Iraq Veteran Who Lost Right Arm To Bomb Asked During WCA If He Is Right Handed

Readers, last Wednesday afternoon, I shared the absolute shock of the whole country at the tragic events in Woolwich that led to the death of serving soldier, Drummer Lee Rigby.

Drummer Rigby’s family has quite rightly received the full support of the media, and the whole nation, over the last few days.

Readers, every time a soldier is killed in action, the nation hears the tragic news, and feels for their family and friends for a time, however brief. The army, quite rightly, provides fallen soldiers with military funerals and tributes that are extremely well deserved.

Readers, in this week in which the nation has lost a soldier, Drummer Rigby, in such a tragic way- in this week in which we have watched his family’s unimaginable grief reveal itself so clearly on our television screens- in this week in which we have been united in sharing their shock- the revelation of how our government treats those soldiers who return from action alive, but seriously injured, has hit me particularly hard.

The Independent reports that thousands of former servicemen and women are being found fit for work by Atos, the company appointed by the government to carry out Work Capability Assessments- and pushed into poverty.

It is no secret to anyone who has followed disability issues over the last five years that Atos are a company strongly disliked by many, many disabled people and carers.

No one who has followed disability issues over the last five years would be at all surprised if the revelations of how serving soldiers are treated during these Work Capability Assessments made disabled people and carers dislike Atos even more strongly than they already do. Coming as they do in this tragic week for the Army, it might be reasonable to suggest that these revelations will make people who have had no previous experience of disability, WCAs or Atos strongly dislike both Atos and the assessments as well.

Atos have incorrectly found many disabled and seriously ill people fit for work in the past. The number of such decisions overturned on appeal goes just some way to proving how seriously flawed the assessments are. Readers, anyone who has followed disability issues over the last five years can tell you that there are many others in the same situation who have been unable to appeal incorrect decisions.

Readers, it is bad enough that ordinary sick and disabled people are being put through WCAs. It is bad enough that ordinary sick and disabled people are being treated with, at times, extreme insensitivity during these assessments. It is bad enough that ordinary sick and disabled people are being found fit for work incorrectly by the results of these assessments.

But now, readers, the Independent reports that veterans’ charities are condemning the assessments because of an “unbearable situation” in which severely disabled veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan are being told they no longer qualify for disability benefits under WCA rules.

Danny Greeno, chief executive of the Veterans Charity, said:  “It should not be happening to people who have served their country. The people doing these assessments need to be properly qualified.”

The treatment of Lance Corporal Mark Dryden, 35, during his Work Capability Assessment is particularly shocking and, in my personal opinion, unforgivable.

When the former soldier, who lost his right arm to a roadside bomb in Iraq in 2005, entered the room for his assessment, the doctor asked him if he was right handed. Lance Corporal Dryden responded by asking the doctor “do you see a right hand on my body?” To which the doctor replied: “I’ll take that as a no.”

Lance Corporal Dryden described his assessment as “totally and utterly degrading.”

Personally, I strongly agree with Danny Greeno. I find it very difficult to understand why injured war veterans, people who acquired lifelong disabilities serving our Government, carrying out the orders of our Government, are being put through these assessments at all.

Why are our injured veterans, on their return home, being asked to prove they are entitled to financial support to adjust to a new life outside the Army?

Why aren’t our injured veterans exempt from Work Capability Assessments? Why can’t our injured veterans be made exempt from Work Capability Assessments?

Readers, is putting all our injured veterans through exchanges like the one Lance Corporal Dryden experienced with the doctor really the way our Government wants to pay tribute  to Drummer Lee Rigby and the many, many others who have given their lives for this country?

I, for one, think making injured veterans exempt from WCAs would be the best possible tribute our Government could pay to all fallen soldiers.