Re: the job centre stuff
My mum had a similar problem as she has ME/CFS... they told her she had to come in to a 9am meeting to discuss the issues, and a week long "coping with disability in the working world" BS seminar. She said no- she can't function on any level for more than a few hours a day, and if she has to spend them in pointless seminars then she won't be able to shop/clean the house/function- plus it would actually make her worse.

They said that her refusal was an outrage, and that she "refused to try". Because of that, she had to reapply for some of her benefits and put up with loads of crappy phonecalls and so on... making her more depressed.

Bunch of wankers, the lot of em.
(Sivvus trolley collision in the fruit aisle led to a jam, Mon 14 Jun 2010, 14:44, 1 reply)

similarly
I suffer heavily with Bipolar-II, meaning that sometimes it's just too damned hard to even hit snooze on the alarm clock, let alone get out of bed. Had an early morning meeting scheduled with a new psych (transfer between juevenile in-patient unit and adult out-patient service) and missed it due to the aforementioned. I was instantly stricken from the register, and now despite numerous protestations from myself, previous services, home visitor (different service) and my GP I am 'blacklisted' and receive no psychiatric input whatsoever, meaning that my prescriptions cannot be renewed (since well over a year ago) and I'm not eligible for any kind of CBT or other therapy. I'm literally a ticking time-bomb and the National Hell Service trust in question gives not one iota of an airborne fornication.

EDIT: Oh, and the only way I can get back on-board is for a 'major incident' to happen - ie a suicide attempt or serious assault commited whilst ill as I also suffer from involuntary rage.
(hypnoticme is an anarcho-syndicalist commune, Mon 14 Jun 2010, 17:28, closed)

That's absolutely sickening.
You wonder if these people know anything at all about the actual people whose lives they're fucking up.
(Sivvus trolley collision in the fruit aisle led to a jam, Mon 14 Jun 2010, 22:43, closed)

ATOS are fucking fucking fucking (is that enough?) cunts
They called in a mate on chemo. He couldn't come in as one sneeze would kill him. His consultant had to threaten them with judicial review to keep his benefits.

They called me in, with my leg in plaster. How did they assess my fitness? By dropping a £10 note on the floor and telling me I could keep it if I could reach it.

The called in another mate with MND. His carer dealt with it by "accidentally" emptying his catheter bag on the floor.

Apologies for volume of flying saliva.
(all my scars face forward possesses 2.5% of a hyperalloy combat chassis, Mon 14 Jun 2010, 23:47, closed)

Ugh.
Just... ugh.

It's demeaning, dehumanising and an immense abuse of power for people to act like that. The fact that it's somehow condoned by the system is just disgusting. If someone's not able to work for reasons acknowledged by professionals, why do these people think that they're a better judge?

FFS.
(Sivvus trolley collision in the fruit aisle led to a jam, Tue 15 Jun 2010, 0:40, closed)

Professionals
Ask a GP which they prefer:

1. Talking to skiving mouthy cnut coming in every week (or more) with endless list of excuses for sick note.
2. Making up something fictitious for a sick note so said skiving cnut doesn't darken your door for another 3 months.

I once had a landlady whose sole occupation in life was benefit fraud. Her back prevented her from working, poor thing, although not from going running. Or eating my food. Witch.

I'm not saying ATOS are nice people, I'm just saying lots of their "customers" aren't either :-|
(steer, Tue 15 Jun 2010, 1:03, closed)