Yet another Daily Mail smear campaign . . .

I've just read this post from 'Where's the Benefit?', and am so thankful to them for their clear, calm facts, in answering yet another of the Daily Mail's smear campaigns against the sick and disabled of this country.
This time, it's about Disability Living Allowance (DLA), and how, apparently, only half of those getting DLA have been asked for evidence backing their claims.


The link to it is:


http://wheresthebenefit.blogspot.com/2011/02/more-mail-lies.html?spref=fb

I, for one, had to go through hoops to get the DLA I was awarded, and had to go to a tribunal, with every bit of evidence of my various conditions from my Doctor and Specialists, before I was awarded the DLA, indefinitely. 
This took me much time, effort, and heaps of nervous exhaustion, things that only exacerbated my health conditions at the time. Since the tribunal, my health has got even worse, and so the money I was awarded is being used to help support me in any effort I can make to get out and about (something increasingly rare, as my health deteriorates). This money ensures that I can keep in touch with the world via the internet, as this is the only way I can stay in contact with people, given my problems with dealing with the telephone :(
To have that indefinite award, made me feel that at least there was one thing in my life that was steady, and which I could rely on to keep supporting me, but now I am told that I will probably have to have a yearly medical which, if I manage to pass it, given the draconian pass rates Atos is ensuring, will cost the taxpayer an estimated £24,7456,000 for all the 3.2 million people currently claiming it (see above link).


Where is the saving in this?


I cannot understand a government who are intent on vilifying the most vulnerable in society, in order to bolster their own way of life.
A society is judged by the way it deals with it's poor and vulnerable and, as far as I can see, our society is quickly showing just how uncaring it can be. 


I have to admit that I'm getting more and more frightened by the Coalition's bulldozing of the Welfare system, and wonder each day what else they will think up, to drag us back to the bad old days; those times before good and decent men decided that a support network was needed to help those who, through no fault of their own, were unable to go out to work to support themselves!


Does anybody need a chimney sweep?

Petition the Minister for Disabled People to Recall the Public Consultation on DLA Reform

The following is a petition to try and stop this government from taking away the hard-won benefit that many disabled people rely on to be able to get out and about in society, whether it is for work, or socially. If the government have their way, this loss will be devastating for many, many disabled people, so please help to support this with your signature.
The public consultation ends on February 14th, so please do what you can, as soon as you can.


The link is:


http://www.petitiononline.co.uk/petition/petition-the-minister-for-disabled-people-to-recall-the-public-consultation-on-dla-reform/569




We, the undersigned, urge the Minister for Disabled People to recall the Public Consultation on Disability Living Allowance (DLA) reform, and to cease work on reform of this benefit, due to serious flaws in the consultation paper. As such, the consultation questions are deeply skewed and any answers will be likely to support wholesale reform. This is both unfair and unwise, and will cause hardship for many disabled people. 

The case for reform has been criticized, and then completely demolished, by the various disability rights groups fighting reform. They accuse the DWP of building their argument without sufficient evidence. The claims that DLA can act as a barrier to work, in particular, are robustly questioned. Questions are also raised concerning the accuracy of the representation of supporting data. For example, the claim is made that DLA claims have risen by 30% in eight years - without accounting for population growth of 5% in this period, a pronounced demographic shift, and increased awareness of DLA.

Most devastating to the case for reform is the critique of proposed amendments, leading one to ask whether augmenting DLA might not be a better, cheaper way of improving employment opportunities, rather than launching an entirely new benefit. It would seem that the costs of such rebranding are only justified when savings are made by cutting the DLA caseload by 20%. This figure is, in and of itself, questionable – how is it possible to know that this many people can be removed?

The Personal Independence Payment (PIP) appears to be a case of cuts dressed as positive reform. Disability rights groups and charities have uniformly condemned the proposals, warning of dire consequences. The list of those affected includes: people who are mobile with aids; people with disabilities so severe that they are unable to be very active; care home residents; those who receive local authority care packages. Most other disabled people will suffer through needless reassessments upon the introduction of PIP, and re-testing every few years even when a condition cannot be treated.

There is a strong feeling amongst people with disabilities that the Coalition Government have declared war on us, with a continual ratcheting of pressure on us since the Emergency Budget in June 2010. Announcements on Employment and Support Allowance, Incapacity Benefit, and Disability Living Allowance have made us feel that the Government is scapegoating us and removing the support on which we depend. Iain Duncan-Smith’s comments to The Sun newspaper [01/12/2010) suggesting that Incapacity Benefit claimants were partly to blame for a large fiscal deficit caused by a recession, a bail-out of the banks and quantitative easing. Whilst there may be ways to improve DLA, they do not involve replacing it with a new benefit, and neither do they involve removing anyone from the claimant caseload.