Radio 4 You And Yours: Are Disabled People Really Hardest Hit By Benefit Cuts?

Hi Sarah, having just listened to the spot you did on Able Radio, firstly I have to agree with you, wholeheartedly – that people’s misconceptions and prejudices towards those of us who are disabled, are as disabling as our disabilty itself. It’s also true that on request, on a day where you’ve bullied yourself to get to an assessment, you may be able to (in pain) put one foot in front of the other 10 times. What they’re NOT assessing, is once we get ourselves home, we have to make and eat food, take our painkillers late, have a flaming good cry at the futility of it all and go about the rest of our already difficult day in pain, most likely unable to focus on much else, owing to the effort it took us to drag ourselves out of bed, get dressed and get there and back! With nowhere for me to store an electric wheelchair I can’t have one to make the use of. I’m trapped in a 1st floor flat (no lift) and owing to the lack of adequate housing in my area, can only bid on a disabled-adapted bungalow if I’m over 55 or mentally ill. Clearly suffering Clinical Depression for ten years undiagnosed and unchecked and having a Psychologist recently report I have psychological and behavioural problems (I get angry and upset very easily) from being ignored by doctors for years is not enough. My INHERITED Degenerative Spine Disease went undiagnosed and unchecked for four years – as a consequence I now have to struggle with ME and Fibromyalgia – which would most likely have not manifest, if my conditions were taken seriously and diagnosed in a timely way. I’m frustrated and affronted by the attitudes of people on a daily basis. The morons who live upstairs from me seem to resent the fact they have to work for their living and see fit to wake me up 5:30-7:30am with the washer on spin and noisy sex – they think I’m having the time of my life not working, but inside I’m dying – broken sleep is NO SLEEP and everyday life (especially stairs of any description) for me is difficult, with constant pain and immobility. The people at the council who’ve told me if I had kids they could help – I’m infertile due to Endometriosis – further discrimination. I need a spinal operation, a disabled bungalow so I can have it and recover in peace – if they would only support me I could get back to school eventually and get a degree maybe ten years from now. I could be a tax-payer again – I dearly want to be a teacher. As a qualified painter and decorator I earned good money and paid well into the same system that at every turn has let me down. I haven’t had half of the tax and NI that I paid back in benefits – I won’t for years! I struggled as a disabled person on Incapacity Benefit for four years – my life has taken a new turn since my Mobility Component was awarded – I can afford a taxi to the shops, can get a few things, a taxi home, get myself back up the stairs because I haven’t had to walk there AND if I need anything the next day, my mobility money pays for that trip – as well as to all my hospital and doctor’s appointments. I was WALKING to most of these before DLA – having to leave two hours before to get there – piling damage on top of damage – because I couldn’t afford to eat and get public transport that week! Now they want to cut DLA. Alot of the time I feel hopeless – I constantly chide myself, so many people are worse off than me – I try to keep things in perspective. Jackson’s character in Emmerdale reminds me that real people are living with the challenges of being quadriplegic every day in this country; it’s for them that my heart is breaking, and the elderly in care homes who are basically being expected to sit around and wait to die. THESE VALID PEOPLE FOUGHT OFF HITLER FOR US AND THAT’S THE BEST WE CAN DO – IT MAKES ME SICK! I’m starting to get upset and have to sign off but I’m going to copy and paste this into the comment for response to the You&Yours radio programme. To Mark Littlewood….When I was working and earning how could I have insured against DNA? How could I have insured against my rubbish ex-GP’s not listening to me? What insurance company would’ve insured me anyway, with a long-term sick and disabled-by-inherited-disease Mum? How can Mark Littlewood talk of us being personally responsible for improving our sitaution? I’ve been bashing my head against a wall for years, for what? Peter was right too – the politicians couldn’t manage if they were disabled people on DLA. It makes me so mad that they get to dictate who is in need and whether they’ll allocate help – the blind lady whose talking book costs £65 per year is facing it being taken away! I’ll gladly pay for her talking book – out of my own benefit money – I’d see a war veteran housed before me too – I’m sure all of us would – how can they talk of Big Society when the establishment can’t support the people who have so much to give back – if they were only supported? Thanks for getting out of bed of a morning and championing our cause Sarah. I’ll be on the virtual march tomorrow (later on), God Bless Those Who Are Marching For Us – God Bless Us All.

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