Should We Blame ATOS?

Today I have read a blog post where the author basically suggests disability campaign groups are wrong to go after ATOS to the extent that they are, and that ATOS are only the IT company in charge of a system put in place by the DWP and they are the ones we should really be targetting. I've also seen several leading disability campaigners openly support this view, and even not support DPAC's protests at the Paralympics (which are being sponsored by ATOS).

I do agree with this argument to an extent, we do need to clearly target the people behind this assessment process, and not just ATOS. I thought we had been from day one though? We have constantly lobbied the government and named the ministers responsible for this crisis as well as targeting ATOS.

But the defense "we are only doing what the government/DWP is telling us to do" is an empty one in my view. Wasn't it also the defense many NAZI's also used when being tried after WW2 was over? "we were only obeying orders"? Recent documentaries that used secret filming have shown us that ATOS assessors are having crisis's of conscience over the process, they cope by blaming it on "the decision maker" (which sounds incredibly Orwellian to me). I think these individuals need to be made to take responsibility for their own actions, they could speak out even if it is anonymously, or they could quit their jobs and find another one. At least the NAZI's had the defense that they would have been executed if they disobeyed Hitler's orders, no one is going to shoot an ATOS assessor for walking out and saying "I can't do this anymore".

When a disabled person goes to one of these assessments their life and quality of life is in this persons hands, the decision maker makes their decision based on what box these people tick. In my case after examining the criteria I can clearly see 3 places my assessor should have awarded me points and failed to, and I appealing their decision. All I wanted was to be put in the work related activity group where I would receive the help and support I need to get back into work after 10 years of unemployment. Just one year to give me a fighting chance of finding a job I can reliably do with enough hours to support myself and some kind of support system that ensures I do not lose my job if I become ill again for a short period, and I would stick my middle finger up to the DWP and never claim again. But they did not give me that, they only awarded me 6 points, and I was lucky to get that by all accounts. I have the support to be able to make an appeal which I am confident I will win, but many others don't. Many people will not be able to act when they receive that dreadful letter saying they have been turned down for ESA, they will just sink into despair and lose everything, end up homeless and destitute. Some will harm themselves or even kill themselves alone, they may not be found for days or even months.

So I'm sorry but I say YES we should and must blame ATOS, we must blame everyone responsible for this horrific mess. If anything we need to focus more of our attention on the organ grinders and not the monkeys, but we must not give in and let up in our campaigns against ATOS to gain sympathy from the right wingers. We must continue to target every one of them, and not rest until they ALL are bought to justice.

 

The Computer Said No.

The decision after my work capability assessment came back remarkably quickly, I received it on Wednesday. I have been turned down for ESA as I was only awarded 6 points and you need 15 points to receive it.  My next payment of Income Support will be my last.

I was very shocked by this as I expected to be put in the "work related activity group"  (WRAG) at least, and still receive ESA at a reduced rate for a year and have to attend work focused interviews etc.  But they have apparently denied my illness altogether almost and said I can't even receive ESA at all. I really wish I had recorded the assessment now as she has not recorded what I said and has failed to award me points accordingly. 

I am of course appealing their decision and have an appointment with citizens advice next week, I'm going to have to get a sick note from my doctor too and attempt to claim ESA while I wait for my appeal to be heard.

I went to the doctor yesterday on an emergency appointment to get more antidepressants and sleeping pills as I bloody need them now obviously, my illness has got dramatically worse since hearing this and realising I'm going to have to go before a tribunal and face uncertainty while I wait for that. I have to start my appeal before I can ask to receive ESA while I wait for the tribunal, I don't know if they can turn down my claiming ESA while I wait either as if they do I'm screwed.

 I can't claim Job Seekers allowance there is no way I could meet the criteria necessary to do it, and cope with going to sign on once a fortnight and face the meeting with an advisor. If my benefits stop altogether I could lose housing benefit which will put my home in jeopardy too, I've been advised to just keep in touch with the housing benefit people while it all gets sorted out and hopefully my rent won't stop.

The Darkness Comes Again.

This morning I awoke feeling ok really, but as the hours have passed I've felt a bout of depression beginning again. I have no anti-depressants and can't get any until tomorrow, so there is no relief.

It is hard to describe how it feels, it's like all the hope is going, there is no hope only futility. I try to cling onto hope as when it is gone there is nothing and that's when the crying begins. You can't stop the tears and when people say "why are you crying?" There is no answer so I hide from people. It distresses or angers people when they can't help you and they can't understand what is wrong with you.

I've had my letter telling me I have to go for my "The computer says no" medical, which will not take into account my mental illness. There is nothing they can do to help me when I am like this so I don't get sectioned you see. If they could quantify and attempt to relieve my symptoms they could treat me in hospital, but as they can't I am by many not considered to have such a high degree of need, ironically if I committed suicide today I'd qualify for help tomorrow is the way it is for women like me.

 I have been expecting to have to go for this medical ever since Labour announced the proposed changes to disability benefits, and that income support (the benefit I receive) was to be phased out). It took them longer than they expected and the government has changed to a more heartless Tory Lib Dem coalition, but we are all receiving the pink form and the letters now. There are many of us who don't know what we will do when we are declared fit to work despite our illness not having changed at all and despite not having worked for many years, some of us have never worked in our lives. I have been doing voluntary work and studying for three years now in preparation for this moment, I even tried applying for jobs, jumping before I was pushed so to speak. The futility of it drove me mad, you rarely receive any form of reply there are so many people applying for these jobs. I've got no work history for the past ten years, I do 2 days a week in a bookshop at a local abbey which I have done for three years and now know my boss very well, so at least I can get a reference. Many people I know have no one to ask for a reference, you need two references to apply for a job stacking shelves in Iceland these days. Of all the people being forced to take mandatory work experience I wonder how many of them will actually be given a contact when they leave so they can ask for a reference, probably not many. I know people sent on these placements, they are told from the outset there is no job for them, probably because the job center sends so many people who work for free. They are treated like dogsbodys and are not trained in anything as far as I can see.

So all of us thousands of people who's medical condition has not changed are now expected to apply for the same jobs as the able bodied people who have been recently made unemployed. There are not enough jobs for them even in this current economic climate it seems, yet they are adding thousands more people to this pool everyday.

They have picked the worst possible time to have decided to do this, other countries increase welfare spending in times of economic crisis, not our government though. They let the richest people in the country evade tax while the poorest lose what little they ever had, and people who never suffered poverty before are feeling it's cruel bite now too.

You can see how it is hard to cling to hope when I see all this happening on a daily basis, but I must as without hope there is nothing. We are hearing they starting to realise and even admit welfare reforms are not working and are flawed, too late for the people who are already declared fit for work by the flawed system, and those being declared fit every day until they actually halt the reforms and review what they have done. I can only hope that by some miracle I will find employment, and where I live it will truly be a miracle as unemployment is incredibly high all the time anyway. Or maybe my endeavors to make money on line will finally start to pay off, I'm feeling a bit more hopeful about what I'm doing now, but it happens slowly there's now way to speed it up and there is so little time left.

Looking Into Prosecuting ATOS For Harassment

I promised to update my blog with my experiences of the ATOS assessment process as I go through it, as a woman who has been on income support for nearly 10 years due to suffering from Anxiety Based Depression, Chronic Insomnia, and Social Anxiety Disorder. I am one of the thousands being transferred from Income support to ESA as the former benefit will no longer exist and all new claimants are being put onto ESA (or being turned down for it no matter how disabled they are apparently.)

The whole process is causing me great distress, my medication has doubled since the welfare reform bill went through, I have to take sleeping medication again (which I've currently run out of 4 days until I can get more). I have also starting to have nightmares again, something that hasn't happened to me in a long time, but is a symptom of Anxiety Based Depression.

The first thing they did was send me a rather strange letter informing me I was going to be moved over to ESA from income support and they need to assess me for ESA (no surprises there I was expecting this ok so far). Then it gets weird, instead of including a form with this letter it says they are going to ring me, but if I haven't heard from them within  2 weeks of the date of the letter I have to ring them. Just to clarify for people who don't understand, people with social anxiety/anxiety based depression don't like unexpected phone calls, or having to phone strangers. I have an answer phone to deal with these things and prefer it if people write to me, I often don't answer my phone when it rings even if I'm sat right next to it. People watching me do this find my behaviour odd, and even I can't explain it totally, it's just a symptom of the illness I suffer from, I feel dread when the phone starts ringing, and don't want to pick it up unless I'm sure who it is, caller ID helps, but unknown or withheld numbers don't get answered. So if ATOS rang me I didn't answer it or receive an answer phone message, and I never called them. But a couple of weeks later a pink form arrived anyway which I dutifully filled in and sent back, but on the form it still said they are going to ring me, there was no option to request no phone contact, and no indication of when or who will ring me.

So now I'm left wondering what will happen, will they just send me the details of my medical, or is my not talking them on the phone going to effect this? They said it was going to the first time with the form, but sent it anyway.

Today though there was a ray of light, it's been drawn to my attention that phone call's which will cause undue alarm and distress are illegal under the "Protection From Harassment Act 1997". So in theory if I write to them informing them these suggestions that I might or might not get a phone call at an unspecified time in the near future are causing me alarm and distress and I'd prefer it if they only contacted me in writing, they have to stop. I'm not unreasonable, I know I need an assessment and will go for it, why does it have to be so stressful finding out when it's going to be?! That's all I want to know.

I'm currently looking into what legal actions I can take against ATOS  to stop this, will update when I have discovered what I need to say to them in a letter to make them leave me alone unless it is really necessary to contact me, and why they can't just do it in writing. Will update as soon as I have more info, and here is a link that helps to define what is harassment, I'm sure this must qualify:

http://www.yourrights.org.uk/yourrights/privacy/harassment-unwanted-letters-and-telephone-calls/protection-from-harassment-act-1997.shtml