There is a lot of false information going around at the moment, and most of it coming from the likes of MP Mel Stride, claiming on television that Personal Independence Payments (PIP) comes to thousands of pounds a month, this is absolute rubbish, the maximum anyone can claim on PIP is £720 pounds a month with most people receiving only about £250 a month.
Now whilst a tory lying to voters is nothing new, this is off the scale and is being done to try and sew division and drive a wedge between right wing voters and the disabled, this kind of attack on people right at the bottom of society is totally unacceptable, and will cause untold damage to disabled people in the UK, from my own perspective I am already deeply concerned that if I lose my PIP benefit, I would lose my mobility and probably even my house (I don’t get things like housing benefits etc) so PIP is an absolute life line to me.
And all of this is being done against a background of the likes of our unelected foreign secretary David Cameron, I can’t bring myself to add his title, swanning around the world like Kim Kardashian on a 42 million pound Embraser Linage 5000 private jet, described as “One of the best private jets that money can buy” and costing the UK tax payer nearly half a million pounds for his week long trip around Central Asia, of course being a Lord instead of an elected MP he can’t even be questioned about it in the House of Commons.
The disability charity Scope has described this latest move form the Tories as a “Reckless Assault on Disabled People” and the worst part of this is it is going to make things worse for people who are already struggling, not only to make ends meet, but also with potential mental and physical health needs.
I have myself struggles with depression and anxiety whilst dealing with my physical health struggles, an whist I am in a slightly better place at the moment, If I were to lose PIP to be honest, it would push me over the edge. This change hasn’t even happened yet and already I can sense my anxiety and depression returning, so scary is the thought of what these so called humans are preparing to do. I know that and end to PIP would see myself and my wife forced out of our home (mortgaged) and into rented accommodation (which we wouldn’t be able to afford anyway) and quite frankly I am worth more dead than alive so its a good job they also want to legalise euthanasia because quite frankly I am seriously thinking about it right now.
If I look purely at my own treatment, I have a heart condition I have been waiting nearly two years and I still haven’t got a date or a treatment plan in place, ultimately I need a replacement heart valve, at times I have been so unwell its been impossible to leave the house, long periods of isolation lead to loneliness, anxiety and depression, been confined to the house, never seeing anyone (apart from my wife), one of the side effects of this is I have put on a lot of weight (not being able to get out the house will do that for you) so I also became anxious about being out in public, overweight, with both legs in compression bandages, people stop and stare, even point and laugh, and yes I do hear what you say when your nudging your mate and laughing.
But the worst part is I have tried to use my time to better myself, even taking my (CILT) Chartered Institute of Transport and Logistics – International Transport Manager exams (and passing first time), and currently studying various AWS cloud computing courses with a few to gaining my Dev Ops certifications, but when applying for jobs I don’t even get a look in, because I might need some time off for an operation at some undisclosed point in the future.
The sheer incompetence and waste that we see in this tory government, from the VIP lane contracts to the hundreds of millions on private jets (and thats before we get into MP’s expenses) I really do not know how they dare show their faces, let alone go on television and lie through their teeth in order to demonise the sick and disabled. Just to push through this disgusting and despicable plan, that is nothing more than attention seeking and a way to grab votes in a vain attempt to try and hold on to. power just a little bit longer.
The UN has investigated the UK government and found them guilty of systematic violations of UN disability rights laws, declaring that “some violations were grave, some were systematic and some were both grave and systematic”. These breaches were caused directly by this governments policies in 2010 and 2015, and that is before this latest attack on disabled people in the uk.
This government has to go, and it needs to go now!
