ATOS To Amputee: Will Your Arm Grow Back Soon?
A ONE-ARMED man trying to claim disability benefits said staff asked if he thought his limb might grow back.
Gary Swift, whose right limb is missing from below the elbow, says he faced the question while being medically assessed.
He had applied for an employment and support allowance — paid to people who can’t work through disability — and went to the meeting with his carer mum Tracey Perkins.
They say the interviewer asked: “Do you expect your condition to improve? Do you expect your arm to grow back within the next two years.”
Gary, 30, of Chesterfield, Derbys, said: “I replied, ‘Well it’s not grown back in the last 30 years, so I can’t see it happening over the next two’.”
ATOS Healthcare, who assessed Gary for the Department for Work and Pensions, said last night: “That question would never be asked. Staff carrying out the assessment are trained doctors, nurses and physiotherapists.”
Gary said he was later sent on a job seekers’ gardening course — and handed a spade.
He said: “If it wasn’t so ridiculous it would be laughable.”
Same Difference 
Reblogged this on kickingthecat.
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i think it’s to late the government is out to destroy the welfare state once and for all come what may and if people die in the meantime then that’s just tough luck they would say
i just hope and pray I’m wrong the trouble is I’ve never been wrong so far with my judgement on mp’s but there’s always a first time
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i think IDS is like the character javert in the film Les Misérables (you will never forget his name )
and we the sick and disabled are like Jean Valjean always at the mercy of the DWP
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