So here friends in short are my reasons for supporting the WOW petition.
My child and I are both disabled. We didn't ask to be or want to be a burden on society but we are! There is no choice, either we take the handouts that so many believe us unworthy of or we are unable to survive!
If under the new benefit reforms the powers that be decide that we no longer (in their opinion) qualify for benefits we will STILL be disabled! We will STILL need my husbands full time care. I would STILL be unable to go out alone or care for my daughter alone! The ONLY difference such a decision would make is that we would have nothing to live on!
My daughter was born disabled, she will always be disabled, she will always need support from another person to survive, she will always have to rely on welfare, she will not be able to navigate the system alone! I fear for her future!
I feel terrified of the benefits system and I am fearfully obsessed at what they will throw at disabled people next. Aside from fearing for my own family I feel deeply concerned by the impact that cuts to welfare and services are having on other sick and disabled people.
I fear the dreaded DWP letter every day, the sound of the post man fiddling with our letter box in his efforts to deliver our post puts me in a state of panic which continues to have a negative affect on me long after my husband has checked and reassured me that today is not the day that I will have to begin AGAIN the process of proving how disabled I am!
Its a constant and overwhelming fear.
A letter could come tomorrow, next week, next year but one thing is certain, IT WILL COME and as the process first time round has made me extremely unwell (now physically as well as mentally) I'm not sure I would survive the process second time round!
Fear of the Government, the media and the benefit system, fear of being judged by those in society who have no understanding of invisible illness/disability and are taken in by the 'scrounger' rhetoric have led to a dramatic and terrifying increase in my symptoms and have caused additional disorders that were not there prior to this combined attack against welfare recipients!
Over the past year as a direct result I have developed a serious Eating disorder (self starvation) I'm awaiting tests to determine if the pain in my bones and joints is the onset of osteoporosis bought on by my eating disorder. My hair is falling out through stress and lack of nourishment and my existing mental health issues which have troubled me since childhood and were already extremely debilitating have been greatly exacerbated!
In addition to the fear of the next ESA assessment there is also the fear of the PIP assessments which all disabled people will have to endure when the process of replacing DLA begins.
Before this cruel campaign against the most vulnerable people in society, I was just about managing with huge restriction and controls in place to cope! My husband was managing to get through most days with a smile on his face and our daughter was the centre of our world.
Today my husband and I just about manage existence and our daughter who has complex care needs is caught up in the middle wondering why mummy doesn't play anymore and daddy doesn't smile!
Please continue reading to find out more about the WOW campaign.
Spearheaded by Actress/comedienne 'Francesca Martinez' WOW petition is NEW and INCLUSIVE
Francesca Martinez discussing Welfare Reform on This Week
On Tuesday 18th December, disabled and sick people, people with learning and mental health difficulties, their families and carers launched a petition calling for an end to the War on Welfare being waged by their own government.
The Welfare budget, and particularly benefits going to sick and disabled people, has been heavily and unfairly targeted for cuts. It is said we can no longer afford the current welfare state. In reality however, as a percentage of GDP, the welfare budget is now lower than it was at any time during the eighties. While at the same time the combined wealth of Britain's 1,000 richest people increased by almost 5% to over £414bn.
In order to resist the government's cruel and failing welfare policies, sick and disabled people, together with their carers, families and friends, have combined using social media to produce the #WOWpetition. This calls for an end to the War on Welfare. Spearheaded by actress and comedian Francesca Martinez the WOW petition aims to get 100,000 signatures to end this War on welfare by the Government. We will be calling for a Cumulative Impact Assessment, an independent inquiry and if necessary, the repeal of the Welfare Reform Act of 2012.We believe that every single person in the country has a reason to resist the War on Welfare. Some of us may be fortunate enough not to need the safety net our Welfare State provides, but this could all change for any one of us, tomorrow. It only takes an accident or a shock diagnosis to render us ill or disabled, and dependent on a system of benefits and services which is currently being dismantled.
The 'Greatest Generation' fought WWII believing they had secured this safety net for themselves, their children and generations to come. Don't let it go without a fight! We owe it to them. We owe it to ourselves to ensure a decent and dignified life for all who are sick and disabled, and to provide security for all our futures. The deaths of disabled people linked to the Welfare Reform Act and the Work Capability Assessment administered on behalf of the Government by the private corporation Atos are reported in the press with alarming regularity. We believe that in any humane society the Government would want to know if one of their flagship policies was in any way responsible for a 'slow genocide' of the sick and disabled. Please join Francesca Martinez and the WOW campaign in resisting the deaths and unnecessary suffering being caused: Sign the
document on the government’s e-petitions website
For more information you can click on one of the links below:
www.wowpetition.com
Twitter @WOWpetition & @WOWpetitionchat
Facebook WOWpetition
Thank you for sharing this. I am about to go to a tribunal to prove how disabled my son is, because they don't believe us. I'm terrified, but I'm more terrified of the day that he has to do this alone.
ReplyDeleteGod bless you xxx
Me too. I pray I am still around when the time comes to cushion the blow. She has developmental delay and would not cope with the system the way it is now, and as they are also cutting support services she may not get help with this kind of thing unless Im still here and able to do it for her! I will pray for you and your son. Let me know how you get on either here or via twitter. :0)
ReplyDeleteGod bless
Kimmie x
I'm riddled with arthritis, I didn't ask for it, and would welcome a way to get rid of it.
ReplyDeleteI had to walk 150 metres to the local newsagent to get the gas card charged yesterday, it took me 25 minutes for the round trip. I had to take extra pain killers and didn't get to sleep this morning until 4 a.m. because of the pain. Oh and thanks to AtoS getting the report wrong, I'm appealling both ESA and the loss of DLA because I'm "Fit For Work!
I know your anguish, my heart feels your pain, may there be a freedom from it soon. (i.e. permanent award if your Doctors say you will never be fit)
I pray every day, for freedom from pain for me and all those who can't ask for themselves.
I'm praying with Anthony, it really is very cruel that people like yourself are expected to endure such stress on top of struggling daily with illness/disability!
ReplyDeleteI hope you are successful in your appeal!
God bless you and yours
Kimmie x
One of the many things I don't understand about the government's welfare reforms is how people who are genuinely too disabled/sick to work erroneously labeled fit for work are supposed to manage to keep the jobcentre happy they are fullfilling JSA jobcentre criteria whilst they wait indefinately for their case to be heard for the decision to be overturned. Government must assume all appeals are fake just to squeeze a bit more disability related benefit out of the system because with genuine appeals the person could have died trying to fill JSA requirements, failing & starved or freeze to death on the streets somewhere from loss of benefits due to being INCAPABLE of doing it (& hence the appeal).
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure the Government care hun! It beggars belief that in this day and age disabled peopel are treated so appallingly, we can only hope that WOW and campaigns like it will see Government held accountable for their actions!
ReplyDeleteHow do I join your Blog?
ReplyDeleteHello Joanne, Im quite new to this blogging lark, but I believe you can follow by e.mail! There is a box on the blog which says follow by e.mail, its my understanding that once you have given your e.mail address there you should receive notification when my latest ramble is up! I'm a bit of a technophobe I'm afraid, but hope that helps! You can follow me on twitter if you have a twitter account > @stuckinscared it would be great to connect with you there!
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for reading
God bless you and yours
Kimmie x