For the purpose of clarity, let me point out the following.
If you are genuinely disabled, or like my mum, retired and love to use the internet to chat to friends etc (she makes me look like a luddite) then that is fantastic and I wish you many hours of pleasure.
If you Twitter all day, every day about claiming disability benefit in one tweet whist arranging a night out in the pub in the next. If you tweet about claiming six months rent from the social fund whilst tweeting how bad your hangover is and if you stride into political meetings and shout the odds with energy and enthusiasm with no sign of any physical disability and if you claim to work for the Labour party and write porn at the same time as claiming your disability benefit – then don’t expect someone like me not to a) inform the authorities and b) tell you to get of your Twitter and get a job.
Apparently, I trended on Twitter all day. Not that I have a clue what that means. Of my 80,000 constituents, I would bet I’m being generous if I say 50 of them noticed
The left wing Twitterati have apparently gone into overdrive today, and so they should. Guido informs me that his expose claims to be a Labour activist web site organiser for Bedfordshire – or something similar, AND she writes ** adult entertainment ** – nice lady.
For the purpose of clarity, let me point out the following.
If you are genuinely disabled, or like my mum, retired and love to use the internet to chat to friends etc (she makes me look like a luddite) then that is fantastic and I wish you many hours of pleasure.
If you Twitter all day, every day about claiming disability benefit in one tweet whist arranging a night out in the pub in the next. If you tweet about claiming six months rent from the social fund whilst tweeting how bad your hangover is and if you stride into political meetings and shout the odds with energy and enthusiasm with no sign of any physical disability and if you claim to work for the Labour party and write porn at the same time as claiming your disability benefit – then don’t expect someone like me not to a) inform the authorities and b) tell you to get of your Twitter and get a job.
10 Comments
Comments RSS TrackBack Identifier URI
Mshumphreycushion's Blog 
I just wish that my mum, who has both Fibromyalgia and M.E, could be given the DLA that she desperately needs, and her tribunal to appeal against the DWP’s decision was unsuccessful because she was able to walk to her chair (not without a walking stick, mind). If that’s not enough evidence that someone is completely fine, then I don’t know what is .
Also, apart from having to go out almost every day to pay the bills that she can’t afford, her visit to the pub once a week is the only opportunity she really gets to socialise with other people and live ‘normally’.
[…] she adds today that …I do not now, nor ever have received disability or any other “health” […]
[…] attack on a specific user laden with bigoted ignorance toward the disabled. Additionally, Cushion clarifies that she doesn’t actually claim any disability or health-related benefit, rendering the diatribe […]
[…] second problem is a bit more of a shadenfreude thing, and it’s that the constituent in question is in work, and doesn’t claim health benefits anyway – I do not now, nor ever have received disability or any other “health” related […]
Also noting La Dorries’ pitifully narrow view of what disability is. Fortunately, DWP has a more mature view when assessing the range of benefits for people with disabilities.
Having a disability does not necessarily preclude you from any combination of:
1) Going to the pub and even drinking rather too much there
2) Shouting the odds at meetings with enthusiasm & energy
3) Being a member of a political party – even an active one
4) Writing anything you want on subjects of your choice.
Now if only being narrowminded, immature and plain old stupid prevented one from all the above, we might be free of Dorries and universe of Daily Mail readers.
“Fortunately, DWP has a more mature view when assessing the range of benefits for people with disabilities.”
Not in my experience! I have M.E., I’ve had it for 10 years and twice I’ve needed disability because I’ve barely been able to leave the house but not been given it. Because I could do some things for myself – the fact that I could only do those things for about an hour a day max (split up across the day) seemed to invalidate my request.
You really have to know how to word things properly to get DLA, and I understand there are certain associations to help you with your application. I don’t know if psychological issues are judged on a different basis, but certainly if I’d said I was able to go to the pub I can’t imagine they would have given me DLA.
So, while I don’t agree with Dorries assessment, it does tally with my experience of how the DWP assesses disability.
Good point! I blogged on this a while back:
http://scatteredcushions.blogspot.com/2010/06/will-you-still-need-me-will-you-still.html
My point being that the DWP generally does acknowledge that there a wider range of disabilities actually exist – even if rules imposed by successive govts do make it hard to prove that you have them and achieve a successful claim,
For reference, my son (and also nephew) has an Autistic Spectrum Disorder. While he’s not old enough for all the activities above, he is capable of them, and yet still (theoretically) eligible for DLA.
But the wider point is that while the DWP makes it stringently hard to successfully claim benefits, la Dorries is far more narrowminded still.
Would love to know where this meeting was that I was shouting at! I ve been to two in my whole life, both of which were really uncomfortable for me and I sat at the back with my head against a wall for support throughout! My “walk” could hardly be described as “striding” either, more like a slow, limping shuffle..
And drinking would affect my meds so…
Thanks for all your support Tim, its greatly appretiated.
Good luck to you, Ms Cushion. Nadine Dorries and Paul Staines have coordinated on some pathetic hatchet jobs in the past, but the petty malice and arrogance of this one is extraordinary.