Dispatches & Panorama programmes on ATOS disability assessments (30/7)

[treelover]

“IS WORK GOOD FOR YOUR HEALTH AND WELL-BEING?”, by Gordon Waddell,

as far as I know, Waddell is a acolyte of the Wesseley School, named after the influential Psychiatrist Simon Wesseley (and considered corrupt by many) who along with Peter White advocates much physical illness is psycho-somatic in origin, esp M.E, and that basically sickness is an avoidance scheme from work, this is now the model the DWP largely use along with a bastardisation of the social model of disability..

VP may know more...

 

[panpete]

Sonia Poulton has put up a letter to Ed Milibland on google docs asking for people to sign it before it gets sent to him.

I can't get it to work as yet but anyone interested might do.

Sonia doc.

There are too many people accessing this file right now. Some functionality may be disabled. Try again Dismiss
Thanks though, will keep trying.

 

[panpete]

Me too shagnasty. I've messaged her to put my name on it anyway before it goes off.

Thanks Frankie, please could you tell me how I can do that. I see no address for sonia.
I also, dont know how to work twitter. ~(If that's got anything to do with it.

Thanks

 

[treelover]

The Paralympics will show us just how much disabled people can achieve, and shame despicable benefits cheats.

And the Daily Fail fuckwit journalists are off leading the pack in whipping up hatred for sick and disabled.

does anyone know a DM journo, (apart from Sonia) do they believe what they write, some are NUJ members are they not?

 

[Frankie Jack]

She's on facebook too and realises the problems people are having.

Sonia

 

[toggle]

Great. If I am found fit for work, there will be plenty time for me to default with my mortgage payments and get my house reposessed. , so I can sit on a nice waiting list while no one has any obligation to house me.
Homelessness in my late forties, just what I need to sort out my life.
How is that going to help me?

it's not.

if the aim actually was to get sick/disabled peole into work, ti's obviously self defeating.

 

[Frankie Jack]

does anyone know a DM journo, (apart from Sonia) do they believe what they write, some are NUJ members are they not?

I believe many are now freelance touting for any work they can get these dats treelover and editors are only after whatever copy sells and suits their agendas.

 

[Frankie Jack]

If anyone can't acess the Sonia Doc or doesn't use farceboak or twatter yet wants to sign, please message me in complete confidence and I'll get your sigs onto the letter by hook or by crowbar.

 

[Greebo]

If anyone can't acess the Sonia Doc or doesn't use farceboak or twatter yet wants to sign, please message me in complete confidence and I'll get your sigs onto the letter by hook or by crowbar.

Pm sent

 

[Frankie Jack]

Thanks Greebo. xx

 

[Frankie Jack]

Benefit tests that are not fit for purpose

Recent media coverage has exposed the unfairness, inhumanity and high public cost of the government’s fit-for-work tests. It is time for rethink
It is common knowledge amongst disability campaigners and charities that the Work Capability Assessment – the test by which nearly 2 million Incapacity Benefit claimants are being reassessed for their eligibility for Employment and Support Allowance - is fundamentally flawed.
But yesterday this revelation made it out into the mainstream media. Thanks to a double whammy of investigative reporting by Channel 4′s Dispatches and BBCI’s Panorama programme, the bureaucratic incompetence, use of unofficial targets to reduce claimant numbers and sheer inhumanity of the WCA in dealing with very ill people was displayed for all to see, via undercover recordings and first-hand accounts.
It was clear that at the heart of these problems is the DWP’s belief that people’s health can be assessed as objectively as a means test. As a result, the WCA strives for such fool-proof standardisation through tick-boxes that it leaves no room for professional discretion, and becomes so inflexible that it is fundamentally incompatible with the messy, subjective, fluctuating world of ill health and disability.

How many people and bodies, apart from Tory ministers and cash pocketing ATOS *and of course Tory fed right wing newspapers* really think the WCA is acceptable? More and more are finally waking up to the realisation of just how brutal and unacceptable it really is.

 

[panpete]

I think its so brutal it's surreal.
I also think that atos's various actions are surreal as shown on dispatches yesterday.

 

[GarfieldLeChat]

does anyone know a DM journo, (apart from Sonia) do they believe what they write, some are NUJ members are they not?

used to
no almost never
yes mainly
they hate their readership more than most as it goes the people who have the largest hatred for their readers are their journos because their readership swallows this crap unthinkingly... it's very odd...

the morning start on the other hand only ever had reporter1, reporter2 for their reporters contacts, velocomen comrades, you vill be reporter1, reporter2, ...

 

[GarfieldLeChat]

Benefit tests that are not fit for purpose



How many people and bodies, apart from Tory ministers and cash pocketing ATOS *and of course Tory fed right wing newspapers* really think the WCA is acceptable? More and more are finally waking up to the realisation of just how brutal and unacceptable it really is.

tbf atos was brought in by labour... they're who the civil service have used for their assessments for years don't for a second think that under labour this process would be in any way different.

 

[panpete]

There is a blank ESA form you can get off the web to practice on.
I have all the B&W help books.
While I am waiting I should be practicing filling in the blank ESA form and I know my CAB will also help if I book an appt, but I just don't have the energy to do it.
It's not a simple case of can't be arsed, every time I think about doing it, I get so anxious because it is so complicated, and seems to have many trip-me-up type traps. Can only book CAB appt once form received.
I think our CAB have cut back on welfare advisors so there is a good chance I may get a volunteer and I don't know how well they are trained in benfits.
I just can't seem to find a way to get over this block.

 

[Frankie Jack]

tbf atos was brought in by labour... they're who the civil service have used for their assessments for years don't for a second think that under labour this process would be in any way different.

Indeed Garf. I very much doubt anything will change the whole rigged rotten test at any point in the near future. Not going to stop me being a ranting activist while I've breath or a keyboard though.

This coming winter may see me stopped through lack of sufficient food and/or heat. Single on JSA with attachments for rent, CT and a two year old Social fund loan has me seriously struggling on £57 a week.

I'm fit to work though with MS remitting, Fibro, depression, just discovered the itches I have are a type of eczema and I may be diabetic too.

Looking forward to October when I'll be another £6 a week better off when the Social Fund loan is paid. LHA and DWP can't find where the Rent and CT arrears are actually from yet still continue to deduct anyway and LHA also expects me to pay £1 a week to each as well as not entitled to full Rent and CT benefits here it seems.

£63 a week.. Can't fucking wait...

 

[Greebo]

There is a blank ESA form you can get off the web to practice on.
I have all the B&W help books.
While I am waiting I should be practicing filling in the blank ESA form and I know my CAB will also help if I book an appt, but I just don't have the energy to do it..

1) Start by filling in your NI, name and address on the form. At least that bit doesn't need you to think about it too much.
2) Next, make yourself a mug of tea or coffee.
3) Now read as much of one B & W book as you can bear to, while drinking the tea/coffee.
4) After that, have a look at the bit of the form it matches, and begin to work through a rough copy of your answers, keeping the form and that bit of the booklet open so that you can keep looking between them.
5) Take frequent breaks, don't try to do more than half an hour without taking 5 minutes to do something else, and preferably something enjoyable.
6) Rinse and repeat as needed.

 

[GarfieldLeChat]

Indeed Garf. I very much doubt anything will change the whole rigged rotten test at any point in the near future. Not going to stop me being a ranting activist while I've breath or a keyboard though.

This coming winter may see me stopped through lack of sufficient food and/or heat. Single on JSA with attachments for rent, CT and a two year old Social fund loan has me seriously struggling on £57 a week.

I'm fit to work though with MS remitting, Fibro, depression, just discovered the itches I have are a type of eczema and I may be diabetic too.

Looking forward to October when I'll be another £6 a week better off when the Social Fund loan is paid. LHA and DWP can't find where the Rent and CT arrears are actually from yet still continue to deduct anyway and LHA also expects me to pay £1 a week to each as well as not entitled to full Rent and CT benefits here it seems.

£63 a week.. Can't fucking wait...

fair play...

I just hate the constant this is the fault of the previous administration bullshit but this really was, had Labour not tried to out Tory the Tories to look like it was doing something to fix a moral panic problem rather than not fixing a non-existent problem then the Tories wouldn't have had a leg up...

 

[Frankie Jack]

fair play...

I just hate the constant this is the fault of the previous administration bullshit but this really was, had Labour not tried to out Tory the Tories to look like it was doing something to fix a moral panic problem rather than not fixing a non-existent problem then the Tories wouldn't have had a leg up...

It was just as I was experiencing serious health problems and getting diagnosed that Labours James Bastard Purnell was all over the media advocating his Welfare reforms. Many of us saw what the intentions were and had an idea what was coming. And come it did.

Yes Labour are at the root of all these reforms. Sadly some of the more well known activists out there are blatant or even fully paid up Labour supporters.

Only actual political party I've seen that is against the WRA and actually saying so and trying to do something is the SNP.

For that alone they have my support as they may be the only ones that can make a diference to us north of the border.

 

[panpete]

1) Start by filling in your NI, name and address on the form. At least that bit doesn't need you to think about it too much.
2) Next, make yourself a mug of tea or coffee.
3) Now read as much of one B & W book as you can bear to, while drinking the tea/coffee.
4) After that, have a look at the bit of the form it matches, and begin to work through a rough copy of your answers, keeping the form and that bit of the booklet open so that you can keep looking between them.
5) Take frequent breaks, don't try to do more than half an hour without taking 5 minutes to do something else, and preferably something enjoyable.
6) Rinse and repeat as needed.

I like that. I'll keep it and do it.
Now to find a blank ESA form.

 

[panpete]

I thought I would post this.

http://blacktrianglecampaign.org/20...journment-debate-announced-for-4th-september/

Sonias letter is on there. I dunno if the adjournment is good or bad. Good hopefully. Something has to give. My friend accompanied his friend to the CAB as he had been put on WRAG instead of support group. The advisor thinks things will change. The advisor is a welfare officer.

 

[panpete]

http://blacktrianglecampaign.org/20...ed-at-helping-disability-claimants-to-appeal/
Minister tried to censor helpful vid.

 

[harpo]

Work in the mind of a Tory: horny-handed son of toil whistling merrily at a job well done.

Work in the experience of most of the rest of us: precarious conditions, management bullying, stupidly high targets, earnings barely enough to feed, clothe and shelter, no free time or space or money to think about who you could be or develop yourself.

At least Mediaeval overlords didn't have to gall to tell the serfs they should be enjoying it.

 

[Frankie Jack]

but.. but.. Greyskull and Scameron say it's "tough love" harpo. They only want the best from us 'stock' to benefit their big contract buddies.

 

[Minnie_the_Minx]

1) Start by filling in your NI, name and address on the form. At least that bit doesn't need you to think about it too much.
2) Next, make yourself a mug of tea or coffee.
3) Now read as much of one B & W book as you can bear to, while drinking the tea/coffee.
4) After that, have a look at the bit of the form it matches, and begin to work through a rough copy of your answers, keeping the form and that bit of the booklet open so that you can keep looking between them.
5) Take frequent breaks, don't try to do more than half an hour without taking 5 minutes to do something else, and preferably something enjoyable.
6) Rinse and repeat as needed.

That's all very well Greebs, but when one section of guidance (Mental Health) is over 80 pages long, not a lot of it tends to stick

My arms were fucked up, not so much from typing, but from scrolling through loads of other documents

 

[panpete]

That's all very well Greebs, but when one section of guidance (Mental Health) is over 80 pages long, not a lot of it tends to stick

My arms were fucked up, not so much from typing, but from scrolling through loads of other documents

Yeah, the thought of it makes me feel suddenly drained.

 

[Cloo]

Finally got round to watching Panorama - I knew about all the people winning appeals, but I didn't realised people could get tested again after that, sometimes in a matter of weeks. It makes no sense at all. And surely it easily done, as well as cheaper and more humane, to clearly label the files those who have incurable degenerative disorders, and therefore will clearly not get better, and those who have a chronic illness when there is no reason to believe that the aspects that stop them working will improve, thereby saving everyone from repeated tests. Oh sorry, forgot, sense doesn't come into it.

 

[yardbird]

One thing that Panorama didn't mention about the appeals.
Someone is turned down at ATOS assessment then ATOS get paid.
At appeal the ATOS assessment is overruled but.....
ATOS don't have to pay any money back following their error!!

 

[Greebo]

Finally got round to watching Panorama - I knew about all the people winning appeals, but I didn't realised people could get tested again after that, sometimes in a matter of weeks. It makes no sense at all. And surely it easily done, as well as cheaper and more humane, to clearly label the files those who have incurable degenerative disorders, and therefore will clearly not get better, and those who have a chronic illness<snip>

Oh but it makes sense. Just not the sense you or I want it to make.

It makes sense to slowly but surely hasten the death of unproductive people. If they commit suicide, or merely deteriorate sooner than they might have otherwise done, the bureaucrats can claim that they did nothing of which to be ashamed. Granted, it's a pity that those people have died (and more probably will die befeore the year is out), but they were already in a bad way, and now they're no longer suffering.

Why build gas chambers or death camps when it's cheaper (and easier to sweep under the carpet) to allow those people to die at home?

 

[Greebo]

One thing that Panorama didn't mention about the appeals.
Someone is turned down at ATOS assessment then ATOS get paid.
At appeal the ATOS assessment is overruled but.....
ATOS don't have to pay any money back following their error!!

You What???????