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Incapacity Benefit Claimants Reassessed


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Any validity your original comment had has disappeared completely with your last two comments.

Would you like to back up your arguments with relevant and citable facts or are you just going to insult people?

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I already had pathways to work interview which Is because I'm on incapacity and it is a medical. The only option they sent me down was volunteer route giving away I won't be able to have paid job.

Already I am volunteering at a school 5-12 years old. I start Wednesday listening to children read.

I have been on Pathways to work, that is all they offered me.

Hope the volunteering goes well

Wynter xx

pathways to work is just to assess needs and see if paid is suitable. Unfornately I got sent to unpaid route ( volunteer) and I already did that.

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I already had pathways to work interview which Is because I'm on incapacity and it is a medical. The only option they sent me down was volunteer route giving away I won't be able to have paid job.

Already I am volunteering at a school 5-12 years old. I start Wednesday listening to children read.

I have been on Pathways to work, that is all they offered me.

Hope the volunteering goes well

Wynter xx

pathways to work is just to assess needs and see if paid is suitable. Unfornately I got sent to unpaid route ( volunteer) and I already did that.

Tell pathways you would like to be supported into paid work, and dont let them knock your confidence by telling you that you are not fit.

Voluntary work is good experience for paid work. I might look at voluntary work in the future. Employers like experienced people, vol work gives that.

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Don't forget how badly the media scaremonger.

I heard MIND say the form dosent cater for people with mental illness, but you can write as much as you can on the forms boxes surely.

I know someone who got ESA on the grounds of anxiety and depression.

About the best advice I can give people on benefits is try to live in the present. Try to live one day at a time and try not to think too much about the future.

from Detroitguy

Saying all employers will not employ mentally ill people is generalizing. Some may not, but no one has asked them all. I got a job in 2000 and I told them I had anxiety issues. Maybe its just finding the right job, and don't let negativity creep in and tell you 'I'll never get a job cos there is none'

OK some mentally ill people cannot work, but others feel better for working. of the ones that cannot work, I hope they get support and I hope the DWP doctors recognise their illness.

The only reason I want to fetch my own money in, is so that I can put this whole benefits malarkey behind me and not have to care what the government will announce next. Benefit money wont be enough for me to live on even if the DWP cetified me unfit for work, as I have a pension income.

Negativity is bad for any kind of mental illness, so I think its important not to make ourselves iller by hanging our coats on this benefits coat-peg that the government keep banging on about. The 'where-there's-a-will-there's-a-way' attitude is a prudent attitude for us who suffer from mental illness, cos if we get bogged down in 'what-if's and worry, that too shall make us more ill.

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OK I would like to make some serious points here, my comments last night were way out there and not truly what I beleive. I was/am angry with the attitude of some not all some people with MH issues. I believe tho everyone is capable of doing something, even if it is an hour a week doing voluntary work. Then building up to something more with support. I didnt say this yesterday as I knew anything I said would be used as ammo against me anyway. So I twisted it to be the baddie

I AM NOT A TROLL. this has hurt me.

I also have MH issues and tend to bite back.

I guess people think Im not really ill, but maybe i have just come a bit further in my recovery than others and I maybe a tad cynical.

I will not apologize for my views, I will however apologize for the two totally out of order statements.

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OK apology accepted. You are entitled to your view point and I understand about feeling angry. I'm sorry you felt like you had to be the baddie and I'm glad you explained yourself a bit more. I agree that a lot of people could do a lot more than they do and with the right support they could do even more. However with the MH suervice facing ever larger budget cuts I don't know how they could realisitcally afford to give this kind of support when they can't even run good hospitals, day centres and are cutting funding for counselling too. I agree that a lot of people claim sick for the easy life, the problem I had was with your bold blanket statement for which you have apologised and explained yourself. However I disagree that EVERYBODY could do some sort of work. Some people are just too ill and it is right and justified for them to claim benefits and not work when they are this ill. That is what the benefits system is there for.

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I already had pathways to work interview which Is because I'm on incapacity and it is a medical. The only option they sent me down was volunteer route giving away I won't be able to have paid job.

Already I am volunteering at a school 5-12 years old. I start Wednesday listening to children read.

I have been on Pathways to work, that is all they offered me.

Hope the volunteering goes well

Wynter xx

pathways to work is just to assess needs and see if paid is suitable. Unfornately I got sent to unpaid route ( volunteer) and I already did that.

Tell pathways you would like to be supported into paid work, and dont let them knock your confidence by telling you that you are not fit.

Voluntary work is good experience for paid work. I might look at voluntary work in the future. Employers like experienced people, vol work gives that.

I know already I couldn't cope in work experience could go in every week cos my confidence gets knocked when I get problems stuck with me and makes me stay in bed alot and scared going out. I can cope volunteer setting if it's once a week or a month but not every day

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OK I would like to make some serious points here, my comments last night were way out there and not truly what I beleive. I was/am angry with the attitude of some not all some people with MH issues. I believe tho everyone is capable of doing something, even if it is an hour a week doing voluntary work.

I guess people think Im not really ill, but maybe i have just come a bit further in my recovery than others and I maybe a tad cynical.

Bit of a sweeping statement though isn't it?

I think you are probably angry at the people that don't have mental health issues, just as I am, like the people I see with their dogs with their scarred up faces from dog fighting, walking round with owners that carry huge bottles of cider. Or the ones that claim they have a bad back and then go climbing up ladders, or the people that know it is very hard to prove one DOESN'T have mental health issues and use that to stay on benefits.

But the point is that they are hardly going to be on this forum are they?? They haven't got bad mental health so they don't seek out the support that we obviously have. I just don't think it was wise to say what you said on a forum with obviously genuinely ill people.

I would love to work an hour a week, I would love to help and do voluntary work, I would love to provide for myself, but I cannot even pay for something in a shop, I am 35 years old and my mum has to take me shopping so she can pay (physically at the counter I mean) for me. I am a mother myself and feel like the worlds biggest failure without someone on top of that telling me to get a job.

There are people suffering on this forum, and I truly believe they are all genuine, you can hear it in their words. So even though you have said you just got angry and bitter or whatever, this is not the place to vent that. Not when people are so close to the edge as it is.

I'm glad you are in recovery, that is good, but why would that make you cynical? Surely you should feel more empathy that anger? We are all fighting for the same thing here....to not feel so god damn hopeless and despairing.

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I think that some people here have overstepped the mark and the criticism of jessicarabbit has been a bit over-the-top. I largely disagree with her, but maybe she is not a troll. After all, lets not forget that a lot of people out there would share her views!

I personally accept her apology.

I also agree with Roses though, not everyone is capable of work. And for those that are, they might be capable of doing more some days and less on others, and need a lot of support. And the problem with "the system" is... employers don't want someone who is there some days and not on others, and people are NOT given the support they need. As Roses says, more cutbacks = less help.

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Very true Data and Roses on the not everyone can work, I did explain that I didnt mean that I was just being a pain in the bum and made a statement not based on evidence or fact. And not a very realistic one either. I would say that definitely people need to be supported with work and I take my hat off to those who try their hardest with anything work related.

I am cynical I think because I do work with vulnerable adults and I see many many of them saying they will not work as they still self harm and things. Maybe employers need to be aware of such mental health issues and are more able to support someone who works for them. I know many businesses do. Sadly many do not.

My anger is at those who wont contemplate doing any work because financially they are better off on these benefits. And I have many friends who do feel like that. It makes me sad yet angry.

I do empathise with people who find everday tasks so so difficult. It would be great for these people to get some support, join some groups with others who feel the same.

i do feel its unfair to judge me saying maybe i shouldnt be on a MH forum if I have these opinions... just because I have different views to you that means I dont deserve some support or am able to put my viewpoint across?

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Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, I just think it was the wrong comment to make on a MH forum.

Anyway, I just want to forget about it now

xx

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You are entitled to your opinions sure, but you have to remember who you are speaking to. This is a MH forum and your intial statements were very triggering to a lot of people and I would expect someone who works with vulnerable adults to be more empathetic. Your comments would be better off posted on a Conservative Party politics discussion forum I'm sure.

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I think the statement everybody is to genralised, they are obviously some who most definatly wont ever work, but maybe those types dont comme on this forum, i do believe that the type of people that come on this forum, may at some point in their life manage to do something, maybe not whilst they are in crisis or still struggling. saying to someone who currently cant see further than today, asking them to get a grip and get a job, is more likely to make them more unstable and more unwell. I have had two years off work, am now trying college and looking for voluntary, not because i should but because i feel more stable and capable. i will continue to keep trying and hope i dont fall to illl again, but when my psyche has clearly stated that my treatment will be over some years, i expect there may be down times.

I think jess, as you said yourself, you dont feel your taken seriously, that must be hard, it doesnt make your illness any less tho, but being bitter about those who cant work just now, just shows you up as someone with a chip on the shoulder, and not a very attractive quality.

for those who do play the system and dodge work voluntary or paid or college, then yes they give the rest of us a bad name, but you also have to look at why they are dodging it, they obviously have major issues in other places different to others. so no maybe not in a real crisis, but maybe lack social skills ect and who is there to teach them?

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I would also like to point out that there is a lot of 'black-and-white' thinking here. There are some people who are clearly incapable of work, those people will probably be ok. There are some who are clearly capable of work and those people will be made to seek it. It the people inbetween who are at risk. I am talking about people who have the occasional good day, and that good day may just come about when they are examined.

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again people have not read what i said!!! i apologized for my previous sweeping statements and then i went on to say people should have support to get into work and also in the workplace.

I really am a leftie fyi :)

Toaster they are in place for a reason most definitely. It is way too easy to have got them in the past. I know the new ESA is more difficult and can be unfair on those with MH issues. But it was really was way too easy to say " meh i feel a bit low" and get a sick note, get incapacity or income support. And that was not in the too distant past either.

Well I am totally uncaring and cold as a person who doesnt desrve support on here poor me maybe ill go cry somewhere. LOL!!

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ok thanx for apology :)

the point is its not up to us to say who is entitled to these benefits, its up to the system. yes we're entitled to opinions, as u have shown, but so r the rest of us. i understand apologies arent easy but ppl r more likely to remember the reason why ur apologising rather than the apology - theres ppl here who dont like being on benefits MYSELF INCLUDED - im ashamed at the fact, ashamed that a doctor signed me off for life and im one of those ppl who is doing everything in her power to change her life and eventually come off benefits. its gonna take a while tho , its taken me years of therapy to get to this point, a lot of hard work and heartache and loss of ppl whislt trying to lead a normal life in the midst of all this. so ur throw away comments that ur able to just apologise r hurtful an will impact many as ppl here struggle every day to just stay alive.

and comments such as 'Well I am totally uncaring and cold as a person who doesnt desrve support on here poor me maybe ill go cry somewhere. LOL!! ' just undoes any apology u made - like its joke. theres a time and place for humour and this doesnt seem to be it

maybe next time think of the consequences of ur words then no apology is needed

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Hi.

I just noticed this thread.

Did it ever occur to you Jessica Rabbit, that your post may 'cut deep' in some of the people that are on here and are on some form of benefits? I know you made apologies but to some reading this the seed has been planted.

I am on 2 types of benefit, i also claim a works pension that i paid into. Being told that i will never work again at aged 44 was quite a blow for me to say the least, and i still have problems with the stigma that is associated with benefit claimants, as i have held down full employment since the age of 15.

I have given my all so to speak re voluntary work, and i continue to do so as and when my illnesses allow me to. Having severe OCD, DEPRESSION, PTSD and other mental health issues along with an incurable rare immune disease, which i have to be given chemotherapy for, does kind of limit what i can do as regards work paid or unpaid.

All what has happened to me regarding health matters has had a huge impact on my self esteem. Maybe your right, maybe there are people that are 'fit for work' that claim benefits, but who are we to judge?

That is the job of the people 'in the know' to decide not us, that is what they are paid to do, and boy sometimes i think they DO get it all wrong. I am constantly bombarded with letters from the dla etc to go for medicals etc, and it really gets to me, i just want to be able to see out my life with as little 'red tape' as possible.

If i was fit and healthy i would'nt be posting this, i to would be working, and i imagine all the others too that have replied, would be also.

Are you aware that with a company pension,you pay income tax on it? So i am still making contributions to the country as i would if in employment.

Anyways.......

Just me having a ramble.

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spudnbeans, you would be likely to deck me? surely thats not on?

my humour is just that my humour, take it or leave it, i never singled anyone out on here, to me this suggests that the people who have an issue with what i have said maybe need to look a little deeper as to why and all i will say is

my conscience is clear.

i made no threats.

unlike some

:)

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I never said I was recovered, I never will be recovered I said I was in recovery. :D

Impulsive- yes.

Rude- at times yes but i did apologize.

Angry- not really.

Narrow minded- I think not.

But you know nothing of me whatsoever and make that judgement.

Pure ignorance my dear

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Oh no I am pretty sure I have a long way to travel in my recovery..... Im not angry tho, passionate about my beliefs but angry? no.

I really am not narrow minded lol You know my views on this subject came from the work I do. LOL

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