A Freedom of Information document from the DWP has revealed that rather than an average of 32 deaths per week as a result of Welfare Reform that figure has now risen to an average of 73 deaths per week!
http://statistics.dwp.gov.uk/asd/asd1/adhoc_analysis/2012/incap_decd_recips_0712.pdf
When is this going to stop?! When are people going to wake up and help us fight against this government?! We need help!
Reblogged from Helen Sims
How many more vulnerable, sick and disabled people have to die before something is done?!
As a disabled person, I don’t want to live in this country any more. We’re frightened of losing our benefits and our independence. It is happening.
People are being left with nothing! Vulnerable, sick and disabled people are being left destitute after having their benefits wrongly cut, by a cruel and callous government!
THIS GOVERNMENT (Aided by ATOS) KILLS!
As a person with Cerebral Palsy, who cannot walk or stand unaided, I know my turn for an assessment is coming soon…and I’m terrified! I know I will fail.
I’m luckier than some I know, because I have my wonderful husband (and his Pension Credit) to help us live, but there will be no more independence for me (what there is of it), because if I lose my Disability Living Allowance, I may as well close my bank account. There will be nothing going into it!
I’m going to be completely reliant on my husband, and feel even more of a burden than I already do. At the moment I can help pay household bills – just like any ‘normal’ wife does. I can get taxis to see friends, and attend appointments alone when I am able. It enables me to feel just like everyone else.
The government has already taken a lot of my self esteem, and my place in society. The constant, relentless lies about Disability Benefit Fraud has done that for me.
You see, the real fraud figures are very different to what the government would have you believe. In reality only 1 in every 200 claimants is committing fraud, but the unceasing’scrounger’ rhetoric has made me, and many others feel virtually worthless, and very unwanted – no matter how genuine we are.
I hate this country and I’m beginning to hate myself again. I thought I’d accepted my life, it’s limitations and constant pain.
I know I will never be a mother and I know I won’t work again. I did work once – for a year. I was dedicated, hard working, and always there when needed, but I was exhausted and in agony. I came home…and slept.
My boss knew I was struggling. I was pale and losing weight. When my contract came to an end, they didn’t renew it.
I was heartbroken because I loved my job, but I was relieved at the same time. In reality I didn’t know how much I could take.
I’m exhausted now, and my pain (through wear and tear on my body) is worse. It is always there, and some days I can barely move, never mind get myself out of bed and get to work!
Who is going to employ me? I’d have to take regular days off because I am mind numbingly exhausted and in agony. Not to mention the frequent hospital and GP appointments…!
How many times will my employer put up with me saying “I’m sorry, I can’t come in today”…before they sack me, in favour of somebody who CAN?!
It is inhumane, callous and cruel to treat a whole section of society in this way. The fact that we are some of the poorest, most vulnerable people in society just makes it worse!
How can they do it? How can they hurt people like this? How is it right that this government is able to drive people to suicide (regularly) and hardly anyone bats an eye lid?!
Why is this not a real Human Rights issue by now? Surely it counts as one! It is the oppression of people, and that should be covered somewhere…somehow.
Where has the compassion gone? That’s what makes me saddest I think. People just don’t seem to care like they used to. Have we become that selfish and blinkered as a society, that we can close our eyes to the suffering of others? If we have, it makes me more ashamed of what is happening here!
I no longer trust people like I did, and I will never forgive this government for that. When is it my turn to become a statistic in the 20% national rise in Disability Hate Crime? I’m terrified it will happen.
Will I be one of the people who gets my property vandalised? Will I be verbally abused or physically attacked when I go out in my wheelchair? That thought crosses my mind every time I go out. People should not have to live like this!
We suffer enough, and now we have to deal with victimisation, extra anxiety and pure fear for our futures as well.
It is easy to make judgements. In my case, my disability is visible, but there are so many illnesses and disabilities that aren’t, and it is these people who are often victims of ‘Scrounger’ abuse, but just because you can’t see it, it doesn’t mean it isn’t there.
It is these people too, who will suffer most as a result of the assessment process. The suffering caused by mental illness or invisible disability is not as easily quantifiable – but it can be just as debilitating as any physical visible condition.
As for me, I don’t know what will happen to me on assessment day. I don’t know if I’ll be able to handle questions based on a ‘tick box’ computer programme, that doesn’t allow for pain or variation and rarely takes a person’s medical records in to account. I know that I’ll be set up to fail.
I know that it could be a person who is not medically qualified and who, after meeting me for forty five minutes, will decide whether I get to keep my life, my independence, and my pride intact.
No wonder I wake up sweating, (that’s if I actually get to sleep of course)! No wonder I am plagued by anxiety that buries itself in the pit of my stomach every night and refuses to budge. I am fighting for my life. We all are. I’m waiting for an envelope to drop on the mat and tell me that it’s my turn.
Every time the letter box goes, I jump half a mile out of my skin! I am unable to open, or even look at official envelopes because I am so scared that it just might be it. It isn’t just me. The panic and fear I feel every single day is widespread through the disabled people of this country.
My only consolation, is knowing that I am not alone.
Disabled and ill people like me need your help now, We need the help of our Councillors, MP’s and society at large. This should not be happening to us.
Even if you feel that can’t get involved in our fight, you’d be surprised how much difference a few kind words of support can make. It gives people hope when it can feel like there is none.
I’m asking you – one human being to another – to not let them take our lives. There is no difference between you and I. Anyone can be struck by illness or disability at any time. No one is immune. It only takes a second for lives to be changed forever, and I hope that if it does, there will be someone there who is willing to fight for you.
Helen Sims
