The Road To Wigan Pier - By Hossylass

If you are expecting Orwell from me, you can forget it. I’ve been to Wigan, and on one un-momentous evening, to Wigan pier. Actually I have to confess to having been to Wigan a lot, though I can’t for the life of me remember if George actually went there or just liked the the word wigan.

I admit to liking the title though.  I am pretty sure I liked the book, but not sure I could read it now.

It’s that ole love of my life crippledom and foggy finking that stops me devouring anything more complex than a blog, which is why I am pretty ecstatic that Benefit Scrounging Scum has been shortlisted for the Orwell blogging prize.

At this point I will declare an interest  - BendyGirl is my phone mate. A little tiny bit like a soul mate or a best mate, but it’s a relationship where we cannot see each other’s  expressions  - a fact that I think we are both quite chuffed about. Also there is a real chance that the physical meeting may cause distortions in the time-space-disability continuum.

It’s not a healthy relationship for any  given definition of healthy (we are not) or relationship (yeah, right). Examples being BendyGirl frightening me witless by dropping off the phone when her larynx collapsed, and me having an instantaneous and drastic asthma attack by slurping what I thought was water and turned out to be soluble aspirin. However these types of incidents are rare, no more than once a week anyway. The more common “talking on the phone” injury is dislocated ribs.

I’ll be honest here, our lives are crap. Other disabled people’s lives are crappier.  And trying to save the Welfare system from your bed/chair/floor is about as much fun as trying to retrieve Grandma’s antique wedding ring from a blocked toilet using only your teeth, whilst simultaneously being rogered up the arse by an angry elephant with herpes.

But oddly, as depressing and exhausting life may seem BendyGirl is my laughter, my moral guidance and my sanity. And for those who know her well, you now have a pretty good idea how baseless, coarse and mental I am.  If BendyGirl is the datum point, you have to work backwards from there quite a long way. And that is where you will find me, grinning and gurning like an evil toad on acid.

I am deeply suspicious of everything, and everyone. As luck has it, this is exactly what you need when debating disability related politics. BendyGirl can sniff out the morally inept, the cruel and the legally  dubious  -  I am usually busy sniffing out the money behind it, or rather who’s up who and who aint payin’.  But BendyGirl is a moral compass, a natural wit and a superb debater who is dedicated enough to write a regular and entertaining blog about life in a broken and borked body.

So if you are thinking when you read that a disabled writer has been short-listed for the prestigious Orwell Prize for blogging something along the lines of Variety Club Sunshine coach, please readjust your thinking.

Its far more akin to St. Trinians meets Private Eye, and please don’t ever say I didn’t warn you.

Read it here;  http://benefitscroungingscum.blogspot.co.uk/

Is The Tide Starting To Turn? By Jane Young

 Originally posted by Jane Young here

I get the feeling that the tide may be starting to turn in relation to welfare reform. This is just a gut feeling, nothing more, but I have some evidence – not that the Government is starting to  listen, yet, but that other organisations and individuals are finding their voice and that the media is starting to listen.

So where’s this evidence? Here’s just some:

• Welfare Reform and DLA reform in particular is discussed today on the BBC – on the Daily Politics on BBC2 and on Women’s Hour on Radio 4. OK, maybe the coverage isn’t as impartial as we’d like, but it’s a start, and it’s a lot better than what we’ve seen from the BBC until now.

• Disability Rights UK today publishes its economic impact assessment of the abolition of DLA and its replacement by PIP: Impact assessing the abolition of working age DLA – Disability Rights UK

•  I have recently had encouraging contact with the Chief Executive of Motability and one of the organisation’s governors. They are very much aware of the risks to disabled people’s independence of the mobility criteria of PIP and are doing all they can behind the scenes to help us.

• The publication in early March of the 23rd report of the Joint Parliamentary Committee on Human Rights: Implementation of the Right of Disabled People to Independent Living. The committee expressed the fear that DLA reform (the abolition of DLA and  the introduction of PIP) would restrict disabled people’s right to independent living enshrined in the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which was ratified by the UK Government in 2009.

However, the problem is that these achievements in themselves will not make enough difference. We need to build on them to ensure the Government cannot continue to ignore us. Since protesting in central London doesn’t even get reported on the BBC and is ignored by the Government, we need to think of something else to get their attention.

Ideas, anyone?

Blue Badges For People Given Wheelchair Prescriptions

 Guest blog from Helen Page

I recently lost my DLA higher rate mobility and was therefore unable to renew my blue badge. This has left me really struggling - just weeks after receiving a wheelchair from my local wheelchair service. I could try and apply but would have to go for a medical and reading the criteria I wouldn't qualify. Basically because I can walk across the carpark I can't have a blue badge, even though if I can't walk around the shop.

Already this has meant that my husband has had to push me half way across a stone carpark and when I go to guiding events I won't be able to park near to the entrance so I won't be able to use my wheelchair. On a trip to Filey I was unable to park where I wanted to be which meant I couldn't spend time with my kids in the way I and they wanted. Absolutely barmey when you consider that just over a month ago I received a prescription and voucher for a new wheelchair! The wheelchair had to sit in the car because I had to climb down steps and the extra painkillers I had to take as a result have caused 2 days of side effects.

It's crazy enough that I have lost my DLA mobility which has caused me considerable stress and has meant my parents have had to purchase me a new car but losing the blue badge has been a nightmare. The decision is a farce. They didn't write to my GP initially and when I asked for a reconsideration they contacted my GP asking her to comment on my dementia presumably because I have written about my memory problems. I'm 29 years old so it's fairly clear I don't have dementia i'm sure. To top it the letter saying there would be a delay as they wrote to my GP was addressed to the wrong address and was luckily found by one of my Brownie mums in the flats nearby which have half the same name!

Addressing the blue badge situation I have created a government e-petition as it seems totally ludicrous to me that you could be given a wheelchair and not be given a blue badge. It appears that in Scotland that I would have been given one so it's not an unreasonable request. If you'd be able to sign it it would be much appreciated.

http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/32844

#PIP Survey - Please Help

The wonderful Sam Barnett-Cormack and wearespartacus.org have designed this survey to help them put together an official Spartacus response to the PIP consultation.

We'd be REALLY grateful if you could spare a few minutes to take part. The more people that reply, the more reliable the results will be.

We don't feel that we should speak for you - but would love to base our response on what YOU think and need.

Thank you so much.

SURVEY

The Insanity Of Power - Guest Post By Hossylass

Some seek power, some have power thrust upon them, and some become Prime Ministers.

Personally I cannot get excited about a Prime Minister. After all it is just the “Prime” Minister, an MP that has been selected by wit, wisdom or, more usually, the absence of either.

So what is a “Prime”?

As an adjective it is described as;

1. First in excellence, quality, or value..

2. First in degree or rank; chief.

3. First or early in time, order, or sequence; original.

4. Of the highest U.S. government grade of meat.

5. Mathematics Of, relating to, or being a prime number.

Now I can deal with number 5. Prime numbers are the equivalent of porn to mathematicians

Number 4 is an odd way of grading meat. In the UK we use a much more sensible system of EUROP, which is the way many farmers spell Europe. The exception is in Essex, where its “phwoar”.

Number 3 is far too dull to discuss.

So that leaves us 1 or 2. What a miserable choice. Actually number 2 just doesn’t cover it. A first in History of Art is still as much use as tits on a jelly fish (yes I know that’s not what it means, but the prized prime shit degree still has to be media studies). The word “rank” is appealing, and sadly has fallen in disuse of recent years, and the word “Chief” walks the same line as the word “Pal”, as in you don’t want to use it in the wrong company.

And that leaves number 1. Which is just wrong.

So what about “Prime Minister”?

A few suggestions spring to mind;

1.     1.  Person who dedicates themselves to make the UK a better place for everyone, then decides it would be more beneficial to make it better for them, resulting in a form of power crazed insanity.

2.     2.  Person who wants to be Prime Minister, achieves this, and goes mad.

3.     3.  A madman who sets out to fulfil some elements of (1) and (2) but is actually clinically insane from the start.

So how do these seemingly harsh suggestions fit in with our most recent PM’s?

1)      Harold Wilson; Resigned with the early signs of Alzheimer’s, so I am quite happy that this had nothing to do with sociopathic tendencies, though had a list of successors that had some very dubious thought processes.

2)      Edward Heath; Not particularly good but not notably mental until the very end when he asked “Who Governs Britain”. At that point everyone knew except him.

3)      James Callaghan; Inherited a position that no sane person would have accepted. It didn’t take him long to fail to improve anything at all, entered a period of denial, became a bit delusional and eventually got ousted.

4)      Margaret Thatcher; A chemist who became a Barrister, Mother, MP, social climber par excellence, and a power crazed freak of nature. Unpopular with dairy farmers, she then managed to become unpopular with huge swathes of various industries, and then went completely barking mad. That was the first 6 months – you know the rest. Has now got dementia which has tamed her sociopathic tendencies a bit, but definitely not eligible for a gun licence.

5)      John Major; Managed seven years and nobody noticed. Power was forced upon him, but with a shy smile he neatly sidestepped it. Well he would have smiled but he was at home after having had a wisdom tooth removed. Not so much mad as vacant possession, his absence of reality allowed lots of other power mad people to do exactly what they wanted whilst John smiled, vacantly, a lot.

6)      Tony Blair; juvenile who was mad, he had a guitar and believed he was a musician. Innocent enough attitude but became Prime Minister and tried to get other people to believe he was a Socialist. Then decided that he should become the richest person on earth so changed lots of things to ensure this came true. Definitely a case of number (1), and phenomenally barking at the end – though having Gordon saying “Is it my turn yet?” for years would send anyone mad. Now works in a freak show for mad people, gibbering about his sex life whilst lots of very rich people laugh at him.

7)      Gordon Brown; Really, really, really wanted to be Prime minister. Mad, though not sociopathic, Gordon discovered that Tony hadn’t been checking his sums, and was a bit cross as this made him look incompetent. (As opposed to a fool).

8)      David Cameron; Definitely a number 3 – a person who sets out to be Prime Minister for the sheer hell of it, and to have fun and make money for himself and his friends. A very new breed of sociopath, David was the only PM of recent years that was certifiable before he even got the job. Sadly there is no humour or irony in this statement.

So if anyone still wants the job, I think there may be an opening in the future, but don’t say I didn’t warn you.