Ignorance

On Thursday afternoon I attended a protest outside my local Jobcentre as part of the National Day of Protest against Benefit Cuts.
The local paper came along and took a photograph of us, and gave a write up the following day.

These are 2 of the comments from the article:

I'm by no means an expert in MS, but if this woman can stand around waving a placard or march around Poole Quay, why can't she find a job doing something less physical in an office or something?
seems to me she's illustrating the point of the benefit cuts perfectly well!

If they are all on Incap Benefit, when was the last time they used a JOBCENTRE for the purpose it was created( to find a job). They may have a disability, but they should not be work shy. MS does not mean you can't work, it means you have restrictions which you have to overcome.

I was appalled, but not surprised, by the level of ignorance these two people display.
If they don't know anything about it, how can they feel they can judge? Are they happy for people to judge them? I suspect not.

This is just a snapshot of what anyone with a disability has to deal with. It's what has led many of us to feel afraid and paranoid all the time. Every time I set foot outside the door I wonder if someone is judging me, watching and waiting to call the DWP.
Because they don't feel what I feel. I they can't feel my legs shake underneath me. They can't feel the screaming pain that shoots through my head if I strain too much. They don't feel the extreme tiredness that comes after doing something.
They see one thing - a perfectly normal person.

This is what it's like to have an invisible disease. Constant judgement and fear and a feeling of having to justify yourself all the time.

Because of course attending a protest for 2 hours is the same as going to work.
Because of course having MS is the same for everyone.
And of course all restrictions can be overcome.

So to these two people - and everyone else who feels and thinks like them - I say this:
If you know of a company who will employ me for a few hours a week, who doesn't mind when I come in or how long I come in for, who doesn't mind how many things I drop, or mistakes I make, please let me know. I'd love to meet them.

Cross posted at Where's the Benefit

New figures for benefit checks

Figures release by the DWP tell us that the new benefit checks will cost over £100 million a year. That's in addition to the £500 million ATOS have already been paid.

The coalition have gone crazy, it's the only answer. The alternative - to work with the NHS and patients own consultants - is staring them in the face yet they won't take it up.

Perhaps they are scared that these checks would be more accurate and therefore tell the world that benefit claimants aren't scroungers?

Source

Mr Osborne, you lie

Why does George Osborne insist on lying? Is he misled, devious or just stupid. We would hope it's not the latter. Mind you, I don't want it to be one of the other choices either.

He keeps insisting that that the deficit is a decade old debt. We know he is wrong. It's less than 2 years old and is because of the bank bailout. That's a fact.

He has told us that benefit fraud costs us £5 billion a year. We know he is wrong there too. It costs £1 billion. That's still a lot of money but is a considerable difference from the amount he is stating. And it's also a fact.

So why does he keep spouting this at us? Is he hoping that people will just swallow it and cheer him on? It's sad that there are people who are doing just that.
The rest of us know better. But he isn't answering our question. So we need to keep asking it

Mr Osborne, why do you keep lying to us?

An open letter to Jo Swinson

After a frustrating discussion on Twitter with her MP Jo Swinson, single mum Lisa Ansell has written an open letter to her, published on East Dumbarton's blog.
I don't have permission to republish here so I will just link to it, but it is a brilliant letter which raises some very real concerns about the ability of single mums to work.

According to Ms Swinson, single mums don't need benefit help because the fathers should pay child support. I can hear plenty of people saying that's right, they should.
So answer me this - what about those instances where the father isn't capable? Or the ones where the father is violent so they are better off without him knowing their whereabouts?
What about the fact that this would leave women dependent on a man? We are in the 21st century here right? Not the 1950's?

Read Lisa's letter and then tell me that we don't need benefit help.

Read her letter here