Horrendous changes to disability benefits
 

http://www.benefitsandwork.co.uk/new...-mental-health

Anyone else find this ****ing ridiculous?! Is psychological distress not reason enough? This seems to be so cruel and basically just a bit of a **** you to people who duffer extreme anxiety and such. This basically means those suffering from, for example, severe agoraphobia will be unable to receive disability payments...as 'psychological distress' is not a problem at all apparently and doesn't 'count'. So in short, mental health issues are all in your head and do not actually affect your life?

Look after our own indeed...

Also before anyone starts about 'faking' anxiety conditions...PIP is rather hard to get and requires a boatload of actual evidence. So if someone turned up at the assessment and just said 'I cant go out on my own' they would NOT be awarded this anyway...

Also I should maybe add, that part is actually actually for mental health issues (and those who are blind) in the first place. There is a further question for those with physical issues who have problems going out

So the question for those with mental health issues...excludes mental health issues :S

Urgh don't get me started on this lot. Four year old daughter's DLA was cut by £100 a month, not because her circumstances have changed at all, but because they now "no longer just take your word for it" that there is a sleep issue / night time care required?? We were on the phone like "Err you are more then welcome to come to our house at 3am on a bad night and watch Peppa Pig with her, I could do with the extra sleep."

Essentially you get more if the person requires 24/7 care frequently, which she does. But they've changed the rules so that, unless you have medication for sleep issues (doping up a 4 year old!) or can prove that you are part of a professional "sleep program" of some description, they won't accept that any night time care is needed. I'm 100% sure that it will be sorted but it's jumping through yet more hoops with all of her health care professionals, trying to get appointments with her paediatrician (who is great but very busy and hard to get an appt. with) etc.

Obligatory Scotland is awesome plug:

Going in totally the OPPOSITE direction, we're getting a blue badge for her under a Scottish government scheme even though she has no physical disability. They're currently running a pilot scheme for people with non-physical disabilities to be allowed to hold a disabled parking badge if they pose a risk to themselves or others with regards to traffic. The usual blue badge is physical disability only.

Well, Scotland can afford to be awesome, can't it. At the moment.

I can't understand the Tory's attitude to disability. And isn't mental health awareness a big thing at the moment. These changes are, like Vicky said, ridiculous.

It has absolutely nothing to do with affordability, money, for once, Livia. Blue Badges don't cost anything more than a piece of paper and some printer ink. They just give you the right to use pre-existing spaces. It's about "invisible" disabilities being taken as seriously as the obvious ones, and that is all. I very much hope it's a scheme that's adopted UK wide because I actually think it affects even more people than the physical disability issue. Getting someone with a physical disability across a busy car park or street is hard. Getting someone like my daughter across one is dangerous, to her, to us, to other pedestrians and to road users. For now she's still small enough to be carried short distances but that won't be forever.

This is just going to put stress on anxiety sufferers and make their conditions worse.
There is an argument that the only cure for anxiety and agoraphobia is exposure.The absolute worst thing you can do is stay inside.The only way to break the cycle is avoid avoidance tactics.However it needs to be done gradually.Not just throw em in at the deep end.Taking their disability allowance away is going to cause more harm.Why can't they get CBT therapy for these people and help them get back into work?That would be far more effective.

How this rotten heartless bunch get support after now almost 7 years of taking a sledgehammer to the sick and disabled is truly leaving me dismayed.

It is the absolute worst example of abuse of power and a truly shocking indictment of UK voters to allow any party and govt.to ever be able to enact such despicable thinking and plans.

They held all this shiz back till after Copeland didn't they?

Why can't we afford to be awesome? :/

Just for the sake of clarification, this only related to the "mobility" element of PIP (previously Disability Allowance) not the entire disability claim. This amounts to a loss of approx. £100 a month for lower rate mobility, or over £200 a month (or use of a motability scheme car) at higher rate.

Though I do think it's shocking regardless. I personally think that mental health issues can VERY often be as much of a barrier, if not MORE of a barrier, for many people when it comes to getting out of the house and - as you say - ironically the ability to do so is the best way for someone suffering from these things to actually get better. They're hampering these individuals' BEST hope at getting back into society. CBT is amazing for many people but it doesn't work for everyone... and needs to go hand in hand with getting back into normal life.

It was released on the same day I think hence it didn't get any major publicity until a few days later

I would agree that blue badges should be issued to children with learning difficulties who have no physical issues, especially when they get older and more difficult to manage. I work with teenagers with autism and the strength they can exhibit if they are not in a situation they are comfortable with can put them and their parents/carers in dangerous situations.

Mine does it already, it's not that she's overly strong but she's just a crafty bugger. She's developed this sort of twist/jerk movement with her arm that's lightning fast and her hand just pops out of your grip no matter how tight it is! Plus I swear she pretends to be playing along until you let your guard down before she does it :suspect:.

It's a tough sell because most of the time she's not "being difficult"... she's happy, laughing, being mischievous but the problem lies in the fact that she has ZERO sense of danger and no way of explaining it to her. And like I said - it's actually worse because she has no physical disability... she's off like a shot. Her whole sense of danger is essentially linked to her own pavlovian experience of bad consequences. I don't have to worry about her around the cooker when it's on - because she's touched it before and burned her fingers. She's generally not at risk around "edges" from falls - because she has fallen off of things before and knows it can hurt. But how do you teach a child who has no abstract concept of risk about the dangers of cars? It's not like we can just hit her with one :umm2:. She has no idea of the consequences of running into a road.

How convenient.

They know they're unquestionably safe for the next couple of elections so are doing what they want without a care really

....imagine only having benefits for a smaller motor.................

Mark L

It's ridiculous, vicious and makes light of mental and psychological issues that are already not taken seriously enough by most people.

I'm so glad that the Tories fooled the working class into voting for them...

so the "working class" are now fools?


another day another unbelievable insulting post


just wow:shocked:

I was speaking generally, not about blue badges per se. Personally I'd like to see people prosecuted and fined for using disabled spaces where you should display a blue badge... ironically, our local hospital car park is the worst for that.

George Freeman, who made the remarks yesterday, was one of my MPs when I worked for the Tories. And I have to say, his comments don't surprise me.

Even I'm not sure that's a good idea anymore arista

Likely to vote lib dem if anything

The ones who voted for the Conservatives are...

This country needs a credible opposition party.

That's the problem isn't t, it's not about the public being duped into voting Tory there are no credible alternatives so people who would have naturally have voted Labour are at odds Roth what to do with their vote and are wasting it on independents or not voting at all