Simplified Version of Draft PIP Criteria

Here is the simplified version of the PIP criteria we've been working on.

Draft Pip Criteria - Simplified Version

We hope it will give you all the information you need to decide how you will be personally affected by the change from DLA to PIP. Soon, we will publish a guide to the consultation too, so perhaps we can use this simplified version to start to think about what submissions we might make to the consultation.

Hopefully by later in the week, we can start writing our submissions when the guide to the consultation is finalised. We hope it will mean that many, many more people will engage with this process and we can make our views heard.

If you've already done a submission or don't want to wait, we would like to invite you all to send any submissions you make to us, so that this time, we can keep a public record of as many responses as possible. We will be inviting Charities, DPOs and other campaigning groups to do the same.

Clearly, this will not suit everyone. Some may wish their submission to be private and we wholeheartedly respect this. However, to avoid any suggestion that our views may not be properly considered, we feel it would be helpful to provide a space where they can be collected.

Draft Pip Criteria - Simplified Version

The Death Of Decency #wrb

 

 

It's been a long, hard eighteen months. Harder and tougher than I could ever communicate to you. I could try and tell you of the times Sue and I spent hours fevered, medicated and desperately unwell just trying to string together a few coherent sentences. The times we tried frantically to finish articles for newspapers interrupted by journalists, politicians or charities wanting us to help with research about issues they didn't really understand, or the times we took turns to cry with despair about what was happening to our country which no-one but a handful of seriously ill people seemed to care about. 

I could tell you of how receiving messages from people so terrorised they wanted to tell us their lives were no longer worth living became routine. Of sleepless nights fearing that the person had gone ahead with their plans, or even of the devastating night when despite the online community rapidly rallying help we heard that the prompt police response was too late and another person was found dead. 

I could tell you that we always knew this to be an unwinnable battle. That very early on we decided that whatever dirty tricks politicians pulled we would not sink to that level. That we would always act with honesty, ensuring our facts were double and triple checked, that we would counter lies with integrity and truth. That the more justice appeared to be absenting herself from this process, the more we were determined to ensure her voice remained. 

I could tell you all those things and more, but never would you be able to truly understand how much this battle has cost those who had least to give. We have lobbied, debated and pleaded, often ignoring issues which would affect us personally as we decided on principle that we would act for the the best interests of all our community, even if that was to the detriment of our own personal lives, financial situations and our long term health. 

I could, but that's not the most important thing to say. 

The most important issue of all is the message sent by a British government to the British people. That disabled children who aren't the most disabled of all will have their support cut to 'justify' increasing the support to the most severely disabled children by less than £2 a week. That newly disabled or seriously ill adults living alone will lose the money previously deemed vital to pay someone to provide care. That children with serious illnesses and disabilities will have their entitlement to National Insurance contributions removed. An entitlement previously supported by politicians of all parties as sending a crucial message of the inherent value of life. That people with serious illnesses such as Multiple Sclerosis, early onset Alzheimers or cancer will, after 12 months, no longer be entitled to the financial support they spent their working lives paying National Insurance for if their partner earns more than £7500 per year. 

I could tell you of how this was sold to the British public. A people with 'it's just not cricket' hardwired into our DNA. Of how carefully, deliberately, knowingly successive governments moved from all agreeing that it was inhuman to demonise the sick or disabled to carefully, deliberately, knowingly, drip feeding a complicit media into a propoganda exercise stunning in its success, to label these very same people as unworthy of empathy, compassion or support. Of how calculated this rebranding exercise was to ensure the public believed the empty promises of 'always supporting the most vulnerable' because, after all, these people are mostly faking fraudsters anyway. Doesn't it say so in the papers, on the news, even on the BBC?

I could try and explain to you that this isn't about eliminating fraud, that this will affect you or your family when inevitably accident, sickness or ageing moves you from being 'not yet disabled' to 'one of us'. I could try, but that's the nightmare of 4am no-one wants to remember when they awake. I could tell you that understanding, that empathy, that sense of life altering devastation is an insight that will only come to you when it's too late. 

I can, with pride, tell you of a demonised community who have found strength in each other. I can tell you of how inspiring it is to feel the love and support of these people, and the awesome sense of privilege in witnessing the broken come together. I can tell you of the values we all grew up with, principles our ancestors fought for, our playground guilt as we were chastisted for hitting the bespectacled child. 

I could tell you of how bewildered we have been to witness a British government act in a manner more befitting China. I could tell you how each deliberate lie, each serpent tongued statement and guarantee of consultation rankled and oozed. I could tell you that something fundamental in us was mortally wounded when finally we produced cold, hard evidence to prove the government were saying one thing and doing quite the other, to then witness the government's nose grow proportionately only to it's falsehoods. 

I could tell you that actually, this is not about the money. That the financial cuts will be detrimental to lives, but that the message the government have sent to the British people, that the weakest, the frailest, the most vulnerable are no longer worthy of collective support will be rejected once that same public understand that message. 

I could tell you all of that, but over the next few years you will discover this for yourselves. So all I will tell you is this;

Something fundamentally British died yesterday. If you thought it was already dead, think again. 

Vote With Your Hearts #wrb & Don't Leave Disabled People Out In The Cold

Vote with your hearts, and don't let the Welfare Reform Bill leave disabled people out in the cold...

Image shows a naked disabled woman lying on a snowy beach unable to reach the attendant wheelchair next to her

 

 

 Image taken by Graeme Lamb Media

#SpartacusReport Inspires a Sermon

With huge thanks to Rabbi Debbie Young-Somers of the West London Synagogue of British Jews in Central London for allowing us to reproduce yesterday's sermon in full. And Mazel tov to Maya!

Hearing the voice of Moses

Maya mentioned in her dvar torah that she has special needs –though I would argue her sense of an inability to sing is only a disability if Maya believes it is! It’s often said that we in fact all have special needs of one sort or another, we are just affected by them in different ways. Our limitations are often placed on us by the world we live in, but it is not uncommon for us to place limitations on ourselves, through our own fear and doubt. Moses demonstrates this perfectly in this weeks Torah portion, trying to convince God (not just his parents or a teacher) that he really can’t do the task he has been called to. He has a speech impediment, which midrash tells us was caused when Moses had placed hot coals in his mouth as a child[1]. But we can learn a huge amount from Shemot about supporting those who may need more support to achieve their full potential than others. If we are all given the right encouragement and guidelines, and perhaps more importantly resources, just as Moses is by God, we can overcome much that life has thrown at us.

And of course it isn’t just this week’s portion which tells us of the Jewish imperative to support the vulnerable in our society, there’s the obvious quote from Leviticus: “You shall not insult the deaf or place a stumbling block before the blind” (19:14). But there are other imperatives too; one of my favourites comes from Isaiah (56:5) talking about the Temple: “For my house shall be a house of prayer for all people”. We need to not just enable, but ensure our houses of worship, and the world around us, is open to all, not just those we see.

In starting to think about these issues I sent a twitter message on Thursday to a tweeter known as @BendyGirl who I follow and have learnt a huge amount from. She suffers from a condition called Ehlers Danlos Syndrome and blogs, in her words “about the highs & lows of life lived with joints that dislocate as frequently as the British weather changes”. To leave the house she needs an electric wheelchair, however to qualify for one on the NHS you have to be wheelchair bound in your own home for 6 months. At home it is good for her health to move as much as possible, so in walking at home, she is precluding her opportunity to leave the house. She was incredibly helpful and suggested in response to my unsolicited online message that I just give her a call. Which I did.

It is clear that our responsibility, Jewish or otherwise, to support the vulnerable in our society is not going well. You might even be surprised to know that members of our own congregation are struggling through the benefits system, and despite already living hand to mouth, are facing cuts in Disability Living Allowance and Employment and support allowance. Proving you need the benefits is becoming harder and harder, with those who are wheelchair bound, likely in the new benefits which will replace the DLA to be qualified as able to work as well as you or me, as long as they can propel the chair themselves.

We all know cuts and savings need to be found, and it’s important to note this is not a coalition problem, these cuts began to be made under the previous government. But I was struck by something BendyGirl (whose real name is Kaliya) made. In Nazi Germany, well before there were Jewish pogroms and camps, disabled and mentally ill German citizens were rounded up, and it was for them that camps were initially developed. And how were the rest of the population convinced this was ok? They were told that these people were an economic drain on the nation. Increasingly, as Kaliya sees it, our media has been spearheading a campaign to convince us that the disabled are work shy benefit cheats. In the last 18 months campaigners have noticed a significant increase in hate crimes towards the disabled, and they are no longer referred to as ‘spaz’ when attacked, but as ‘benefit scrounging scum’. In fact, only half a percent of all disability claimants have been found to be fraudulent, and yet to combat these false claims, benefits are being cut by, at the most optimistic estimate, 20%. Deuteronomy (15:7) says “If there be among you a needy person, you shall not harden your heart, but you shall surely open your hand”. We need to start hearing not only the encouragement of Deuteronomy, and indeed of today’s portion, but the voice of those like Kaliya, who feel invisible (especially if they don’t have a wheelchair or white stick) and incredibly vulnerable.

Disability campaigners are, on the whole, themselves physically struggling, sick, and isolated. Moses’ inability to express himself clearly is a useful metaphor for this, he had his brother, Aaron, to help him along the way, and he became the greatest leader of the Israelites. With this kind of support, three defeats against the welfare reform bill were achieved this week in the house of Lords (cavod to my senior colleague in the corner). Yet these cuts have been happening for a while, and will continue if more isn’t said and done.

Maya, I know you are an incredible ally and support to your mum, and many in the community are carers and supporters just like you. I have seen and worked with some of you here as you struggled with eviction because benefits couldn’t be processed when they were needed. As a community we have felt the cuts in social care and allowances biting, and have this month been joined in our professional team by a Social Care worker – Jo, who is helping us deal with the sheer volume of work that is coming our way now that social services are not doing their bit, or at least helping us to navigate the incredibly time consuming beurocracy. What I hear from Kaliya, and from many other voices, particularly on the web, where the housebound often have their only outlet, is that people aren’t making enough noise about this. As part of her condition, Kaliya’s larynx had collapsed when we spoke, making the parallel between her and Moses even more stark – she, and so many others, need our voices, so that they can cling onto the meagre benefits they have now. We need to support those that we can, and be the voice for those who can’t raise theirs up loud enough. Even if this doesn’t affect you directly, it is still our responsibility to speak up for others.

And as a community we are also being given the chance to come together to work to change how accessible we are through the Judith Trusts Inclusion Campaign which is working with us to ensure we can reach out and include, and I hope more of you will want to become involved in this training as well.

Mishnah Sanhedrin (4:5) says that humans make coins, all from the same mould, and they all come out the same. God, however, makes humans each from the same mould as the first human, yet each of us is unique. We all have unique skills and abilities, as well as challenges and disabilities. Maya, you confessed to us what you struggle with, but you also demonstrated what you are fantastic at. Everyone wants to contribute, but not everyone can do so in the same way or to the same extent. I hope we can all learn from you about how to be a support and a friend. I must confess, as a sister of someone with special needs, I’m angry at what is potentially being lost both in care and in human dignity, but as a Jew, and as a British citizen, who knows we can do better, I am angrier, and I want us all to lift up our voices, in remembrance of Moses who couldn’t.

Cain Yehi Ratzon

May this be God’s will

Venomar Amen.

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[1] Ex. Rabbah 1:26

Resonance FM Podcast Discussion #spartacusreport

Link to podcast discussion about #spartacusreport DLA - PIP, Lords vote etc with Tim Abbott and myself on Resonance FM http://podcasts.resonancefm.com/archives/category/shows/technical-difficulties