How Can You Take It Easy When You're Already Taking It Easy?
I've just discovered a very new and very promising blog called How Can You Take It Easy When You're Already Taking It Easy, written by someone with a traumatic brain injury and I suspect a far worse experience of the benefits system than I.Read it and weep.
4 comments:
Oh im weeping!!
C moved into his home 2 weeks ago now. Before he moved i tried claiming benefits for him (as his appointee) to be told i cant do it in advance.
So did it on the day, and still no money for him in his own right. But they took him off my benefits in seconds!
Must go and chase them up again! grrr
There is a significant difference in attitude between the people who handle IB and those who handle DLA - DLA decision makers tend to have much more sympathy for the client and you tend to get a much more helpful interaction, however that is in large part due to the nature of the disabilities that qualify for DLA (need for care, obvious difficulties in mobility). There is still a requirement for medical examination, but considering the money and time duration involved in a typical DLA claim, its a small price to pay for what could be a lifetime stipend.
IB is where you get the scroungers and benefit cheats... not a lot as a total percentage, but when you consider how many applicants a typical IB decision maker or front line staff member encounters, you begin to realize just how many actual scroungers they run into, and how many people they see who are 'probably' on the fiddle, but the business doesn't have the time or resources to pursue...
It makes people jaded, and that jadedness works its way up through the department. Couple that to hard economic times, tabloid-generated outrage, and posturing politicians who confuse uncaring with 'toughness' and its no surprise that someone with a non-obvious disability ends up getting a rough ride in the system.
-faceless
Oh I read it and wept. That blogger and I have similar problems - I am beginning to think that those in power and authority simply do not act for the best interests of disabled people and its tiresome to them that we survive, let alone then ever feeling inclined to help us.
I'll keep an eye on that blog - as you say, it is a promising one.
Cas: Wonderful blog isn't it?! I'm so sorry to hear you have yet more stress to deal with, I hope the benefits situation is sorted asap. Fingers crossed for you! x
Faceless: Great comments as usual. I've noticed the difference between DLA staff and IB/IS staff myself. With only a few exceptions DLA staff have been incredibly helpful, but when my IB50 went in last time I spoke to a woman who sneered at me and said I surely didn't expect they'd just 'give' me benefit for life. I refrained from asking her if she'd found a cure for EDS but I was really annoyed at being treated like total scum.
For me, the big tragedy about all these new 'welfare reforms' is that they won't touch the fraudsters who'll just find new ways to scam, but they terrify and distress genuine claimants.
DD: Sadly I think you are absolutely right, and part of the overall plan is to reduce benefits to such a low level those with no other option will die years earlier from poverty related conditions.
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