In today's Society Guardian
Please read, share and leave a comment. The more popular articles about disability are the more get commissioned, thank you.
Non-partisan UK-based Disability campaign. Advocacy for people with invisible illness and/or physical & mental health conditions. Also Carers, their Families and Friends. Our individual voices are too quiet to be heard, but collectively we can shout loud enough to drown out this tide of abuse against us. Disability Hate Crime, lack of full legal protection, people in care homes costing too much to be let out and not one political party willing to fight for us.
Thursday, 9 June 2011
Really? This Passes For Parliamentary Research? By Sue Marsh
Well, well, well, look what I've found!!
After weeks of asking and several Freedom Of Information requests, I've finally unearthed the "assessment" the DWP did into Time Limiting ESA!! Clearly I use the word assessment in much the way ATOS do. In other words, pick a policy and then write some stuff that proves what you want to say. http://www.dwp.gov.uk/docs/esa-time-limit-wr2011-ia.pdf
Just in case, in the very unlikely event that you are not an uber-geek like me and you can't stay awake long enough to plough through 16 pages of fairy stories, here's a quick summary :
-It overwhelmingly affects the poorest most. The % impact falls from the highest in the 1st decile of earnings to the lowest in the 10th.
-It estimates that 60% will simply switch to income based ESA and not be affected. This is absolutely ridiculous, pie-in the sky rubbish. I have absolutely no idea how they can make this claim.
- The report concludes that over the term of the parliament 90% of those placed into the Work Related Activity Group (WRAG) will be affected.
-ALL groups will lose income on average through this measure.
-It is based on an assumption that 50% of claims will be appealed!!! How are they able to go forward with a system this inaccurate?
-The report itself claims that 700,000 will be affected by the Time Limit - a figure previously hotly debated, ranging from 400,000 to 1 million. It is expected to cut benefits for those not fully fit for work by 1.2 billion per year.
- The report acknowledges, just as I've been warning, that this is a disincentive to work and may push couples into divorce or into giving up on work altogether. However, they admit that they have no idea how significant this will be.
Possibly the most astonishing part is the claim that the Social Impacts did not need to be investigated, neither under the categories of Health and Well-being, Human Rights or the Justice System. (It does go on to say that an equalities assessment was carried out, which I will do my best to unearth)
As far as I can tell, the research is deeply flawed, based on inaccurate assumptions, incomplete and surely, illegal. If you discount the assumption that 60% will simply move to income based ESA, which I believe is just not true, it is a damning look into what passes for parliamentary research in our so called democracy.
After weeks of asking and several Freedom Of Information requests, I've finally unearthed the "assessment" the DWP did into Time Limiting ESA!! Clearly I use the word assessment in much the way ATOS do. In other words, pick a policy and then write some stuff that proves what you want to say. http://www.dwp.gov.uk/docs/esa-time-limit-wr2011-ia.pdf
Just in case, in the very unlikely event that you are not an uber-geek like me and you can't stay awake long enough to plough through 16 pages of fairy stories, here's a quick summary :
-It overwhelmingly affects the poorest most. The % impact falls from the highest in the 1st decile of earnings to the lowest in the 10th.
-It estimates that 60% will simply switch to income based ESA and not be affected. This is absolutely ridiculous, pie-in the sky rubbish. I have absolutely no idea how they can make this claim.
- The report concludes that over the term of the parliament 90% of those placed into the Work Related Activity Group (WRAG) will be affected.
-ALL groups will lose income on average through this measure.
-It is based on an assumption that 50% of claims will be appealed!!! How are they able to go forward with a system this inaccurate?
-The report itself claims that 700,000 will be affected by the Time Limit - a figure previously hotly debated, ranging from 400,000 to 1 million. It is expected to cut benefits for those not fully fit for work by 1.2 billion per year.
- The report acknowledges, just as I've been warning, that this is a disincentive to work and may push couples into divorce or into giving up on work altogether. However, they admit that they have no idea how significant this will be.
Possibly the most astonishing part is the claim that the Social Impacts did not need to be investigated, neither under the categories of Health and Well-being, Human Rights or the Justice System. (It does go on to say that an equalities assessment was carried out, which I will do my best to unearth)
As far as I can tell, the research is deeply flawed, based on inaccurate assumptions, incomplete and surely, illegal. If you discount the assumption that 60% will simply move to income based ESA, which I believe is just not true, it is a damning look into what passes for parliamentary research in our so called democracy.
Wednesday, 8 June 2011
Death Of A Message Board
Think of message boards, and most people have a similar idea. Its where people with similar interests, be that bird watching, or tank driving, go to discuss and exchange ideas. A few boards are about people, such as the famous and popular Mumsnet. Message boards come and go, but why do they come into existance? And, more importantly, why do they die? Its usually demand that brings a board into existance, and lack of interest that causes its death. So what happens to a message board that is hugely popular, filling a role that few others can emulate, when the owners decide to kill it off? This is what is happening to the hugely successful BBC Ouch boards, described as the largest message board for disability related discussions in the UK. Its header declares "Ouch! Its a disability thing" and it very much is. Unusually for a message board, it is very well mannered, as posters are aware that other posters may have a disability that makes communication difficult. Additionally there is no heirachy, no playing top trumps of disability, all are truely welcome. I personally joined with a broken leg that was stubbornly refusing to mend - hardly a major disability! Many join looking for people with similar conditions, or experiencing similar problems. Their first post may be one of desperation, but the kind words and assistance means they stay and become part of the community. And this is one major difference. For many of the posters this is their only online community. They cannot deal with other sites, where they may have to interact with people who neither know or care about how disability can affect people. They feel safe and secure on Ouch, after all, the BBC will protect them, and it does so through user-led moderation, and a pre-moderated phase to discourage people from targetting disabled people with intent to be unpleasant. In effect it is almost a secret place, where people can ask for advice, ask for support, debate all things disability related, and chat and amuse themselves. There are many professionals on the boards, available to give advise about everything, from what to expect from treatments and the NHS, education, housing, benefits, work to the best disabled sports venues and which festivals are dis-friendly. This is all voluntary information, given by disabled people to support other disabled people. But the greatest strength is the feeling of community, the feeling of having your very own "Big Society" initiative that was established long before David Cameron thought it was a good idea. One poster put it; "It takes me years to trust someone. It takes me years to get to the point I am at with Ouch where I can feel able to post and contribute. I can't just move to another board and carry on." They then go on to say; "Over the last few years the sites I have relied on, and trusted have all gone. Ouch is the only one left. I have no real life friends, no real life support networks. I only have Ouch." For many Ouch is not just a message board, it is a gateway into a world that disability may exclude. It provides a very valuable service. A poster writes; "My worlds just collapsed." and it probably has, because for many people Ouch is all they have, it is an accessible place in a world of inaccessibility, a place of understanding when so many seem not only to not understand, but to be actively mis-understanding of disability. Its seems that this active mis-understanding has extended now to the BBC, who have decided, along with many other sectors of society, that instead of equality of outcome, they will simply remove this essential service. Visit Ouch before it closes, http://www.bbc.co.uk/ouch/messageboards/ and post a comment to the Editor at; http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/theeditors/2011/06/a_new_home_for_ouch_at_bbc_new.html In four weeks we will watch the sad death of a friend, the death of a community, murdered by policy and the disregard that disabled people are currently held in.
Wednesday, 1 June 2011
Imagine You're Four... #panorama #dla
Imagine you're four. You love your parents, your friends, the way the light comes through your curtains early in the morning, twinkling on the walls while you wait in your princess room patiently for mummy and daddy's wake up time. Your favourite things are pink ballons and fairies, when it's all a bit confusing around you you know you're safe as long as you can catch sight of those pink flashes and know mum and dad are close. You love to give cuddles, hugs so tight there's no room to wiggle and when you get excited you rock back and forth from foot to foot, arms spiralling joyfully.
One day a new clipboard lady comes to see your mum and dad. You see them cry and decide you don't like this clipboard lady, you wonder where the clipboard lady you remember has gone. Mummy and Daddy are sad so you hug them then fling yourself to the floor and scream so the clipboard lady will go away. It works so next time you decide to scream louder and kick your feet harder to be sure she'll go before your mum and dad cry.
Next time the clipboard lady comes with lots of other people to take you away. Lots of big words you don't understand like 'aggressive' 'confrontational' and 'care order' float around the room and you can't see your pink balloons so scream and scream. Mummy and Daddy cry and tell you to be a good girl, that you'll love your new home, it'll be full of your favourite things to do, they'll come to see you soon.
When you get there it's all scary and wrong. It smells funny and the light doesn't wake you up in the mornings anymore. No-one knows you like to be woken up by the light and they wouldn't care if they did. The days are long, no painting or ponies like you're used to to fill the time and no-one comes to give you cuddles when you're sad. You cry alot and have tantrums. You're used to pink balloons and fairies when you have a tantrum, but without being able to see that you just kick more wildly, especially when the carers come to sit on you and hit you.
You might be only four but you can remember the important things Mummy and Daddy spent 18 years teaching you. You know how to hold out your hand and say 'NO!' in a loud voice if someone tries to touch you, to say the police will come to look after you, to call out for your Mummy so she knows to come to you. Mummy and Daddy were so proud of you for being their big girl and learning these skills, you try to remember that as you lie on the floor of your shower, surrounded by grown ups shouting at you, throwing cold water all over you, sitting on you and choking you. You cry and cry for your Mum but it just makes the carers hit you more. Sometimes the nurses come along and you look at them while you're on the floor, pinned beneath a chair, but then someone puts a blanket over your head so you can't look at them anymore. The blanket's brown and scratchy and you cry for your pink balloons while they hit you some more.
You don't get days out anymore. There used to be a car and Mummy and Daddy took you places with swings and slides. Swings, slides, light through the leaves and being happy slip further and further away until you're not sure there was ever a world beyond beige walls with no pink to hide in to bear the slaps, pinches and pushdowns that are your new routine. You're sure you remember your parents though and cry for them every day. You don't know the reason they can't come to visit is that now you're a hospital resident 80 miles away from home and the car had to go because you're no longer entitled to the mobility component of Disability Living Allowance and the Motability scheme. Mummy and Daddy are getting older and they had to care for you instead of going out to work. You don't know they're going cold and hungry now they're unemployed not carers, you only know that no-one comes to see you except the people who hurt you.
You don't know someone in the hospital did care. That they reported the abuse you are experiencing repeatedly. To their manager, to their manager's manager, to the Care Quality Commission. You don't know because no-one did anything, nothing ever changes now, the torture is your daily routine. You don't know the word for torture, but you could give a better account of what it means than a prisoner in Guantanamo.
You don't know that in the world outside your torture chamber that people talk alot about double funding, scroungers and fraud. Of something called a deficit, the need to cut costs and protect the vulnerable. You don't know that because all the talk is of stamping out fraud and you're so vulnerable no-one knows you exist.
One day a new clipboard lady comes to see your mum and dad. You see them cry and decide you don't like this clipboard lady, you wonder where the clipboard lady you remember has gone. Mummy and Daddy are sad so you hug them then fling yourself to the floor and scream so the clipboard lady will go away. It works so next time you decide to scream louder and kick your feet harder to be sure she'll go before your mum and dad cry.
Next time the clipboard lady comes with lots of other people to take you away. Lots of big words you don't understand like 'aggressive' 'confrontational' and 'care order' float around the room and you can't see your pink balloons so scream and scream. Mummy and Daddy cry and tell you to be a good girl, that you'll love your new home, it'll be full of your favourite things to do, they'll come to see you soon.
When you get there it's all scary and wrong. It smells funny and the light doesn't wake you up in the mornings anymore. No-one knows you like to be woken up by the light and they wouldn't care if they did. The days are long, no painting or ponies like you're used to to fill the time and no-one comes to give you cuddles when you're sad. You cry alot and have tantrums. You're used to pink balloons and fairies when you have a tantrum, but without being able to see that you just kick more wildly, especially when the carers come to sit on you and hit you.
You might be only four but you can remember the important things Mummy and Daddy spent 18 years teaching you. You know how to hold out your hand and say 'NO!' in a loud voice if someone tries to touch you, to say the police will come to look after you, to call out for your Mummy so she knows to come to you. Mummy and Daddy were so proud of you for being their big girl and learning these skills, you try to remember that as you lie on the floor of your shower, surrounded by grown ups shouting at you, throwing cold water all over you, sitting on you and choking you. You cry and cry for your Mum but it just makes the carers hit you more. Sometimes the nurses come along and you look at them while you're on the floor, pinned beneath a chair, but then someone puts a blanket over your head so you can't look at them anymore. The blanket's brown and scratchy and you cry for your pink balloons while they hit you some more.
You don't get days out anymore. There used to be a car and Mummy and Daddy took you places with swings and slides. Swings, slides, light through the leaves and being happy slip further and further away until you're not sure there was ever a world beyond beige walls with no pink to hide in to bear the slaps, pinches and pushdowns that are your new routine. You're sure you remember your parents though and cry for them every day. You don't know the reason they can't come to visit is that now you're a hospital resident 80 miles away from home and the car had to go because you're no longer entitled to the mobility component of Disability Living Allowance and the Motability scheme. Mummy and Daddy are getting older and they had to care for you instead of going out to work. You don't know they're going cold and hungry now they're unemployed not carers, you only know that no-one comes to see you except the people who hurt you.
You don't know someone in the hospital did care. That they reported the abuse you are experiencing repeatedly. To their manager, to their manager's manager, to the Care Quality Commission. You don't know because no-one did anything, nothing ever changes now, the torture is your daily routine. You don't know the word for torture, but you could give a better account of what it means than a prisoner in Guantanamo.
You don't know that in the world outside your torture chamber that people talk alot about double funding, scroungers and fraud. Of something called a deficit, the need to cut costs and protect the vulnerable. You don't know that because all the talk is of stamping out fraud and you're so vulnerable no-one knows you exist.
TF1 News wants to interview you
TF1 News, leading French television, is doing an news piece for its weekly prime time news programme on the Incapacity Benefit Reassessment.
Plans to reassess people who receive incapacity benefit to check if they are "fit for work" started last month. The first letters were sent out asking some of the 1.6 million incapacity benefit claimants to submit to reassessments.
Charities have voiced concerns that the test for people on incapacity benefit is unfair.
We would like, with your help, to meet film and interview people who had Work Capability Assessments and were refused the Incapacity Benefit. Preferably in London or Greater London.
The aim of the story is to explain our viewers this news system and its impact on disabled people.
TF1 is France’s premier broadcasting network and broadcasts to some 500,000 Britons currently living in France.
Regular correspondence from our British viewers highlights their interests in and demand for information on the UK, which we provide. Furthermore, there are approximately 300,000 French people living in London, around 400,000 in the UK as a whole. In addition, TF1 broadcasts globally to the French speaking world (Belgium, Luxembourg, Monaco, Switzerland and North African countries).
It has frequently been noted that the London bureau of TF1 promotes, through its balance and professional reporting, many positive aspects and developments within the UK to our worldwide audience.
Should you require any further information, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Yours sincerely,
Gaetan Lecointe
News Producer
News Producer
TF1 News French TV
Michelle House
45-46 Berners Street
London W1T 3NE
Tel : +44 (0) 20 7636 8507 Michelle House
45-46 Berners Street
London W1T 3NE
Mobile: +44 (0) 77 8530 3164
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