has prosthetic legs. The gentleman wants to go back to the front line. This we all should be proud of.

I feel guilty because of the fact that I cannot work. I complain about not getting enough help from the government when ex servicemen hardly get any help at all.

There should be equallity for all. Everyone has the right to be treated with a bit of dignity.

More Prejudice

One of my previous posts has been taken from my blog and disected. I have copied it below and will add the link so you can see its not edited. I will give my comments to it afterwards.

moaning bully

i read something today that my internet bully wrote an i found it very funny to read how he moaning about being disabled .. here is what he said ..











"I visited the job centre today. I had a look at the available jobs. There is nothing suitable what so ever for me. When you apply for a job legally you have to tell them of any risks that you would be to the company.

Companies cannot refuse you employment because you are disabled. But with my health there are not many jobs I can do.



I would need to be happy in a job that I did. What is the point of doing a job if it makes you unhappy? If I wasn't happy in the job, surely that would make me even more ill. "

now i do fine what he said very funny .. cause he is not really wanting a job.... if he did he would try harder for a job.. an if i was in debt of £360 something with the conical i would take any job i could get.. to get out of that deft ...if you are that stressed i would suggest that u take anything u can get an stop complain about what u are not getting



"I am already starting to get stressed about money. Yes I have the net but that is not a luxury to me its a necessary. A lot of people with disabilities find the net is good for them to communicate with the outside world. "

well let me say this about the net an you .. if u are that stressed are u worried about being caught out being a bully what u get off on bullying 2 woman in over 2 years .. dose that give u a hard on simon north .. it must cause if your that horny why not talk to your mate dave.. he know all the porn an dating sites.. he can hook u up with a woman ...

if u can sit on a chat site for hour at a time or on the pc bullying i think u can get a job sitting down...

"I recently went for a night out. This was my first in about 8 months and I had to save for that. Most people of my age are out nearly every weekend if they don't have families. "

well simon north .. u truly do have a lot of crap u say ... now this is out right lie cause u went out on not to long ago .. as u have bragged about it ....

"I know the content of my blogs is random but when I have things running through my head I just need to put them down"






well simon north all i can say to u is wake up u was found fit your doctor an the medcail... stop moaning about how u are not being treated right .. there is many thing u can do out there .. stop being picky an take what u can get.....

an u plast all over the internet " why work when the govement pay me not to "

Here is the link.



This person and others see that if a person looks normal on the outside they are lazy and fit to work.

If she spent one afteroon in a Headway she would see this is not the case. I have to concetrate really hard to do normal things and it makes me very tired. She said that I should stop being picky would she rather i did job that would make me even more ill? She doesnt work herself yet she feels she has the right to preach about other peoples situations.

Long Term Sick!

Im watching a programme on Channel 4 at the moment, about the government trying to get people on the sick back to work.

They are saying its not about what you cant do. It is about what you can do. With my condition as I have explained in an earlier post I am totally unfit to work.

Its ok getting people off the sick but if you are going to risk your health and cost the government more who wins.

Because of my tumours, it will be hard to find a company willing to take me on. Besides it would cost them a lot more to insure me. I get tired easy and cannot sit down for very long. I fall asleep sometimes in the afternoon round friends and families houses. I cannot drive because I have double vision and could black out at any time.

Im 30 and embarassed to tell people that I cannot (not wont) work . I know for the rest of my life I wont be working. I would love to be able to gain some self respect back and work.

There are people on the sick who are fit to work. Why should those who genuinely cannot work be treated like shit and looked on.

When I was a kid we had a neighbour who used to lift slabs and do his garden. Then when anyone official came to visit he started using his crutches to make himself look worse. Yes I can walk but slowly and really have to concentrate. Because I can walk very slowly, looks like they will try and make work.

I do try and do volunteer work but after 3 hours I'm exhausted. How would I be if I did a full weeks work? The government need to look at people who can work but don't work first.

Most people around my age have families now and are happy. Because I'm on benefits I don't think its fair for me to have a family for other people to pay.

More Government Stupidity

Just  to prove its not just me getting  a raw deal with this government read the article from The Mirror news paper below

Woman refused disability benefits - in case amputated leg "gets better" By Paul Byrne 29/08/2009

A diabetic woman whose badly-infected leg was amputated has been refused disability benefits - in case it "got better".

Former nurse Beryl Prescott, 57, was told to reapply in three months, when it would be decided if she was genuinely disabled.

Beryl said: "Apparently, you have to wait three months after you come out of hospital before you can apply in case you 'get better".

"I'm not a doctor but I am pretty sure that's not going to happen. I don't have a magic grow-bag."

She added: "I am not a fraudster, I'm not trying it on. I am a 100% genuine case. I have a prosthetic leg."

Partially-sighted Beryl had her leg amputated in January. She applied for Disability Living Allowance (DLA) from her hospital bed, but was told it would be a three-month wait before her claim was even processed.

Beryl, from Crossens, near Southport, Merseyside, said: "It sickens me that you do your best and pay your bills all your life and then you get treated with no respect."

The Government insists on a three-month qualifying period before awarding DLA. Claimants must be unable or nearly unable to walk due to a permanent disability, the loss of one or both limbs, or being partially sighted.

A spokesman for the Department of Work and Pensions, which has given Beryl more than £1,700 in back payments, said: "We cannot comment on individual cases."

There are different types of disability as well.  Yes I can walk but slowly and have to compose myself every so often.  But I get tired very easy so would be unfit to work.   I get dizzy when I bend down and could black out.   I have to really know an area to be alone there.   I get confused sometimes.  I dont want sympathy I just want to get on with my life with some dignity.