What A Week For The Welfare State.

I was dumbfounded yesterday to hear they had voted to do away with the social fund, as I've explained before this is essential for people on benefits as the money we receive to live on does not cover clothing and new appliances etc, we have to get a "budgeting loan" which we pay back for these items. And in the event of a crisis like benefits not turning up because of computer errors or other emergencies "crisis loans" are essential, and these are also paid back.
I'm also dumbfounded by the complete lack of attention the media seem to be paying to this, it's an incredibly serious situation, desperate vulnerable people will be driven to loan sharks and crime by this.
Once the changes actually go through I don't know what me and my partner are going to do next time we need something too expensive to afford out of our fortnightly benefit money. There has been no talk of what will replace the social fund, what on earth are we supposed to do in the meantime? Go without clothes and basic home appliances like a fridge and cooker that everyone takes for granted? And what about in the event of a crisis? Should we just lay down and die like they appear to want us too?
Here's a theory on what they are trying to do, and believe me it's not that unlikely either, remember the state needs crime to wield it's power over to try to win votes. Before the Condems came to power crime was at it's lowest rates since the 80's. They are clearly trying to force people even further into poverty and therefore to commit more crimes, this will make society worried about crime again, so come election time they can claim they will get "tough on crime" to win votes. Hopefully other parties will point out crime was dropping yearly before they came into power.anyway, and not just join in with the "tough on crime" approach.
I agree with Bendy Girl when she says society must be "Hallucinating through the round window" in some kind of opiate haze to allow these things to happen without a word. People really have to stand up and say something before it's too late and we end up with no welfare sate whatsoever.

My Spartacus Story, How WR Will Effect Me.

For most of this blogs life I have avoided talking about my personal situation and have tried to write about other subjects that interest me. Now however I'm starting to see how society needs to hear the stories of people like me to promote better understanding and compassion for all disabled people, whether their disability is visible or invisible.
I have suffered from Anxiety Based Depression and Insomnia for as long as I can remember, in fact until I was about 20 I didn't realize that everyone didn't feel the way I do every day, a state of what is actually disabling anxiety was that normal to me. When I was a child I can remember pretending to be asleep when my parents came to check on me so they wouldn't worry, as they had a lot to worry about. When I was born my mother was given 10 years to live due Type 1 Diabetes related illness. Just to clarify for people not in the know, type 1 Diabetes is the worst type where the person has to inject insulin 3 times a day, my mother got it when she was 14 which was in 1960's, treatment for the disease did not improve significantly until the 1980's, too late for my mother who developed many related illness's. Her eye sight completely went when I was 4, while in hospital in London her kidneys failed when I was 8. I remember waking up in the car to find us speeding across London an ambulance (containing my mother) in front of us and a Police car behind us. Apparently they thought she was going to die that night, but they managed to save her life temporarily by putting her on a form of renal Dialysis called CAPD, that was why they were moving her to another hospital. She had 11 strokes in her life, one finally killed her when I was 11.
It doesn't take a Psychology degree to work out why I grew up to be anxiety based depressive, but if that wasn't enough there's a family history of depression too. My paternal grandmother suffered from a number of painful physical illness's and also had bipolar disorder, she committed suicide when my dad was 10. My maternal Grandmother also had paranoid Schizophrenia.
As a result of my illness holding down conventional employment is impossible as on bad days I cannot leave the house, the anti-depressants I take are supposed to help control anxiety, they don't they just make me feel less depressed . I often can't sleep at night and I quickly become tolerant to the sleeping pills the doctors give me so their is no relief from this.
I would love to work, and do have a voluntary job 2 days a week, they are obviously flexible on days when I can't come in or am late as I'm a volunteer, they can't sack me then there would be no one to open the shop. The propaganda being put around that people like me chose this lifestyle infuriates me. I do not qualify for DLA and have never received it, nor do I get any incapacity benefit (though technically I am on it, I just don't receive extra money) they don't pay all  my rent either I have to find £50 a month or I face eviction.
I'm currently still on income support but soon will come the day I dread when I have to go for medical. The new system does not take into account my illness apparently, if I can stand up  from sitting and raise my arms above my head I will be declared fit for work and be expected to apply for jobs after 1 year on ESA. I haven't worked properly for over 10 years, and my condition will not change. If by some miracle I do manage to get a job I will very probably be sacked  for being late if I try to sleep and can't wake up in time, or for performing poorly if I try to go in without sleeping at all. That's if they don't sack me for the amount of sick days I have to take on bad days when I can't leave the house. When I get sacked and have to go back and claim Job Seekers I will be "punished" by having my benefits sanctioned for 6 weeks, as a result of this I won't be able to pay rent and will become homeless.
I truly don't know what the government expect people like me to do, I don't want to be like this, I'd love to have a job. Maybe if I could find one that earned me sufficient income to support myself that I could do from home it could work, but I can see no other way. I'm just left dreading the day I have to go and sign on again, so much I have seriously contemplated suicide. I hate to talk about it but there it is, the suicide rate on the Isle Of Wight is shockingly high compared to the rest of the South East. Two of my friends have hung themselves in the past couple of years, not the method I would choose, but I envy the fact they no longer have to worry like I do I must confess.

Are Cameron's Tories worse than Thatcher's?

Saw Labour Blogger and Tweeter Dr Eoin Clarke ask this morning "Why are Cameron's Tories worse than Thatcher's?" and it got me thinking, are they really? I'm actually struck by how much history appears to be repeating itself, and would say they are pretty much the same really. I'm still quite dumbfounded that people voted for the Tories again anyway, and now appear to be shocked at what they are doing. I mean look at the above picture of our current prime minister when he was young chap at Oxford during the Thatcher era, did anyone REALLY think it was going to be any different this time than it was under Thatcher?

If anything I think it's harder for this government and better for us this time as the advent of social media makes it easier for us to share our views with a wider audience, organize ourselves and protest what is happening. The strength of the recent "Spartacus Report" shows this, the media didn't cover it at all but we still managed to influence the government just through the strength of blogging and social media alone. So even if they can control the mainstream media we can still access other sources of information and find out the story from many different angles and form our own opinions, and when there are so many people it is harder for them to label us a few "fanatics" or "extremists". They have to actually listen or no one will vote for them next time it's as simple as that, they must be shitting themselves constantly. Look what it did to Tony Blair, he seemed to age about 20 years over the course of his government.

The Spartacus Report.

Sorry for my lack of posts in 2012 I have been very busy with my Open University Degree and have now passed the second year and am about to start the next. Recent events that disturbingly seem to be being largely avoided and ignored by the media in general have prompted me to make this post however.

It has been reported that the government were defeated by 224 votes on their plans for changes to DLA and ESA due to a campaign and report called "Responsible Reform" but also known as "The Spartacus Report". Which though ignored by the media, thankfully has been received by those who have the power. It's still not over though, they have to vote again About DLA, but are probably back peddling now and hopefully won't go through with it, they are mainly Conservative bastards however so you never know.

Here are links to Some excellent articles on the situation I recommend if you want to know more, and please share them on facebook and twitter if you can using the hash tag #spartacusreport on twitter. the first by Ekklesia:

Campaign Against Disability And Welfare Cuts Steps Up

And a second by Blogger and campaigner Bendy Girl

Our Response To The Government Today

Both help to explain what the Spartacus report is, and how the proposed changes will effect people in genuine need if they go ahead.

The government and media are failing to report vital facts like The actual fraud rate for DLA is 1% and that it is really difficult to qualify for DLA. So everyone who is getting it really needs it, in fact because it's so hard to qualify there are probably people out there who do need it and aren't getting it. Everyone I know who gets it had to fight for it, you need a case worker (a type of social worker) to write letters for you and campaign on your behalf or you have very little chance of getting it. Many disabled people (including people with mental illness) don't have a case worker as there is a terrible lack of funding to provide them so only people with the gravest level of need get them.

The governments desire to cut DLA is clearly just a cost cutting measure and will take away vital independence and help from many people who genuinely need it. I suppose they are expecting charities and volunteers to take it's place with their poorly conceived "Big Society" idea , but these are also struggling to find the funding to help all the people in need, so  many people will slip through the net and suffer.

They are also trying to do away with the social fund, that allows benefit claimants to get loans which they pay back out of their benefits. This is because the money you are given to live on doesn't include money for new clothing and household appliances etc, so you have to take out a loan to buy these things, and the social fund doesn't charge interest, so you only pay back what you have borrowed. Without these loans people will be driven to illegal loan sharks and all the legal companies like provident that rob you blind with their interest. It is very worrying they are even considering stopping the social fund as as I said people pay back the loans they get, it's not free money, and it's essential for buying larger items and clothes.

we can only wait now and see what's going to happen, hopefully through the social media and our blogs we can get public support as well as support from the government and other organizations we can prevent the situations of many vulnerable people getting any worse than they already are in this current economic climate.