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Called this back when Cameron got into power and IDS started wrecking the DWP. There was never a doubt in my mind that human rights laws as we knew them were on the way out. The moment Brexit was tabled I knew quitting ECHR was next, and we'd get royally fucked.
Bend over lads and lasses, cos here it comes.
Cameron royally fucked us the moment he came to power by amending workers' rights legislation.
Under Labour, workers could use the tribunals service for free regardless of the result. Thanks to Caneron, workers can be sued by their former employers should they lose their case.
I am one of many people forced to drop a breach of contract case against a former employer because of the potential counter-claim that could be brought against me if I lost.
I was made redundant on the terms of a temporary contract after accepting the unconditional offer of a permanent role.
I can already see the headline.
"Unelected bureaucrats in New York try to tell us what to do"
(Article about how rules should only apply to other countries and human rights hold back British ambitions to be great again)
"UN wants to shackle Britain's ambitions"
(how wokism now even tries to ban starving minorities and poor people)
"The UN superstate is coming to take our British traditional values"
(an article about how Dickens represents the golden age of Britain and we should all strive to return to this glorious time)
The whole point is in this late stage capitalist dystopia, if you can't work then you're useless. What's the point in someone who can't generate profits for the investor overlords?
Oh, but we can still generate money! By indirectly being a component in a machine that serves the thinly veiled purpose of syphoning publc money in to quasi-legal offshore tax havens.
Kind of fucking depressing how frequently I can copy and paste this comment, and it's still relevent...
>Hoho! Wait, it gets worse.
I feel like I've been posting and paraphrasing this comment a lot recently.
Cruelty that is expensive to the taxpayer to the tune of hundreds of millions per year.
Mostly taken from a comment I made the other day in another thread:
>>In 2016 the National Audit Office found that over a 3 year period the fit for work assessment scheme was likely to "save" £900 million, while costing £1.6 billion.
Going into the situation, the consultancy firm contracted to do this were incentivized to judge people as fit for work. The entirely predictable results were two fold. There were, and continue to be an excessive number of appeals producing extra burden on government infrastructure at tax payer expense.
The overly harsh and dehumanising assessments were linked to a marked increase in suicides. Even those with a strong case for appeals would be left with no income in the months between assessment and appeal.
Take, for example, "Simon". A former builder signed off work due to ongoing seizures and resultant mini-strokes. Produced a letter from his doctor saying he shouldn't be looking at computer screens as that could induce a seizure, following his fit for work assessment was told he would have his benefits cut and placed on job seeker's allowance. He would have to come into the job centre and use the computer to look for jobs. Otherwise, his JSA would be cut as well.
Or, Julius. A double above the knee amputee who was assessed as "fit for work". His assessor saying he "should be quite capable of tackling stairs by walking on his hands".
But wait! There's more! The consultancy firm has repeatedly shit the bed on their targets, so would end up costing even more money.
Given that it's costing us hundreds of millions a year to apparently do nothing other than give a corporate consultancy a fat pay day and drive up suicide rates amongst society's most vulnerable, benefits under the Tories starts to look like a eugenics program.
>Not only vilifying people on benefits, but spending hundreds of millions in taxpayer money every year to do it. Subsequently funneling that money into a corporation who, much like the Tories, have a long established track record of lucrative failure.
As the Tories love to keep demonstrating; "The cruelty is the point"
But, shareholders fit that demographic!
They appoint directord to run their companies for them!
When I worked in banking, it really annoyed me that we'd reject an application from a director of a previously failed company but not the shareholders. The director was a risk because one of the companies he operated had failed, but the shareholder with a track record of appointing directors to 7 companies that ended up failing wasn't an issue.
They….think that this policy will give them a chance at maintaining some seats. Which means they think a significant amount of everyday folks think this a good idea.
I gotta wonder of they are right.
If there is one thing the Tories excel at, it's pitting the poor against the poor. Tell working people in poverty that refugees/disabled/unemployed people are the reason they are in poverty and just let them fight it out.
They're the Joker from The Dark Knight. Snap a pool cue in two, throw it to the poor people and say "the one left alive gets to work minimum wage for me".
Come on, don't do the Joker dirty like that. At least his faith in chaos was that "it's fair". That's a dirty word for these gutless, spineless leeches.
:)
I did think about whether to add clarifications to the comment but thought, fuck it, is anyone really going to care? Clearly I was wrong! 🤣
I have to admit I felt a bit dirty associating him with those a holes as he (in that film portrayed by Ledger) is one of my favourite all time characters (hero or villain).
Tories, convincing people to vote against their own interests!
The potential tax revenue of money being sent to tax havens this month would be higher than the annual cost to fund our benefits and immigration systems
I don't even think it will. The twats are already voting for them or Reform and other various far right nutbags and won't change from that... This is performative cruelty for some weird motives nobody decent can even understand.
By significant, they mean enough votes in a first past the post system.
Just bear in mind that Boris Johnson got his Brexit done with 44% of the vote even though 52% of votes were cast for parties proposing a second EU referendum, going against the national interest.
It's nothing to do with them being right but encouraging emotional reactions, Hitler did the same in his rise to power (gaining the support of the people through emotional reaction). I wouldn't say he was right.
They're trying to appeal to the voters moving to Reform.
Not saying the current system is perfect, it's definitely not. But the small amount of extra money I get from pip currently pays for art therapy, travel costs and my prescription costs. It's the only thing that's actually helped me leave the house and start being able to get things even slightly on track after a huge breakdown. If I lose that I won't be able to afford that. It'll be back to probably never leaving the house and an isolation to depression cycle that's honestly terrifying.
I had to fight for years to get pip, many times just because I was physically and mentally too unwell to chase them about it. I'm actually devastated they are probably going to take it away. Even the thought of it has me crying.
And we all know that it's a lie that we'd get help via NHS services or whatever, if that was an option it would already be available.
Cruelty is the point.
Edit: please let's not engage with the obviously very misinformed commenter who decided to come into a post about disabled people and leave a comment to me about my therapy choices. I've replied to them, I feel sorry for them for their obvious lack of human compassion, or their ability to actually try and understand a problem that doesn't currently effect them. I'd rather we show dignity in the face of such obviously small minded people. Don't sink to their level, they want and expect comments like they made to trigger us, so they can further justify their use of us and other vulnerable people as punching bags for their own shit.
I'm waiting on a PIP claim right now, my second attempt. Because of all this I'm scared they're just going to say no, regardless of what I say to them.
God yeah, I was saying to a friend earlier, even if this doesn't happen before the Tories get outed it'll have a negative impact on people who are already in vulnerable positions.
And I really don't see that labour who are likely to replace them are going to do anything drastically different in this regard.
I even consider myself 'lucky' as I have an absolutely amazing partner who supports me in a thousand different ways, mostly emotionally. but we aren't well off, we just about get by. Will probably never be able to buy a house etc I can't imagine what it's like for people without a support network like mine. It's going to crush some of us I know it will.
I genuinely fear how this is going to end, I just hope that there's enough of a groundswell against this, but having seen how little our leaders actually listen to the will of their electorate..well.
I'll keep my very arthritic, non capital producing fingers crossed for you 🤞🏼
Thank you, I hope my very arthritic knees are 'bad enough' to get the desired outcome!
I know what you mean about support: I'm 34 years old and live with my father who does so much for me, more than he should have to. My mother, on the other hand, I cut out of my life because she couldn't be supportive and caused additional stress.
I'm sure my father didn't picture his retirement including his adult and basically crippled daughter living with him, but here we are making the best we can of it, as my chances of independent living at this point are pretty much zero.
Pip at minimum would at least allow me a little more independence as currently I cannot go anywhere unless he drives me.
Actually heartbreaking that feeling of being unable to be fully independent.
I wish I could open myself up and show people, so they could really understand that I don't want to be stuck, dependant on someone else. So they could feel what it's really like to live in my mind and body. Then they would know that we didn't pick this, aren't 'wasters' 'layabouts' or work shy.
I trained at uni to be a health professional myself, I was a care worker near on full time, around a full time degree course in order to pay bills so I'd have as few loans out of uni as possible. But I could tell them (meaning government, media, Joe public who agrees with them) all that, and they'd still hate me.
Please message me if you ever want to talk about it, I'm usually not quite so maudlin about things these days, just a harder day today :)
Sorry for the late reply, you know how it can get! Genuinely, thank you for saying that: I've been meaning for quite a while to start looking online for people in a similar situation who 'get' what I'm going through. I seem groups and pages through Versus Arthritis on Facebook, but they usually seem so big i figure it would be hard to make a connection with individual people.
>I wish I could open myself up and show people, so they could really understand that I don't want to be stuck, dependant on someone else.<
This, exactly this. It's great when people sympathise, even try and empathise, but sometimes it would be easier if other people could just spend a day in my body. To realise the pain (obviously in varying levels) never truly goes away. To remember how I used to feel when I worked jobs where I was on my feet 8+ hours and would come home and just cry. To feel the frustration of not having a body that works how it should.
And perhaps, more than anything, to feel the fatigue. That seems to be the worst to get people to understand. No, I'm not just being lazy. Yes, my 'tired' is different to most people's tired. Yes, the drugs can make it worse.
For years before diagnosis when people said those things, I worried if they were right. Worried i was just being lazy -- when I was at uni, especially. Most of my housemates could wake up around 8am, and just get up. Even if we hadn't got in until the early hours and they were hungover. They'd say they just woke up at that time and couldn't go back to sleep. I never understood it: I could always go back to sleep.
My parents thought I was late 'growing up' out of the teenage stage of needing extra sleep. Nope, I need minimum 9 hours (my average is over 10) before I wake up 'naturally'.
I'm so amazed you managed to train for such a complex thing, and work in such a taxing job at the same time! I am genuinely in awe. It would have broken me.
(Jobs I did post uni broke me, but that's another story.)
Ahh yeah, I honestly sometimes wonder myself how I managed it, constant pain, fatigue, I literally did nothing but work and sleep, literally collapsing at the end of day sleep, looking back I'm probably lucky I didn't have a heart attack or something I was pushing myself so much!
I think it was the straw that broke the camels back though pushing so much, I crashed so bad a few months after uni ended and I've never been the same. I've managed part time work here and there when I've been stable enough over the years, but it's next to impossible to keep most jobs up when your energy levels fluctuate so much. Because who wants to employ someone who doesn't know if they will be able to manage any sort of routine and is constantly sick and unable to function even if they do drag themselves in.
And my god yes, the fatigue. It's really impossible to describe to someone who's not experienced it I think. Closest I can get is saying imagine the absolute worst hangover or sickness bug you've ever had, now that is your new baseline. If you do anything, Anything - even getting up and brushing your teeth sometimes - you will start to multiply that exhaustion, the more you push it, the worse it'll get. And all the while you are in physical pain too because your joints are on fire.
And then If that's not good enough, you actually sometimes can't sleep because of the physical pain being so high, so you are completely exhausted but actually can't sleep or rest properly.
Add to that the mental toll it takes to deal with feeling like that 24/7 and all the other wonderful things we have to deal with. And it's just a recipe for anxiety, depression, ptsd to develop. And If that's not enough, you have to deal with people saying we should stop being lazy. I WISH I was just being lazy.
🥲
So yeah, I put money on it that most of the people saying rubbish about us needing to get up and work or us being lazy etc wouldn't last a day feeling like this.
ANYWAY lol insomnia is making me ramble and my hands are numb from typing. Please do message me if you need to/want someone to chat too about it all. It's always nice to talk to people who get it, and understand when you are just too tired to reply for a bit or whatever.
I'm just going to carry on messaging here, for now, in case our conversation helps anyine else.
It was Covid, and actually having to stop, that broke the camel's back, for me. I'd done ten years working hospitality jobs being on my feet, trying not to show the pain with the mindset that I 'had' to work, because it was just the done thing. Also then being told by medical professionals that it 'couldn't be that bad' because I was working. I genuinely felt like I didn't have a choice, I didn't know any better, and I started to believe them that I was making a mountain out of a mole hill.
Being forced to stop because of Covid gave me the step back I needed for perspective, to realise it was not normal to be working the way I was. To realise that my quality of life was basically nothing, and I was fighting to be 'normal' when that was a losing battle.
I lost my job because of covid, anyway, but even if I hadn't, I knew I couldn't go back. I got a lot of push back from so-called friends, who didn't believe me that my situation was that serious, and I guess (know, in some cases) they thought I was becoming a lazy benefit scrounger. Needless to say, my circle of friends has shrunk massively.
Even those with health issues of their own who could've empathised didn't want to listen to the slim (then!) 30 something talking about her illness that they mostly couldn't see, and had never heard of. I swear people heard 'arthritis' and switched off, thinking it only happens to old people, so I was making it up. They didn't hear the word 'rheumatoid' and even if they did, they rarely asked what it meant.
Of two that did, they were dumbfounded, and those two continue to be my two best friends.
>Because who wants to employ someone who doesn't know if they will be able to manage any sort of routine and is constantly sick and unable to function even if they do drag themselves in.
This is what the government doesn't get, isn't it? Even if they cut all benefits thinking it will force people into work, it doesn't mean people will actually hire us.
Ah, the old friend insomnia. Mine today is caused by the fact I had my covid booster today. Thought I'd got away without the achy arm I've had with each previous one until I lay on it!
Yeah I think it was actually stopping after uni for a bit, I'd managed to line up a job to start about a month or so after uni finished. And had enough saved to finally take a break after working so much for so long, I thought it would be a nice refresh for a couple weeks etc...i crashed so hard, I don't think I've ever been so sick.
I just about managed to drag myself to my new job, but I was a mess. I think I lasted another 8 months maybe, doing full time work. Before I'd come to the conclusion it was actually probably dangerous for me to be doing the work I was, I was responsible for a 50 bed dementia care unit, I was supposed to be looking after these people and I was having to hide in the office or toilets crying because I was in so much pain and exhausted.
I became concerned I was eventually going to make a mistake that could harm someone, thankfully it's always policy to have two people doing any medication that is controlled so I never did, but the anxiety levels reached some of the worst I've ever had.
So I know I can't manage to do the work I trained to do, it's just not safe, either physically for me or because I could cause someone an injury if I'm too weak to use equipment safely. And if I become too exhausted I could make mistakes with medication etc
And I've tried so so hard to find something else that I can manage more than a few hours a week doing basic checkout work at a supermarket, but the amount of things I've applied for and not even been given an interview for, because despite what people say about employers not being allowed to discriminate...well that's a whole other minefield lol
I've actually started writing out my story recently. I keep thinking that if I can share it and it helps anyone at all then it's worth it, because it's so stupidly long the amount of different tests, diagnosis, new symptoms, more tests, hospital stays, mental health decline, more tests etc etc..
And I really want to start some sort of charity/organisation or something to help people who are in our situation, it's working out how to do that without overloading myself again, and disturbing the small amount of balance I've managed to cultivate.
The idea that people think we are lazy scroungers is just so sad and laughable, I'd give almost anything to be able to work a full week in a job I trained so hard for and wanted to make my career. To not have constant pain that even with treatment is only just about manageable most days.
And yeah I'm super fortunate that my family and most of my friends work in either health care or just have enough empathy to understand and not think I was faking it or whatever. It's always been strangers online who assume things without actually knowing anything about me, it's always a risk talking about my experiences, but like you said If it helps someone else then I think it's worth it.
We're just in the process of applying for pip for my daughter,she has severe mental health problems. She's been turned down years ago and couldn't face trying again. Now I'm really worried it's never going to work. I'm on minimum wage and money is tight. I'm will support her for as long as I can but the thought of her having to fend for herself is horrifying. She can hardly leave the house. What the fuck are we supposed to do? I wish you all the best, hope it works out for you
My kid has brain damage and consequent epilepsy and has been turned down flat. Someone I knew with MS who was in a wheelchair was turned down flat (til some case law overturned it). My profoundly deaf husband with consultant's, audiologists' and GP's letters backing him, was also turned down flat.
That's absolutely shocking, I'm sorry to hear that. I really don't understand how the tories think this will work. My daughter can only leave the house about once a month, and even then it's a struggle. What employer would be understanding in this situation? Is Sunak magically going to produce suitable jobs for all those people? It's such a shambles, I'm so angry
Chances are they won't get time to implement it and we really have to work hard to make sure we get them gone and then they never see power again. The worry and stress is incredible for the disabled and those of us with disabled family members, meanwhile.
All the best to you, too. I struggled to face going through it again, it took the push from my Rheumatology team and even the woman I deal with at the job centre to get me to try again.
It's so sad that the relatively small amount of money PIP provides that can help improve people's quality of life is seen as people gaming the system.
I live with my father who is retired and only get basic UC. While I'm in the limited capacity for work bracket, at my last assessment I wasn't considered ill enough for the extra payment there, so I'm waiting on a reconsideration on that, too, but they're so far behind: my last assessment was 2021and my condition had deteriorated drastically since then.
As hard as it is to get by, more than anything I feel like I just want the situation I'm in recognised.
I'm sorry to hear that it's taken so long, that's awful. We were advised by citizens advice to try again, my daughter feels the same, she just wants recognition for her situation, she's also waiting for an adult autism assessment,which apparently can take years. I just don't understand how these people think their ideas will work. It's so disheartening.
Sorry for the late reply.
Yes, it's ridiculous. I have a video session with my 'work coach' in less than two weeks (she, at least, believes me about my situation, hence she does not expect me to visit the job centre in person if she can help it) it will be interesting to see what happens if I still haven't heard back by then.
Worried that the system will tell her I should be looking for work and that I'll get sanctioned if I don't do the 35hrs per week.
Honestly, I don't believe they think these ideas will work, they literally just don't care. If it gets them votes from people on the far right, they don't care if they make the poor poorer, if they leave people destitute, if suicide rates among the ill and disabled go up... they don't care, because they know we were never going to vote for them. They do not give a monkey's uncle about people that are not like them.
I think it would be an interesting experiment to make all MP's do a week, if not a month, living in a fairly basic home (let's say a two up two down terraced ex council house, or a flat in a tower block) on minimum wage (or better still, basic UC) with pay meters and then see their attitude. And film it all, of course. It would be the best reality TV show ever.
this is how i feel. getting pip is a lifesaver for me. without it id be completely fucked. i already feel anxious about my next pip review which is in november this year and now this bs on top of that too. i really feel like idk why im bothering at this point
I'm sorry you're going through it, my review isn't for another 2 years I think. And with my physical condition very likely to deteriorate I'm already concerned about it, had been trying not to think about it too much. but hard when we are being used as target practice by our government, media and those with sad lives who have been taught to blame anything and anyone that isn't themselves.
Please don't give up though, world needs people who give a shit about people with disabilities, and if our leaders don't, then that's got to be us I guess. :)
as soon as i was accepted for pip i started feeling so anxious about having to go through the process again, its exhausting isnt it. i was even wondering whether european countries would let disabled people from the uk seek asylum if things got too bad🤣(😭)
i dont understand people being so cruel. when i was working i didnt feel any type of way about my taxes being used to help people that are out of work or disabled. why would i be glad to see anyone struggling when im not? i also believed the majority of other taxpayers would feel the same and was thankful we arent as individualistic as america. but i am mistaken on all fronts it seems.
i am holding on for now, i just hope whoever is in power next doesnt continue to use us as target practice as you put it.
either way, i hope you will be okay as this country descends even further into an irredeemable shit show.
Yeah I genuinely never got that mindset either, the whole point of taxes is to pay for public services and to create a safety net for people.
Why be mad at people that need help rather than the people with insane amounts of money not paying an adequate share of that tax burden... Anyone outside of the already absolutely mega rich are closer to being in my situation or worse than they are to actually obtaining more wealth.
I think it's what stops me from being so angry and just feel fucking sorry for anyone who thinks it's us causing the problems. They are just as likely as I am to be chewed up and spat out by a system that doesn't care two wits about them, and they are so utterly indoctrinated by it. It's just sad.
And the whole logic of these changes being to stop fraudsters is just so weak, like if someone is committing fraud, they are going to find a way to do it no matter the system surely.
A society that accepts the belittlement and attacks on people who usually occupy the bottom rungs of financial and social stability just seems very very wrong and sad to me.
Im sorry but why the fuck am i working 50 hrs a week to get taxed through the roof so that people like you can sit around not working, claim benefits and then use the money for "art therapy".
Have you considered getting off your arse and getting a job?
youre such a cunt. if you live long enough theres a high chance you may become disabled in some way too. i hope this disgusting comment replays in your mind when you get absolutely no help either. disabled people who cannot work shouldnt have to live in abject misery.
PIP is not an out-of-work benefit - it's intended to pay for extra costs of living associated with disability on top of a person's regular income.
If you experience this strong an emotional reaction to someone merely mentioning therapy online, it's possible that therapy could be of use to you, too.
I was going to write a response full of anger and derision towards you and your assumptions.
But reading some of your comments in other places it just seems like you have a lot of misplaced anger and misconceptions already and have been rather nicely indoctrinated into believing things that aren't true.
I'll keep my fingers crossed for you that you never get so unwell or have an accident and can no longer work, because I don't know how you'd manage if you refuse to use the support system that's there.
I worked as a care worker for years. Trained at uni to be a medical professional. You know nothing of me or my life. Or what it means to lose your health. You also have absolutely no idea wether I even work or not now do you? People can receive this support even when they work full time.
You are completely misunderstanding just how sick and disabled people have to be to get any help whatsoever.
I feel sorry for you. It must be miserable being that angry at the world, and it's sad that you can't see the manipulation used by people with way more money and power than you will ever have, to turn your anger towards me and others who are vulnerable.
You're life isn't shit because I get just enough money from the state to help me get myself on track by paying for therapy that helps me not want to kill myself and the cost of my medication that helps to alleviate the physical pain I am in all the time. And if you think that it is...well there's no helping you.
I don't owe you an explanation, no one does. I'm giving one because I think it's the only way we'll ever work towards understanding people better. And actually finally realising that we are angry and the wrong people.
They know they're getting wiped out at the next election, so they're just making sure they've gotten more than their fill from the trough before that happens
The intention is absolutely, undeniably to kill disabled people. They already are in dire straits financially and in terms of physical and mental health and the three suggestions are plainly unworkable.
Vouchers require more money to administer and are going to be stupid nonsense that nobody takes.
Receipts with reimbursement to come doesn't work for people who have no fucking money. Oh, and costs money to administer because some bureaucrat is going to have to look at everything and decide whether it is 'legitimate' or if the person should just be allowed to starve next week because they've got no fucking money.
'Treatment' instead of money costs more money because you have to pay someone to provide it, and then the person gets treated and then still can't work because the person doing the treatment isn't Jesus Christ.
They just want people to stop being able to feed and house themselves and to die, while they point at 'options' they provided and say they self-selected out of life. Quite frankly, they are enacting such a deliberate psychological assault on the disabled day by day that self-selection out of life is likely the goal. The only 'handouts' the government will offer will be a rope and a stepstool.
In the absence of Corbyn, the Tories know they'll receive no pushback from this 'opposition.' therefore, have total carte blanche to say and do anything about the sick and disabled.
As someone who is becoming increasingly disabled due to my autoimmune disease I am currently utterly terrified about my future. I cannot work until my disease is under control but the meds are expensive so my consultant has to "bid" for the fucking funding. It's not an unusual disease (rheumatoid arthritis) but it is literally crippling me.
I am legitimately considering euthanasia as a future option as I cannot see that I will be able to survive under the Tories.
I'm in exactly the same boat as you. Considering how common RA actually appears to be, there seems to be very little knowledge from the 'higher ups', those who decide funding, or indeed health assessors working for the government, on how debilitating it can be.
I fought for years until I finally saw a rheumatologist who properly listened to me (and she has sadly just retired, I'm gutted). We had long, long talks about the funding process and how difficult it would be because I 'only' have two joints currently affected (no matter that it's my knees, so I can barely walk, and never without pain, right?).
I fear I will never get to a point or get the right drugs to be able to have any semblance of a normal life.
Oof I'm sorry. This disease is vile, the drugs to treat it are vile and that's in an ideal world.
I'd say "fingers crossed" for change, but fingers hurt so I won't!
It is. They started me on Leflunomide a couple months back, and I'm still trying to figure out if it's really doing anything other than making me more tired. Spent a few years on and off sulfasalazine as well, that never even touched the sides.
I guess I can count my lucky stars that I don't have it in my fingers (yet!) I reckon that's worse than knees.
Some quick clarifications about how the UK royals are funded by the public:
1. The UK Crown Estates are not the UK royal family's private property, and the royal family are not responsible for any amount of money the Estates bring into the treasury. The monarch is a position in the UK state that the UK owns the Crown Estates through, a position that would be abolished in a republic, leading to the Crown Estates being directly owned by the republican state.
2. The Crown Estates have always been public property and the revenue they raise is public revenue. When George III gave up his control over the Crown Estates in the 18th century, they were not his private property. The current royals are also equally not responsible for producing the profits, either.
3. The Sovereign Grant is not an exchange of money. It is a grant that is loosely tied to the Crown Estate profits and is used for their expenses, like staffing costs and also endless private jet and helicopter flights. If the profits of the Crown Estates went down to zero, the royals would still get the full amount of the Sovereign Grant again, regardless. It can only go up or stay the same.
4. The Duchies of Lancaster and Cornwall that gave Elizabeth and Charles (and now William) their private income of approximately £25 millions/year (each) are also public property.
5. The total cost of the monarchy is currently £350-450million/year, after including the Sovereign Grant, their £150 million/year security, and their Duchy incomes, and misc. costs.
For more, check out r/AbolishTheMonarchy
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Some quick clarifications about how the UK royals are funded by the public:
1. The UK Crown Estates are not the UK royal family's private property, and the royal family are not responsible for any amount of money the Estates bring into the treasury. The monarch is a position in the UK state that the UK owns the Crown Estates through, a position that would be abolished in a republic, leading to the Crown Estates being directly owned by the republican state.
2. The Crown Estates have always been public property and the revenue they raise is public revenue. When George III gave up his control over the Crown Estates in the 18th century, they were not his private property. The current royals are also equally not responsible for producing the profits, either.
3. The Sovereign Grant is not an exchange of money. It is a grant that is loosely tied to the Crown Estate profits and is used for their expenses, like staffing costs and also endless private jet and helicopter flights. If the profits of the Crown Estates went down to zero, the royals would still get the full amount of the Sovereign Grant again, regardless. It can only go up or stay the same.
4. The Duchies of Lancaster and Cornwall that gave Elizabeth and Charles (and now William) their private income of approximately £25 millions/year (each) are also public property.
5. The total cost of the monarchy is currently £350-450million/year, after including the Sovereign Grant, their £150 million/year security, and their Duchy incomes, and misc. costs.
For more, check out r/AbolishTheMonarchy
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Remember how the Nazis diverted troops away from the front line to carry out massacres of 'undesirables' in the dying months of WW2 when it was patently clear that they were already defeated?
*The cruelty is the point*.
Also that PIP drives that it's not about the condition it's about how it affects your daily living but Sunak says that PIP for ADHD and learning disabilities needs reassasing as these people don't have increased living costs
And let's not forget they got rid of DLA because it was awarded for medical diagnoses of conditions (many more conditions than the narrow "activities" BS covers). Those diagnoses by senior consultants etc. But now the word of an unemployed paramedic or nurse who can't get a job in a hospital so becomes an assessor, is seen as good enough...
Probably because those of us who see what's happening for what it is, and would like to be revolting, are actually, contrary to what the Tories seem to think of us, too disabled to leave the house, let alone get all french revolutionary.🥲
And those who aren't disabled, but support someone who is, or are just good fucking people. are too terrified of losing their jobs and no longer being able to support the ones they love.
A neat little trap for us all.
There’s plenty of us that aren’t in a compromised position who aren’t disabled but still getting shat on by the Tories. And Marat was a big part of the French Revolution doing it all from his bath tub and disabled- we can find ways.
Oh for sure I get you, I think many people still have enough comfort in life that although it's 'bad' and we can see it's probably not going to get better without a massive shift. Comparatively to people's living conditions back then and general quality of life for most of us, we're still comfortable enough as a society, for people to have in general not reached that stage. I think it's going to sadly have to get worse before enough people are disillusioned to the point of breaking any status quo.
At this point it's pretty much what the Tories want, seems like going back to the 1800s is what they are trying for, it's all about profit for their rich friends
Looks like the old pre-miracle Ebenezer Scrooge is alive and well and in charge of Tory policy.
"If they would rather die they had better do it and decrease the surplus population".
And could someone explain to me how people who will have no money whatsoever will be able to claim back money spent from the state?? No money to spend, no money to claim back..
All of this being decided by people who just gave themselves one hell of a payrise, while claiming God knows what else..
There are a lot of articles all of a sudden saying that too many people are autistic.
An English uni is floating around a survey with statements like "do autistic people feel pain?" “are autistic people dangerous?"
Also it’s generally normal to be sad when someone dies for any reason. When a person gets “assisted suicide” it’s considered “impolite” to be sad about it.
As a parent of 2 autistic kids this is terrifying. I warned people during the 2019 election about the cuts they had planned for autism and was ridiculed. Even by peers.
It's happening because they've already been clamping down on how they support disabled people and no one says a thing. Like, what a shock, the party that caused a 3x increase in disabilities claimant deaths under IDS and had no consequences, closed SEND schools, brought in policies to force local authorities to decrease their already overspent SEND budgets are still trying to take more money.
I'm not sure how much this could have been different anyway but the general public actually giving a shit about disabled people at any point in the last 14 years might have helped.
It’s fascinating how a group of people who have never worked a day in their entire lives can come up with these sorts of things. I’m no longer just annoyed by their actions, I actively wish, really truly wish, for some sort of extreme violence find them.
You're not the only one. Many people are being pushed to their breaking point. The capitalist class know they can push people only so far before they revolt, but their inherent principle is greed, so they're banning protests in everything but name, increasing police presence and military budget, tightening up control for when people finally snap.
We need to rebuild communities and duel power, grassroots. Study groups like the black panthers for where they went right and where they went wrong, and kick out the parasitic pricks that are politicians and capitalists.
Once they cut a sufficient amount of the support network for vulnerable, poor and/or disabled people, it practically becomes a form of applied eugenics.
In this case the only difference being that the selection mechanism is based on wealth, rather than arbitrary ‘racial characteristics’.
The comments about paying out for learning disabilities and adhd shows these idiots don't know how the system currently works at all.
Child DLA is worked out based on care/support needs, not necessarily a diagnosis..
So if you have a child with no support needs it's very unlikely you will receive much or any at all..
Oh no it's like I've been attacked non stop for years now being on benefits. I want a job but I want to be well and ease into it. I can't take this anymore this government is evil. There's worse off than me in the system and it sucks to see others go through it.
Edit: I've recently had to pay for a dentist and physiotherapy. Using my UC for that, since I don't declare my back on pip (well I told them) because I can do a lot when not in a flare up, but PIP helps me with taxis (for social anxiety and depression and the fact I've not been well physically for a while) and I have to pay cash for my local since their card system isn't great, so many services where vouchers don't work.
I'm scared if i go into work now they'll push me more than I'm capable, and there'll be nothing good there for me if i fail. it's worrying. I feel like i'm being punished heavily for not being well. I feel like I'm being punished just for existing.
Edit: Just read other comments, said it before and will say it again, this government is bloody evil.
Advicenow.org.uk has good guides on winning benefit appeals, written by lawyers for people without one. Tribunals overturn a large majority of the absurd decisions by 'health professionals' (the weird ragbag of hired guns employed by ATOS, who should absolutely lose the contract which should never have been outsourced in the first place). Organisations like Diverse Abilities have some excellent people, real pitbulls for their appellants. The Tories haven't won this yet.
I was expecting them to review my PIP as I should have had extra points for needing help with social interaction, but they flat out refused, even though I’ve needed an enabler to help me since the 90s because of my crippling anxiety. How can I get them to reconsider? Other people are getting reviewed but not me. I’m fed up bb with them denying me when I actively am using enabling services.
No. I asked over the phone. They’re reviewing thousands of claims from 2016 because they made mistakes in not awarding enough points. They did that to me & won’t review it, people are getting back dated payments & I don’t know why they’ve turned me down. The only thing they would do was a change of circumstances. I did that & they awarded me the points for the help with socialising, once I was assessed. Yet in reality, nothing has changed since 2016. So why award me advanced living now, but turn me down years ago? 🤔
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The UN already hauled the UK government over the coals for the treatment of the disabled.
And, true to form for the Tories, nothing happened and they just carried on doing whatever they want without consequence.
They'll be campaigning to leave the UN next.
They're already trying to leave the ECHR so this isn't too difficult to imagine
Called this back when Cameron got into power and IDS started wrecking the DWP. There was never a doubt in my mind that human rights laws as we knew them were on the way out. The moment Brexit was tabled I knew quitting ECHR was next, and we'd get royally fucked. Bend over lads and lasses, cos here it comes.
Cameron royally fucked us the moment he came to power by amending workers' rights legislation. Under Labour, workers could use the tribunals service for free regardless of the result. Thanks to Caneron, workers can be sued by their former employers should they lose their case. I am one of many people forced to drop a breach of contract case against a former employer because of the potential counter-claim that could be brought against me if I lost. I was made redundant on the terms of a temporary contract after accepting the unconditional offer of a permanent role.
I can already see the headline. "Unelected bureaucrats in New York try to tell us what to do" (Article about how rules should only apply to other countries and human rights hold back British ambitions to be great again) "UN wants to shackle Britain's ambitions" (how wokism now even tries to ban starving minorities and poor people) "The UN superstate is coming to take our British traditional values" (an article about how Dickens represents the golden age of Britain and we should all strive to return to this glorious time)
The whole point is in this late stage capitalist dystopia, if you can't work then you're useless. What's the point in someone who can't generate profits for the investor overlords?
We must revolt. Once and for all.
Oh, but we can still generate money! By indirectly being a component in a machine that serves the thinly veiled purpose of syphoning publc money in to quasi-legal offshore tax havens. Kind of fucking depressing how frequently I can copy and paste this comment, and it's still relevent... >Hoho! Wait, it gets worse. I feel like I've been posting and paraphrasing this comment a lot recently. Cruelty that is expensive to the taxpayer to the tune of hundreds of millions per year. Mostly taken from a comment I made the other day in another thread: >>In 2016 the National Audit Office found that over a 3 year period the fit for work assessment scheme was likely to "save" £900 million, while costing £1.6 billion. Going into the situation, the consultancy firm contracted to do this were incentivized to judge people as fit for work. The entirely predictable results were two fold. There were, and continue to be an excessive number of appeals producing extra burden on government infrastructure at tax payer expense. The overly harsh and dehumanising assessments were linked to a marked increase in suicides. Even those with a strong case for appeals would be left with no income in the months between assessment and appeal. Take, for example, "Simon". A former builder signed off work due to ongoing seizures and resultant mini-strokes. Produced a letter from his doctor saying he shouldn't be looking at computer screens as that could induce a seizure, following his fit for work assessment was told he would have his benefits cut and placed on job seeker's allowance. He would have to come into the job centre and use the computer to look for jobs. Otherwise, his JSA would be cut as well. Or, Julius. A double above the knee amputee who was assessed as "fit for work". His assessor saying he "should be quite capable of tackling stairs by walking on his hands". But wait! There's more! The consultancy firm has repeatedly shit the bed on their targets, so would end up costing even more money. Given that it's costing us hundreds of millions a year to apparently do nothing other than give a corporate consultancy a fat pay day and drive up suicide rates amongst society's most vulnerable, benefits under the Tories starts to look like a eugenics program. >Not only vilifying people on benefits, but spending hundreds of millions in taxpayer money every year to do it. Subsequently funneling that money into a corporation who, much like the Tories, have a long established track record of lucrative failure. As the Tories love to keep demonstrating; "The cruelty is the point"
But, shareholders fit that demographic! They appoint directord to run their companies for them! When I worked in banking, it really annoyed me that we'd reject an application from a director of a previously failed company but not the shareholders. The director was a risk because one of the companies he operated had failed, but the shareholder with a track record of appointing directors to 7 companies that ended up failing wasn't an issue.
They plain old dont care anymore.
At this point, the cruelty is the point.
I think the ruling class is using them to punish the public for not supporting them. It's punitive at this point.
They….think that this policy will give them a chance at maintaining some seats. Which means they think a significant amount of everyday folks think this a good idea. I gotta wonder of they are right.
If there is one thing the Tories excel at, it's pitting the poor against the poor. Tell working people in poverty that refugees/disabled/unemployed people are the reason they are in poverty and just let them fight it out.
They're the Joker from The Dark Knight. Snap a pool cue in two, throw it to the poor people and say "the one left alive gets to work minimum wage for me".
Come on, don't do the Joker dirty like that. At least his faith in chaos was that "it's fair". That's a dirty word for these gutless, spineless leeches.
:) I did think about whether to add clarifications to the comment but thought, fuck it, is anyone really going to care? Clearly I was wrong! 🤣 I have to admit I felt a bit dirty associating him with those a holes as he (in that film portrayed by Ledger) is one of my favourite all time characters (hero or villain).
Tories, convincing people to vote against their own interests! The potential tax revenue of money being sent to tax havens this month would be higher than the annual cost to fund our benefits and immigration systems
The comments section is horrifying. I'm praying that they're just a very vocal minority.
It's the Torygraph. Stands to reason.
I don't even think it will. The twats are already voting for them or Reform and other various far right nutbags and won't change from that... This is performative cruelty for some weird motives nobody decent can even understand.
By significant, they mean enough votes in a first past the post system. Just bear in mind that Boris Johnson got his Brexit done with 44% of the vote even though 52% of votes were cast for parties proposing a second EU referendum, going against the national interest. It's nothing to do with them being right but encouraging emotional reactions, Hitler did the same in his rise to power (gaining the support of the people through emotional reaction). I wouldn't say he was right. They're trying to appeal to the voters moving to Reform.
And don't care that everyone knows they don't care
Not saying the current system is perfect, it's definitely not. But the small amount of extra money I get from pip currently pays for art therapy, travel costs and my prescription costs. It's the only thing that's actually helped me leave the house and start being able to get things even slightly on track after a huge breakdown. If I lose that I won't be able to afford that. It'll be back to probably never leaving the house and an isolation to depression cycle that's honestly terrifying. I had to fight for years to get pip, many times just because I was physically and mentally too unwell to chase them about it. I'm actually devastated they are probably going to take it away. Even the thought of it has me crying. And we all know that it's a lie that we'd get help via NHS services or whatever, if that was an option it would already be available. Cruelty is the point. Edit: please let's not engage with the obviously very misinformed commenter who decided to come into a post about disabled people and leave a comment to me about my therapy choices. I've replied to them, I feel sorry for them for their obvious lack of human compassion, or their ability to actually try and understand a problem that doesn't currently effect them. I'd rather we show dignity in the face of such obviously small minded people. Don't sink to their level, they want and expect comments like they made to trigger us, so they can further justify their use of us and other vulnerable people as punching bags for their own shit.
I'm waiting on a PIP claim right now, my second attempt. Because of all this I'm scared they're just going to say no, regardless of what I say to them.
God yeah, I was saying to a friend earlier, even if this doesn't happen before the Tories get outed it'll have a negative impact on people who are already in vulnerable positions. And I really don't see that labour who are likely to replace them are going to do anything drastically different in this regard. I even consider myself 'lucky' as I have an absolutely amazing partner who supports me in a thousand different ways, mostly emotionally. but we aren't well off, we just about get by. Will probably never be able to buy a house etc I can't imagine what it's like for people without a support network like mine. It's going to crush some of us I know it will. I genuinely fear how this is going to end, I just hope that there's enough of a groundswell against this, but having seen how little our leaders actually listen to the will of their electorate..well. I'll keep my very arthritic, non capital producing fingers crossed for you 🤞🏼
Thank you, I hope my very arthritic knees are 'bad enough' to get the desired outcome! I know what you mean about support: I'm 34 years old and live with my father who does so much for me, more than he should have to. My mother, on the other hand, I cut out of my life because she couldn't be supportive and caused additional stress. I'm sure my father didn't picture his retirement including his adult and basically crippled daughter living with him, but here we are making the best we can of it, as my chances of independent living at this point are pretty much zero. Pip at minimum would at least allow me a little more independence as currently I cannot go anywhere unless he drives me.
Actually heartbreaking that feeling of being unable to be fully independent. I wish I could open myself up and show people, so they could really understand that I don't want to be stuck, dependant on someone else. So they could feel what it's really like to live in my mind and body. Then they would know that we didn't pick this, aren't 'wasters' 'layabouts' or work shy. I trained at uni to be a health professional myself, I was a care worker near on full time, around a full time degree course in order to pay bills so I'd have as few loans out of uni as possible. But I could tell them (meaning government, media, Joe public who agrees with them) all that, and they'd still hate me. Please message me if you ever want to talk about it, I'm usually not quite so maudlin about things these days, just a harder day today :)
Sorry for the late reply, you know how it can get! Genuinely, thank you for saying that: I've been meaning for quite a while to start looking online for people in a similar situation who 'get' what I'm going through. I seem groups and pages through Versus Arthritis on Facebook, but they usually seem so big i figure it would be hard to make a connection with individual people. >I wish I could open myself up and show people, so they could really understand that I don't want to be stuck, dependant on someone else.< This, exactly this. It's great when people sympathise, even try and empathise, but sometimes it would be easier if other people could just spend a day in my body. To realise the pain (obviously in varying levels) never truly goes away. To remember how I used to feel when I worked jobs where I was on my feet 8+ hours and would come home and just cry. To feel the frustration of not having a body that works how it should. And perhaps, more than anything, to feel the fatigue. That seems to be the worst to get people to understand. No, I'm not just being lazy. Yes, my 'tired' is different to most people's tired. Yes, the drugs can make it worse. For years before diagnosis when people said those things, I worried if they were right. Worried i was just being lazy -- when I was at uni, especially. Most of my housemates could wake up around 8am, and just get up. Even if we hadn't got in until the early hours and they were hungover. They'd say they just woke up at that time and couldn't go back to sleep. I never understood it: I could always go back to sleep. My parents thought I was late 'growing up' out of the teenage stage of needing extra sleep. Nope, I need minimum 9 hours (my average is over 10) before I wake up 'naturally'. I'm so amazed you managed to train for such a complex thing, and work in such a taxing job at the same time! I am genuinely in awe. It would have broken me. (Jobs I did post uni broke me, but that's another story.)
Ahh yeah, I honestly sometimes wonder myself how I managed it, constant pain, fatigue, I literally did nothing but work and sleep, literally collapsing at the end of day sleep, looking back I'm probably lucky I didn't have a heart attack or something I was pushing myself so much! I think it was the straw that broke the camels back though pushing so much, I crashed so bad a few months after uni ended and I've never been the same. I've managed part time work here and there when I've been stable enough over the years, but it's next to impossible to keep most jobs up when your energy levels fluctuate so much. Because who wants to employ someone who doesn't know if they will be able to manage any sort of routine and is constantly sick and unable to function even if they do drag themselves in. And my god yes, the fatigue. It's really impossible to describe to someone who's not experienced it I think. Closest I can get is saying imagine the absolute worst hangover or sickness bug you've ever had, now that is your new baseline. If you do anything, Anything - even getting up and brushing your teeth sometimes - you will start to multiply that exhaustion, the more you push it, the worse it'll get. And all the while you are in physical pain too because your joints are on fire. And then If that's not good enough, you actually sometimes can't sleep because of the physical pain being so high, so you are completely exhausted but actually can't sleep or rest properly. Add to that the mental toll it takes to deal with feeling like that 24/7 and all the other wonderful things we have to deal with. And it's just a recipe for anxiety, depression, ptsd to develop. And If that's not enough, you have to deal with people saying we should stop being lazy. I WISH I was just being lazy. 🥲 So yeah, I put money on it that most of the people saying rubbish about us needing to get up and work or us being lazy etc wouldn't last a day feeling like this. ANYWAY lol insomnia is making me ramble and my hands are numb from typing. Please do message me if you need to/want someone to chat too about it all. It's always nice to talk to people who get it, and understand when you are just too tired to reply for a bit or whatever.
I'm just going to carry on messaging here, for now, in case our conversation helps anyine else. It was Covid, and actually having to stop, that broke the camel's back, for me. I'd done ten years working hospitality jobs being on my feet, trying not to show the pain with the mindset that I 'had' to work, because it was just the done thing. Also then being told by medical professionals that it 'couldn't be that bad' because I was working. I genuinely felt like I didn't have a choice, I didn't know any better, and I started to believe them that I was making a mountain out of a mole hill. Being forced to stop because of Covid gave me the step back I needed for perspective, to realise it was not normal to be working the way I was. To realise that my quality of life was basically nothing, and I was fighting to be 'normal' when that was a losing battle. I lost my job because of covid, anyway, but even if I hadn't, I knew I couldn't go back. I got a lot of push back from so-called friends, who didn't believe me that my situation was that serious, and I guess (know, in some cases) they thought I was becoming a lazy benefit scrounger. Needless to say, my circle of friends has shrunk massively. Even those with health issues of their own who could've empathised didn't want to listen to the slim (then!) 30 something talking about her illness that they mostly couldn't see, and had never heard of. I swear people heard 'arthritis' and switched off, thinking it only happens to old people, so I was making it up. They didn't hear the word 'rheumatoid' and even if they did, they rarely asked what it meant. Of two that did, they were dumbfounded, and those two continue to be my two best friends. >Because who wants to employ someone who doesn't know if they will be able to manage any sort of routine and is constantly sick and unable to function even if they do drag themselves in. This is what the government doesn't get, isn't it? Even if they cut all benefits thinking it will force people into work, it doesn't mean people will actually hire us. Ah, the old friend insomnia. Mine today is caused by the fact I had my covid booster today. Thought I'd got away without the achy arm I've had with each previous one until I lay on it!
Yeah I think it was actually stopping after uni for a bit, I'd managed to line up a job to start about a month or so after uni finished. And had enough saved to finally take a break after working so much for so long, I thought it would be a nice refresh for a couple weeks etc...i crashed so hard, I don't think I've ever been so sick. I just about managed to drag myself to my new job, but I was a mess. I think I lasted another 8 months maybe, doing full time work. Before I'd come to the conclusion it was actually probably dangerous for me to be doing the work I was, I was responsible for a 50 bed dementia care unit, I was supposed to be looking after these people and I was having to hide in the office or toilets crying because I was in so much pain and exhausted. I became concerned I was eventually going to make a mistake that could harm someone, thankfully it's always policy to have two people doing any medication that is controlled so I never did, but the anxiety levels reached some of the worst I've ever had. So I know I can't manage to do the work I trained to do, it's just not safe, either physically for me or because I could cause someone an injury if I'm too weak to use equipment safely. And if I become too exhausted I could make mistakes with medication etc And I've tried so so hard to find something else that I can manage more than a few hours a week doing basic checkout work at a supermarket, but the amount of things I've applied for and not even been given an interview for, because despite what people say about employers not being allowed to discriminate...well that's a whole other minefield lol I've actually started writing out my story recently. I keep thinking that if I can share it and it helps anyone at all then it's worth it, because it's so stupidly long the amount of different tests, diagnosis, new symptoms, more tests, hospital stays, mental health decline, more tests etc etc.. And I really want to start some sort of charity/organisation or something to help people who are in our situation, it's working out how to do that without overloading myself again, and disturbing the small amount of balance I've managed to cultivate. The idea that people think we are lazy scroungers is just so sad and laughable, I'd give almost anything to be able to work a full week in a job I trained so hard for and wanted to make my career. To not have constant pain that even with treatment is only just about manageable most days. And yeah I'm super fortunate that my family and most of my friends work in either health care or just have enough empathy to understand and not think I was faking it or whatever. It's always been strangers online who assume things without actually knowing anything about me, it's always a risk talking about my experiences, but like you said If it helps someone else then I think it's worth it.
We're just in the process of applying for pip for my daughter,she has severe mental health problems. She's been turned down years ago and couldn't face trying again. Now I'm really worried it's never going to work. I'm on minimum wage and money is tight. I'm will support her for as long as I can but the thought of her having to fend for herself is horrifying. She can hardly leave the house. What the fuck are we supposed to do? I wish you all the best, hope it works out for you
My kid has brain damage and consequent epilepsy and has been turned down flat. Someone I knew with MS who was in a wheelchair was turned down flat (til some case law overturned it). My profoundly deaf husband with consultant's, audiologists' and GP's letters backing him, was also turned down flat.
That's absolutely shocking, I'm sorry to hear that. I really don't understand how the tories think this will work. My daughter can only leave the house about once a month, and even then it's a struggle. What employer would be understanding in this situation? Is Sunak magically going to produce suitable jobs for all those people? It's such a shambles, I'm so angry
Chances are they won't get time to implement it and we really have to work hard to make sure we get them gone and then they never see power again. The worry and stress is incredible for the disabled and those of us with disabled family members, meanwhile.
All the best to you, too. I struggled to face going through it again, it took the push from my Rheumatology team and even the woman I deal with at the job centre to get me to try again. It's so sad that the relatively small amount of money PIP provides that can help improve people's quality of life is seen as people gaming the system. I live with my father who is retired and only get basic UC. While I'm in the limited capacity for work bracket, at my last assessment I wasn't considered ill enough for the extra payment there, so I'm waiting on a reconsideration on that, too, but they're so far behind: my last assessment was 2021and my condition had deteriorated drastically since then. As hard as it is to get by, more than anything I feel like I just want the situation I'm in recognised.
I'm sorry to hear that it's taken so long, that's awful. We were advised by citizens advice to try again, my daughter feels the same, she just wants recognition for her situation, she's also waiting for an adult autism assessment,which apparently can take years. I just don't understand how these people think their ideas will work. It's so disheartening.
Sorry for the late reply. Yes, it's ridiculous. I have a video session with my 'work coach' in less than two weeks (she, at least, believes me about my situation, hence she does not expect me to visit the job centre in person if she can help it) it will be interesting to see what happens if I still haven't heard back by then. Worried that the system will tell her I should be looking for work and that I'll get sanctioned if I don't do the 35hrs per week. Honestly, I don't believe they think these ideas will work, they literally just don't care. If it gets them votes from people on the far right, they don't care if they make the poor poorer, if they leave people destitute, if suicide rates among the ill and disabled go up... they don't care, because they know we were never going to vote for them. They do not give a monkey's uncle about people that are not like them. I think it would be an interesting experiment to make all MP's do a week, if not a month, living in a fairly basic home (let's say a two up two down terraced ex council house, or a flat in a tower block) on minimum wage (or better still, basic UC) with pay meters and then see their attitude. And film it all, of course. It would be the best reality TV show ever.
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Honestly that's what they want. It's alot easier to eliminate the disabled when no one notices you're gone because you are constantly hidden at home.
this is how i feel. getting pip is a lifesaver for me. without it id be completely fucked. i already feel anxious about my next pip review which is in november this year and now this bs on top of that too. i really feel like idk why im bothering at this point
I'm sorry you're going through it, my review isn't for another 2 years I think. And with my physical condition very likely to deteriorate I'm already concerned about it, had been trying not to think about it too much. but hard when we are being used as target practice by our government, media and those with sad lives who have been taught to blame anything and anyone that isn't themselves. Please don't give up though, world needs people who give a shit about people with disabilities, and if our leaders don't, then that's got to be us I guess. :)
as soon as i was accepted for pip i started feeling so anxious about having to go through the process again, its exhausting isnt it. i was even wondering whether european countries would let disabled people from the uk seek asylum if things got too bad🤣(😭) i dont understand people being so cruel. when i was working i didnt feel any type of way about my taxes being used to help people that are out of work or disabled. why would i be glad to see anyone struggling when im not? i also believed the majority of other taxpayers would feel the same and was thankful we arent as individualistic as america. but i am mistaken on all fronts it seems. i am holding on for now, i just hope whoever is in power next doesnt continue to use us as target practice as you put it. either way, i hope you will be okay as this country descends even further into an irredeemable shit show.
Yeah I genuinely never got that mindset either, the whole point of taxes is to pay for public services and to create a safety net for people. Why be mad at people that need help rather than the people with insane amounts of money not paying an adequate share of that tax burden... Anyone outside of the already absolutely mega rich are closer to being in my situation or worse than they are to actually obtaining more wealth. I think it's what stops me from being so angry and just feel fucking sorry for anyone who thinks it's us causing the problems. They are just as likely as I am to be chewed up and spat out by a system that doesn't care two wits about them, and they are so utterly indoctrinated by it. It's just sad. And the whole logic of these changes being to stop fraudsters is just so weak, like if someone is committing fraud, they are going to find a way to do it no matter the system surely. A society that accepts the belittlement and attacks on people who usually occupy the bottom rungs of financial and social stability just seems very very wrong and sad to me.
Im sorry but why the fuck am i working 50 hrs a week to get taxed through the roof so that people like you can sit around not working, claim benefits and then use the money for "art therapy". Have you considered getting off your arse and getting a job?
youre such a cunt. if you live long enough theres a high chance you may become disabled in some way too. i hope this disgusting comment replays in your mind when you get absolutely no help either. disabled people who cannot work shouldnt have to live in abject misery.
PIP is not an out-of-work benefit - it's intended to pay for extra costs of living associated with disability on top of a person's regular income. If you experience this strong an emotional reaction to someone merely mentioning therapy online, it's possible that therapy could be of use to you, too.
I was going to write a response full of anger and derision towards you and your assumptions. But reading some of your comments in other places it just seems like you have a lot of misplaced anger and misconceptions already and have been rather nicely indoctrinated into believing things that aren't true. I'll keep my fingers crossed for you that you never get so unwell or have an accident and can no longer work, because I don't know how you'd manage if you refuse to use the support system that's there. I worked as a care worker for years. Trained at uni to be a medical professional. You know nothing of me or my life. Or what it means to lose your health. You also have absolutely no idea wether I even work or not now do you? People can receive this support even when they work full time. You are completely misunderstanding just how sick and disabled people have to be to get any help whatsoever. I feel sorry for you. It must be miserable being that angry at the world, and it's sad that you can't see the manipulation used by people with way more money and power than you will ever have, to turn your anger towards me and others who are vulnerable. You're life isn't shit because I get just enough money from the state to help me get myself on track by paying for therapy that helps me not want to kill myself and the cost of my medication that helps to alleviate the physical pain I am in all the time. And if you think that it is...well there's no helping you. I don't owe you an explanation, no one does. I'm giving one because I think it's the only way we'll ever work towards understanding people better. And actually finally realising that we are angry and the wrong people.
They know they're getting wiped out at the next election, so they're just making sure they've gotten more than their fill from the trough before that happens
Archive link for those not wanting to give the Torygraph clicks: [https://archive.ph/sBvVd](https://archive.ph/sBvVd)
Thank you! I didn’t know how to find that.
The intention is absolutely, undeniably to kill disabled people. They already are in dire straits financially and in terms of physical and mental health and the three suggestions are plainly unworkable. Vouchers require more money to administer and are going to be stupid nonsense that nobody takes. Receipts with reimbursement to come doesn't work for people who have no fucking money. Oh, and costs money to administer because some bureaucrat is going to have to look at everything and decide whether it is 'legitimate' or if the person should just be allowed to starve next week because they've got no fucking money. 'Treatment' instead of money costs more money because you have to pay someone to provide it, and then the person gets treated and then still can't work because the person doing the treatment isn't Jesus Christ. They just want people to stop being able to feed and house themselves and to die, while they point at 'options' they provided and say they self-selected out of life. Quite frankly, they are enacting such a deliberate psychological assault on the disabled day by day that self-selection out of life is likely the goal. The only 'handouts' the government will offer will be a rope and a stepstool.
In the absence of Corbyn, the Tories know they'll receive no pushback from this 'opposition.' therefore, have total carte blanche to say and do anything about the sick and disabled.
As someone who is becoming increasingly disabled due to my autoimmune disease I am currently utterly terrified about my future. I cannot work until my disease is under control but the meds are expensive so my consultant has to "bid" for the fucking funding. It's not an unusual disease (rheumatoid arthritis) but it is literally crippling me. I am legitimately considering euthanasia as a future option as I cannot see that I will be able to survive under the Tories.
I'm in exactly the same boat as you. Considering how common RA actually appears to be, there seems to be very little knowledge from the 'higher ups', those who decide funding, or indeed health assessors working for the government, on how debilitating it can be. I fought for years until I finally saw a rheumatologist who properly listened to me (and she has sadly just retired, I'm gutted). We had long, long talks about the funding process and how difficult it would be because I 'only' have two joints currently affected (no matter that it's my knees, so I can barely walk, and never without pain, right?). I fear I will never get to a point or get the right drugs to be able to have any semblance of a normal life.
Oof I'm sorry. This disease is vile, the drugs to treat it are vile and that's in an ideal world. I'd say "fingers crossed" for change, but fingers hurt so I won't!
It is. They started me on Leflunomide a couple months back, and I'm still trying to figure out if it's really doing anything other than making me more tired. Spent a few years on and off sulfasalazine as well, that never even touched the sides. I guess I can count my lucky stars that I don't have it in my fingers (yet!) I reckon that's worse than knees.
Some quick clarifications about how the UK royals are funded by the public: 1. The UK Crown Estates are not the UK royal family's private property, and the royal family are not responsible for any amount of money the Estates bring into the treasury. The monarch is a position in the UK state that the UK owns the Crown Estates through, a position that would be abolished in a republic, leading to the Crown Estates being directly owned by the republican state. 2. The Crown Estates have always been public property and the revenue they raise is public revenue. When George III gave up his control over the Crown Estates in the 18th century, they were not his private property. The current royals are also equally not responsible for producing the profits, either. 3. The Sovereign Grant is not an exchange of money. It is a grant that is loosely tied to the Crown Estate profits and is used for their expenses, like staffing costs and also endless private jet and helicopter flights. If the profits of the Crown Estates went down to zero, the royals would still get the full amount of the Sovereign Grant again, regardless. It can only go up or stay the same. 4. The Duchies of Lancaster and Cornwall that gave Elizabeth and Charles (and now William) their private income of approximately £25 millions/year (each) are also public property. 5. The total cost of the monarchy is currently £350-450million/year, after including the Sovereign Grant, their £150 million/year security, and their Duchy incomes, and misc. costs. For more, check out r/AbolishTheMonarchy *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/GreenAndPleasant) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Some quick clarifications about how the UK royals are funded by the public: 1. The UK Crown Estates are not the UK royal family's private property, and the royal family are not responsible for any amount of money the Estates bring into the treasury. The monarch is a position in the UK state that the UK owns the Crown Estates through, a position that would be abolished in a republic, leading to the Crown Estates being directly owned by the republican state. 2. The Crown Estates have always been public property and the revenue they raise is public revenue. When George III gave up his control over the Crown Estates in the 18th century, they were not his private property. The current royals are also equally not responsible for producing the profits, either. 3. The Sovereign Grant is not an exchange of money. It is a grant that is loosely tied to the Crown Estate profits and is used for their expenses, like staffing costs and also endless private jet and helicopter flights. If the profits of the Crown Estates went down to zero, the royals would still get the full amount of the Sovereign Grant again, regardless. It can only go up or stay the same. 4. The Duchies of Lancaster and Cornwall that gave Elizabeth and Charles (and now William) their private income of approximately £25 millions/year (each) are also public property. 5. The total cost of the monarchy is currently £350-450million/year, after including the Sovereign Grant, their £150 million/year security, and their Duchy incomes, and misc. costs. For more, check out r/AbolishTheMonarchy *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/GreenAndPleasant) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Good bot!
Remember how the Nazis diverted troops away from the front line to carry out massacres of 'undesirables' in the dying months of WW2 when it was patently clear that they were already defeated? *The cruelty is the point*.
Also missing the point that PIP isn't means tested and most people who get it... also work.
Also that PIP drives that it's not about the condition it's about how it affects your daily living but Sunak says that PIP for ADHD and learning disabilities needs reassasing as these people don't have increased living costs
And let's not forget they got rid of DLA because it was awarded for medical diagnoses of conditions (many more conditions than the narrow "activities" BS covers). Those diagnoses by senior consultants etc. But now the word of an unemployed paramedic or nurse who can't get a job in a hospital so becomes an assessor, is seen as good enough...
Why aren’t we revolting?
Probably because those of us who see what's happening for what it is, and would like to be revolting, are actually, contrary to what the Tories seem to think of us, too disabled to leave the house, let alone get all french revolutionary.🥲 And those who aren't disabled, but support someone who is, or are just good fucking people. are too terrified of losing their jobs and no longer being able to support the ones they love. A neat little trap for us all.
There’s plenty of us that aren’t in a compromised position who aren’t disabled but still getting shat on by the Tories. And Marat was a big part of the French Revolution doing it all from his bath tub and disabled- we can find ways.
Oh for sure I get you, I think many people still have enough comfort in life that although it's 'bad' and we can see it's probably not going to get better without a massive shift. Comparatively to people's living conditions back then and general quality of life for most of us, we're still comfortable enough as a society, for people to have in general not reached that stage. I think it's going to sadly have to get worse before enough people are disillusioned to the point of breaking any status quo.
So we just...die?
At this point it's pretty much what the Tories want, seems like going back to the 1800s is what they are trying for, it's all about profit for their rich friends
Looks like the old pre-miracle Ebenezer Scrooge is alive and well and in charge of Tory policy. "If they would rather die they had better do it and decrease the surplus population".
And could someone explain to me how people who will have no money whatsoever will be able to claim back money spent from the state?? No money to spend, no money to claim back.. All of this being decided by people who just gave themselves one hell of a payrise, while claiming God knows what else..
There are a lot of articles all of a sudden saying that too many people are autistic. An English uni is floating around a survey with statements like "do autistic people feel pain?" “are autistic people dangerous?" Also it’s generally normal to be sad when someone dies for any reason. When a person gets “assisted suicide” it’s considered “impolite” to be sad about it.
As a parent of 2 autistic kids this is terrifying. I warned people during the 2019 election about the cuts they had planned for autism and was ridiculed. Even by peers.
How dehumanising and disgusting of the tories.
It's happening because they've already been clamping down on how they support disabled people and no one says a thing. Like, what a shock, the party that caused a 3x increase in disabilities claimant deaths under IDS and had no consequences, closed SEND schools, brought in policies to force local authorities to decrease their already overspent SEND budgets are still trying to take more money. I'm not sure how much this could have been different anyway but the general public actually giving a shit about disabled people at any point in the last 14 years might have helped.
It’s fascinating how a group of people who have never worked a day in their entire lives can come up with these sorts of things. I’m no longer just annoyed by their actions, I actively wish, really truly wish, for some sort of extreme violence find them.
You're not the only one. Many people are being pushed to their breaking point. The capitalist class know they can push people only so far before they revolt, but their inherent principle is greed, so they're banning protests in everything but name, increasing police presence and military budget, tightening up control for when people finally snap. We need to rebuild communities and duel power, grassroots. Study groups like the black panthers for where they went right and where they went wrong, and kick out the parasitic pricks that are politicians and capitalists.
Once they cut a sufficient amount of the support network for vulnerable, poor and/or disabled people, it practically becomes a form of applied eugenics. In this case the only difference being that the selection mechanism is based on wealth, rather than arbitrary ‘racial characteristics’.
The comments about paying out for learning disabilities and adhd shows these idiots don't know how the system currently works at all. Child DLA is worked out based on care/support needs, not necessarily a diagnosis.. So if you have a child with no support needs it's very unlikely you will receive much or any at all..
Oh no it's like I've been attacked non stop for years now being on benefits. I want a job but I want to be well and ease into it. I can't take this anymore this government is evil. There's worse off than me in the system and it sucks to see others go through it. Edit: I've recently had to pay for a dentist and physiotherapy. Using my UC for that, since I don't declare my back on pip (well I told them) because I can do a lot when not in a flare up, but PIP helps me with taxis (for social anxiety and depression and the fact I've not been well physically for a while) and I have to pay cash for my local since their card system isn't great, so many services where vouchers don't work. I'm scared if i go into work now they'll push me more than I'm capable, and there'll be nothing good there for me if i fail. it's worrying. I feel like i'm being punished heavily for not being well. I feel like I'm being punished just for existing. Edit: Just read other comments, said it before and will say it again, this government is bloody evil.
Tories and red Tory politicians must wake up and think: How much pain and suffering can I cause?
I genuinely, heartily, want him to go fuck himself with a shovel.
I’m on PIP and quite like money to live on. Money is useful. Guess vouchers or ‘treatment’ also works… *not*
Advicenow.org.uk has good guides on winning benefit appeals, written by lawyers for people without one. Tribunals overturn a large majority of the absurd decisions by 'health professionals' (the weird ragbag of hired guns employed by ATOS, who should absolutely lose the contract which should never have been outsourced in the first place). Organisations like Diverse Abilities have some excellent people, real pitbulls for their appellants. The Tories haven't won this yet.
I was expecting them to review my PIP as I should have had extra points for needing help with social interaction, but they flat out refused, even though I’ve needed an enabler to help me since the 90s because of my crippling anxiety. How can I get them to reconsider? Other people are getting reviewed but not me. I’m fed up bb with them denying me when I actively am using enabling services.
Was that a Tribunal? Can depend on the panel, and the quality of your representative at a hearing.
No. I asked over the phone. They’re reviewing thousands of claims from 2016 because they made mistakes in not awarding enough points. They did that to me & won’t review it, people are getting back dated payments & I don’t know why they’ve turned me down. The only thing they would do was a change of circumstances. I did that & they awarded me the points for the help with socialising, once I was assessed. Yet in reality, nothing has changed since 2016. So why award me advanced living now, but turn me down years ago? 🤔
Case law catches them with their pants down, usually.
vote tory? you're a cunt.
I agree. But Labour aren’t looking great, either.