Wednesday 9 January 2013

Incarceration


I want you to imagine something for me.

Imagine that without a car you can never leave your home. Ever.

You can't use public transport, because you can't get to the bus stop or the train station, even if you could get your wheelchair/scooter etc on board. You're isolated, as family live in a completely different part of the country. Without your car you can't get to work, you can't see friends, you can't get to a shop. Without your car you literally become a prisoner in your own home.

*------------------*

It is no exaggeration to say that is literally the case for hundreds of thousands of sick & disabled people here in the UK. Wearespartacus.org have done a comprehensive analysis of the impact losing a motability car will have - those who are particularly interested in learning more can read our comprehensive report, Reversing from Recovery here : http://wearespartacus.org.uk/reversing-from-recovery/

Until recently, the Blue Badge scheme that allows people with very serious mobility impairments the ability to get out was a lifeline. To qualify, you must be virtually unable to walk. The scheme is certainly rife with fraud, but crucially, not committed by sick and disabled people themselves, but by family members who should know better or criminals who know that a blue badge is a valuable commodity on the black market. 

For years, I have sent off my passport photos every 3 years, with £3 to cover costs & my new badge has arrived by return post. As it happened, in my case, my Mum worked at County Hall for years, so the badge office knew me well, knew exactly how unwell I was and dealt with my renewals quickly and compassionately. 

Now, that - like every other aspect of support sick and disabled people rely on to get by - has all changed. 

Last week I got my renewal letter and with it, 14 PAGES of information and questions to plough through and answer. The form itself is 8 pages long. You can no longer send off for the badge, you have to collect in person at a local library. If nothing else, just imagine how difficult that is going to be for some people. My library, for instance is in the centre of town with just three disabled parking spaces outside, up 7 steps. If you are housebound anyway, this new process will make getting a badge all but impossible. Ironically, the very people who need a badge the most will be the ones unable to get one. 

The fee has gone up from £3 to £10 and I'm sick of politicians who don't realise that £10 to people living in extreme poverty might as well be £1000. £10 off ESA, £10 off the rent, £10 from Disability Living Allowance (DLA) £10 off social care - This is why we so desperately need a cumulative impact assessment of ALL the changes and why the government are so loathed to do one. 

Most disgusting of all though, is the tone of the letter and renewal form. Like ESA before it and soon DLA, all are to be assumed guilty until proven innocent. Some examples - just from the first page!

"This section must be completed by all applicants; all fields are to be completed." "Documents must be certified by a person who has known you for a minimum of two years. They should not be related to you" "send ONE proof of address and ONE proof of identity." "DO NOT SEND ORIGINAL DOCUMENTS" "The applicant's name must be written in block capitals on the reverse of the photo" "Applications will take up to 8 weeks" "There is no guarantee that an existing Blue Badge will be renewed based on previous information provided"......

And on and on, making absolutely sure that the person so desperately in need is good and terrified. The more honest you are, the more frightening the form seems. Fraudsters and criminals won't even see these forms as the misuse of badges is misuse of existing badges, very rarely at the application stage.

Again, we treat 200 people as though they are guilty to catch the one cheat, we do not accept the one cheat in order that 200 people may feel secure and supported. 

Again, we should be bloody ashamed of ourselves. Nothing sums up the mealy mouthed, envious unpleasantness of attitudes to sickness and disability in our society today than selfish gits who believe they are missing out because they have to park a few steps further away from a shop entrance than their profoundly disabled neighbour. The times I've seen people offer to trade their badge with some nasty little creep in a comment thread, in exchange for their paralysis/MS/Cancer, but funnily enough there are never any takers. 

Who does it really hurt if people take advantage of the scheme? It doesn't cost anything, it only hurts the disabled people who can't park where they need to. Need to you note, not want to. 

Society disgusts me at the moment. 


56 comments:

  1. Sometimes I wonder why the Govt Mnister bothered with their education because they don't seem to have a shread of common sense, a brain that can work things out before they put their policies into public domain. I despair at their ignorance.

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    1. they're not ignorant..they are perfectly well aware of the result of their policies..they are evil..plain and simple.

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    2. hi my badge ran out on may 5,when i picked up the form to apply,i was shocked and could not understand most of it.It took me two weeks to fill out and return to a local customer services in Newcastle upon tyne.
      i did not have much hope of success but less than a week later a letter arrived saying i had been successful just pay the £10 and we will post it to you within 7 days.to be honest i think the forms are so confusing that a lot of people will just not reapply,and ithink that is what they want.

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  2. So getting rid of red tape is reserved for the healthy rich and tax avoiding corporations.. says it all about this vile government.

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    1. Long time, no see Syzygy Sue :) Would love a visit if you could get here. MIGHT be going back into hospital tomorrow, but if not, any chance you've got a free hour or so?

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  3. Maybe try the mental exercise of imagining what the people of the future will say about Cameron and Osborne. Imagine the textbooks declaring them to be stupid, selfish, heartless and smug. Visualise people shuddering and resolving never, ever to repeat their mistakes.

    Cyber-hugs.

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    1. I often think that. Most of what I write, I feel I'm recording for future historians. If nothing else, politicians will never be able to say "we didn't know". They do know, I and others like me have warned them repeatedly.

      People will look back on this as fascism. They will be shocked that it could happen in one of the richest nations on the planet, right in front of people's eyes. They will feel deeply ashamed that sick and disabled people were, in fact, right all along. That's not hyperbole, there's absolutely no doubt that's what it is. A powerful entity victimising the weakest using propaganda. An entity that refuses democratic process and debate. An entity refusing compassion or decency - what else is it if not fascism???

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    2. Fascism it certainly is. I've said it before many times and I shall say it again. I've compared it to Nazism and people have been appalled. But that's how the Holocaust started and too many of us are blind, consciously or otherwise. I don't want to sit in a cardboard box unable to move, dying - in my case - from the cold and saying, 'I told you so,' but that's the way it's going.

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    3. Once you have an evil government your stuck but as sue says this government will pass given time and will leave just a legacy of pain and death along with misery for millions of people

      people say cancer is bad but this government is worse and i have to agree

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  4. you can apply online https://bluebadge.direct.gov.uk/directgovapply.html

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    1. But you have to collect it in person

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    2. I did fill it out online. Took me nearly 2 hours. I then received another 20 page form and a letter for a medical. The letter told me that there was ample disabled parking at the centre - brilliant except of course I no longer have a blue badge. I also lost "points" at my dla appeal because I didn't have a blue badge. The fact that mentally I don't have the energy to fill out a 20 page form, attend a medical etc, I doubt was considered. Yes the HRM criteria is still there but if you don't get that as is increasingly the case, you are screwed. Annoyingly in scotland I would qualify automatically because I have a wheelchair from the wheelchair service. Yup, in the uk you can need and rely on a wheelchair but not qualify for mobility or a blue badge. It's madness and it's crippling. I can't afford petrol and now have to pay to park.

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  5. What happened to automatic entitlement if you receive HR Mob of DLA ? Has that gone too? Thats how I always get my badge renewed. Mine is due in Sept this year and I have HR Mob awarded but now Im wondering will I have to go through more pain and stress just to get a piece of laminated card that some people seem to think im not entitled to anyway as I am (quote) "Not in a wheelchair and just too fat to walk" !!!

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    1. HRM of DLA is still an automatic qualifier, you just have to collect it in person now

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    2. Mine was sent in post: but I did turn up to be photographed and inputted into the computer in person (see comment below).

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    3. Too fat to walk? The assumptions people make - that's appalling. My sympathies!

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    4. Ty for ur replies. We are lucky that our library has easy parking very close to it and disabled access, but I can sympathise for those whose libraries dont. It seems these days the libraries are connected to everything. I had to use the library to submit housing benefit claim forms recently. At least the staff in there are friendly and understanding.

      Yes Victorina, they just assume that the only reason I use my crutches is due to being obese. (to hold me up) I actually refuse to use a wheelchair, so that I can remain as active as I can. It might not be much but I still try to walk around the town at the weekend with my husband. I suffer the pain from the crutches as much as from the fibro but am determined to keep fighting.

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  6. The 'Local' Changes to the Blue Badge Council 'assessment' are a clear attack on the disabled, based on pseudo-medical functional questionnaires, and have become real oppressive obstacles, physical barriers, to our ability to be part of and included in society. In my case, my renewal comes up in May this year. If they decide NO, ignore my real needs and my Doctors assessment, bye bye my job, my social life, my ability to shop, everything. All in the hands of a questionable questionnaire that fails to address my real medical needs! Disability denial is rampant and unchecked in the UK today, lead by Councils and the Government....send us all off the camps why not?

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  7. My badge ran out in Nov 2011 - I have sent renewal off. Tried to phone to be cut off and sent a number of emails... Still without blue badge.. And to be honest the way they are treating sick and disabled people I am losing the will to live outside my house. They are making things way to complicated and putting to many obstacles in the way I don't have the energy to jump hoops. If your on high rate mobility you should get your badge automatically rather than feel more persecuted by further intrusive forms making you realise how disabled you really are.. Rather than trying to get on and keep positive I have given up.. My world is my bed, sofa, internet and the odd call or text - wonder how many people are slipping into their own little worlds with depression lurking to take another victim pushed and battered by social concepts that your a scrounger thanks to this government ongoing persecution and fudging of facts to suit them and their need to drive people/communities apart. United Kingdom??? Only if your on the rich side. Great Britain??? Great if your rich and want to tax dodge?? 70bn they reckon... If your sick and disabled your screwed not just by your own body but society.

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    1. Ops I mean 2012 not 2011..

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    2. I haven’t cleaned my house, done my garden for 18 months, my washing machine broke in august, so I have been saving to get one, yet now I have the money I can’t mentally or physically get to the shop to buy one. I have slept in an unmade bed, because to make it makes me functioning so I am a scrounger. I haven’t answered the phone or opened letters in that time either. Even though, I have saved the money. Should I give that back to the government because I’d saved it? You think I’m being melodramatic ..... NO .... I am a benefit scrounger, so shouldn’t I pay the money back? I wake up physically sick that I haven’t died in the night, physically ashamed; I haven’t the courage to end the drain on the welfare purse. I have 3 dogs they are the ONLY reason I get up, the ONLY support I get, yes they are SUPPORT DOGS, yet I was refused DLA & sickness benefit because I could care for them. In fact without them I would need a carer ... so they save the welfare purse. Twelve years ago I became so ill, 12 years ago, my degree level higher tax bracket lifestyle came to an end. Five years ago I was on recovery; 5 years ago I saw a light and thought I could get better with the support of society and government. Four years ago I had to relearn to walk, surpassed all expectations, worked on my mental and physical health yet no matter what I did, I was called a benefit scrounger whilst on Zimmer frame, spat at whilst on crutches, been shouted at in the street ‘scrounging bitch’. It doesn’t matter what I do to build up confidence, stamina, fight the depression, fight the intestinal inflammation, fight the daily dislocations ... it’s never enough .... If I do a day of something, I AM A SCROUNGER, If I can do something for a day I should be in work. I have gone through the NEW tougher ESA assessment, not once, but three times and passed without a medical, so even the government/ATOS accepts I am in need of extra help. Yet again, on Monday was called a benefit scrounging bitch. I have no answer .... it’s all there in the newspapers, it’s all there in facts and figures, we could ALL work to the best of our ability that what we are told. Five years ago I believe society understood my pain, my struggle. If attitudes, society and government support had stayed the same, I would of been back in a job by now, I would of been fully functioning. NOW, well I just would like to say THANK YOU DAVID CAMERON THANK YOU for changing everything, thank you for being worst than my depression.

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    3. Please don't give up Kernow Tam. I PROMISE I never will if you don't. Thousands of us are fighting for you and this WILL all soon change - sooner rather than later now.

      Do you use Twitter at all? If you do, we have a hashtag, #TheOutside for days when you want to get our. 100s of ppl just like you will know exactly how you feel about going out and will support you/make you laugh about it

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  8. The Government doesn't give a toss about people and that is the simple unvarnished truth and they have proven it by passing these new welfare reforms. We are nothing but s...t on their shoes. The more they can scare people into not applying for what is due to them the happier thay are. My brother died before Christmas because of these new policies. He had copd and lung cancer, and couldn't earn enough to live on, but wouldn't claim or go on to incapacity (he'd never claimed benefits in all his 64 years) because he couldn't face the hoops he'd have to jump through, and didn't want to be branded a scrounger. Sadly he lived too far away for us to visit, or know what was happening till it was too late. He'd ben kicked out by his female-friend, changed to a PAYG phone and didn't give us his new number or address. According to doctors he was starving, suffering rom acute depression and very ill, being treated for copd and pleurisy still trying to work, living in a hovel of a caravan for which he was paying through the nose. It has left me feeling bitter and so guilty I wasn't there for him, wonderng why the hell any of us bother to work at all when immigrants can come into this country and get stuff almost thrown at them and if nobody does they scream racism. This country is sick, the worst kind of sick, trivial, obsessed with money, surface gloss, "Slebs" and reality TV when reality is all around and those who could do something about it don't want to and don't care!! I hope the MPs who voted for the Welfare Bill, and that odious rat IDS rot in hell! Sorry, rant over.

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    1. "when immigrants can come into this country and get stuff almost thrown at them and if nobody does they scream racism".

      Complete and utter bullshit. You are caricaturing, demonising and dehumainsing immigrants in exactly the same way the Tories do, to the sick and disabled.

      The same right-wing rags that scapegoat and lie incessantly about immigrants, are the very same right-wing rags that scapegoat and lie incessantly about the sick and disabled, labelling them lazy feckless benefit scrounging scum who are faking their illnesses, so they can live lives of leisure and luxury at the hardworking taxpayer's expense.

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    2. I have to agree with you but you will always have people who read the Daily Mail and believe it.

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  9. I had not heard about this until just now - If Dani had lived she would have found it all but impossible to get in to town to our library except with help, not sure if our library is disabled accessible even. Why make life so much more difficult for those whose life is already bloody difficult. what about those who have no one to help them - our society is becoming more and more uncivilised.

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  10. The word you are looking for is "selfish".

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  11. "Again, we treat 200 people as though they are guilty to catch the one cheat, we do not accept the one cheat in order that 200 people may feel secure and supported. "

    This is the crux of it for me. Punishing the many for the sake of the one? It's disgusting behaviour and not the mark of a civilised society at all.
    Starting to understand how the Nazis came to power and got away with doing what they did.

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  12. I was one of the first to try this new system and it was utter chaos, my renewed badge arrived a week after my old one had run out. Like you I find it very hard to get out too often, when I do it takes planning and even then it's not given that I will actually make it outside the door despite my planning.

    If you are on DLA high rate you needn't fill in the whole form, just fill in your dla details and you can skip most of it.

    I was lucky in that the council did offer me a home visit to deliver my badge to me but I am aware not many will offer this.

    When i first wrote about this in forums back in December 2011 I was told I was talking rubbish and laughed out the place.

    It stinks that the new forms require as much info as a dla form, you can even see where they've lifted the dla template and altered it to suit themselves. Like you say it's punishing us all to catch a few HEALTHY folks that abuse it.

    I have been told that the assesment centre near us is upstairs with no lift but luckily I never had to go find out. They are doing everything they can to prevent us getting help :(

    http://avoicethroughmymonitor.wordpress.com/?s=blue+badge

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    1. My Dad is 87. His balance is affected through
      arthritis and he had fallen in car parks. He
      is pretty healthy in other ways. He is still a
      great, safe driver(never had one endorsement.)
      But he definitely needs a blue badge to park
      near the stores. If it's windy, it's dangerous if
      he has to walk too far. My mother is 85, healthy
      but for arthritis, but can't walk far. She relies
      on my father to get the shopping. I live 70 miles away. He applied for a Blue Badge early last year under the new, completely unreasonable
      scheme. Following a physical assessment with
      an OCC. Therapist at a centre, he was turned down. He wrote a letter of appeal, but was again
      refused. His doctor had given medical evidence on the form, adding in exasperation and disgust, 'Just tell them you're old and frail' when my Dad wondered aloud if they would turn him down. Obviously old and frail doesn't count
      any more. What is he supposed to do - STARVE!!!
      He is so honest, and was used to seeing able-bodied people using their disabled relatives'
      badges- he knows some personally. He was always
      there to give elderly people lifts to the shops.
      He was completely honest with the OT at the assessment, but she twisted the evidence and
      obviously dismissed his vitally important problem of 'balance'. He is wiser now. He needs to re-apply. Does anyone know which company the fascists (yes Sue, they are fascists) pay to carry out these sham assessments?
      Thanks for reading.

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  13. This really pisses me off. I am entitled to both a mobility car and by dint a blue badge because of my two autistic boys. My OWN care is registered as disabled, but I have not applied for a blue badge because I and my 2 boys are perfectly capable of walking, I know people who have blue badge and use disabled bays even though the disabled child is learning disabled and perfectly able to walk. But this is my choice, I have a nephew who is wheelchair bound, and so could not imagine depriving his parents of a parking space. But now the mighty have decided that this is another area for cuts, they're not saving anything, you pay for the privilege of a blue badge, but their total disregard and scorn for genuinely disabled, ill people disgusts me. I watched the debate yesterday, and their rhetoric was simply astounding. Their arrogance that they know better than us dripping from every word. How in Hell did they ever get as many seats as they did? I wish you well Sue, I know you have been under the weather. Thanks for your blogs, keep it up. xx

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  14. the government continually play the devils advocate card and always have done. Their own death will come about like their predecessors i just hope i can be alive to witness it

    The only trouble is they end up with state support costing like Mrs thatcher thousands of pounds a week but the likes of these people have always rather that you die early to save the government money

    make no mistake these conservatives wont you dead by any hook or by crook that is very clear to see but they are still getting away with it and calling the shots and will not change tactic all the time they are winning and saving money by whatever means

    i am entitled to a blue badge but declined even thou the council insisted i have it as i don't wont to be watched 24/7 like my neighbour is every time she out out and about

    you don't need to live in Russia or china you just have to live in Sussex to watched

    I'm very unpredictable if ever followed and anyone wise would always give me a wide birth however strong they were

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  15. Just a correction, blue badges are also available to people who (like me) have problems with hands, managing change, can't put coins in meters etc. My local authority rang me up last year when I submitted my form because they thought I'd not completed it correctly, and they were right: a simple question and answer was all that was needed for the badge to be renewed. Now if I, with two postgraduate degrees, an ex-lecturer can't fill in the form correctly, what chance does the average Sun reader have?

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  16. If i was in charge i would make it so that you could only work for a benefits department that deals with disabled people if you were either disabled yourself or a carer of a disabled person. 'normal' people (and i hate using that term but that is how our society us set up and it sucks) dont have the first clue about disabilities so how on earth can they asses them? Its utter bs....

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  17. Sorry to hear you are so sick, Sue.

    You say, "You can no longer send off for the badge, you have to collect in person at a local library."

    If you live in the right place you might at least be able to specify which library you use and drive to one with better access.

    We ought to be fairly well-placed to do that, since we live close to the city centre and several branch libraries, but our council is proposing to close quite few branch libraries as part of its austerity measures (including cuts the arts budget - all of it.)

    Suppose, however, that you live further out and that your previous badge has expired and your branch library has been closed. You can't park close to the city centre branch.

    This surely comes under the heading of "cumulative" impact.

    Here's an interesting thought. If this government, like so many previous ones, is claiming to do "joined up" government, then all of this really can be taken together and counted as - if not intentional - at least as not unexpected.

    As you say, we may not be able to change things, but we can hold these people to account. We must try to make sure that no one can truly say, "We didn't know." What they mean, of course, is, "We didn't care."

    Except for those who did know are relished the opportunity to put the boot in. Would anyone care to speculate how many of the "hard-working" "tax-paying" electorate fall into that category?

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    1. the government couldn't care less about Sue's condition if they had they would send her a blue badge in the post as they have her details on record at the DLA and all you would need is some common sense and send her one in the post

      those that work at these various departments are as thick as a plank and it's about time the public came out and said so

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    2. This one really irritates me. There may be good reasons for demanding extensive form-filling for those whose entitlement to a Blue Badge needs establishing by the council officers. There is NO good reason for all that when someone is entitled because they get DLA HRM.

      When someone has an automatic legal right to the badge then what they need is the photos, the form with name, address & NI number and details of DLA award and a copy of an award letter. Maybe they could demand the standard endorsement from someone who knows you that the picture is a true likeness. They could then send the badge to the address on the award letter. If this arrangement is adequate for a passport, then it should be enough for a blue badge.

      It would be less work for the council and library staff and less stress on the parking system round the library.

      I'm speculating that there is a sort of "revenge" motive. If you're dealing with people who really resent the parking privileges of BB holders, then maybe they get some satisfaction in making those with automatic entitlement jump through extra hoops.

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    3. Oh yes, and as for "thick as a plank". Well, I'm not sure I agree there. Ever so many people actually can think when they see a need to think.

      No it's not "can't think", it's "Can't be bothered to think," or even "I'm not going to think - why should I? It's making unreasonable demands on me. I'm not at school any more."

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  18. Got my first one via care direct, county council last year. They tapped in my details and I was already on their books, having come under the OT at the complex care team. Sent off documents and had badge within a week. I wonder if it will be so simple when I come to renew.
    I applied to Motability for a grant for my adaptations. I expecedt, because is means tested to be dreadful. Anything but. The forms were easy to fill in, and the medical questionnaire was so comprehensive, covering all disabilities and their effects on functioning to determine that you were applying for the correct adaptation. From the date of receipt, I had a dedicated caseworker, who kept in contact with any questions she needed to ask me, and to keep me informed of progress. The guarantee was to process and complete my application within 2 weeks, which it was. She rang me to tell me before posting that my application had been successful so that I could order my car in a couple of days. An efficient and cost effective organsisation! I remarked 'if only public service departments ran like this.' I was treated with utmost respect at all times by Motability.

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  19. Myself my husband and mother have all renewed Blue Badges in Dec 2012 and January 2013 wth BIRMINGHAM CITY COUNCIL all forms sent by post to us payments made with debit cards over the phone and renewed badges sent out to us by POST Solihull Council operate the same system. Myself and husband have no other benefit other than Sate Pension my mother is on attendance allowance.

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  20. When I renewed my blue badge last year, my ex-partner who lives in SE took a day off work to travel to NW to take me to the local council office. I am habitually bed-bound (61% of the time), house-bound (38%) and leave the house less than 12% of the time. If my journey requires a walk of more than a few metres, I have to take my wheelchair. My appointment was at a time I would normally be having my afternoon (three-to-four hour) siesta, so I was tired before we even departed. I was kept for more than an hour after my appointment waiting in an overheated and unventilated room. At no point were we apprised of the reason for the delay - though frankly there only being one member of staff on duty was probably why. I naturally fell asleep in my chair. It took less than five minutes to process my application, mainly to be photographed. And that was that. I was ill for a week. My ex lost a days holiday and the cost of fuel. Ridiculously bureaucratic!

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  21. My Dad is severely agoraphobic. He can't go further than the garden gate. He telephones his next door neighbour. He literally is trapped within an area of metres around his house and has been this way for the last forty years. He has a (clapped out) car and it's the only way he can get beyond the house. If he parked literally right outside the door of a very small shop he might make it inside, but he doesn't qualify for DLA mobility and he can't get a blue badge. It's outrageous that crippling mental health problems are excluded by this scheme. He's done everything he can think of, including appealing and writing to his MP for help. Without the ability to park literally a few metres from the place he needs to be he's trapped in his car. It's so unfair. If he had to pick the badge up in person from a library, assuming hypothetically he was entitled to have one, he's had it. He wouldn't make it through the door in the first place. I'm not exaggerating to say that he just couldn't do it. So the old car sits there on the driveway and my Dad is stuck in the house. Just a little bit of extra help could make a massive difference, but because his condition is mental and not physical the system doesn't agree he's disabled.

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    1. My twins had to be taken around in a twin disabled buggy for their own safety if they hadn't gained some ability not to run off (and when they did being out of sight of me would not stop them continuing to run especially when together) and some ability to be aware of safety I was going to be stuck once they grew out of it as there's nothing bigger in twin form & I'm a single parent but they only get lower rate mobility DLA because their legs work even when they had no more safety awareness than a toddler with a 7 or 8 year old's ability to run and would not notice when they got out of sight of me. One has Autism and probable ADHD and the other Aspergers and ADHD.

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  22. I had to fill in the new form for son and I actually referred to it here; had to have a TONNE of new details compared to my carer's foster children, and I was rather miffed but...meh. So it seems is the case. And now with the mileage gauges they're putting on Motability vehicles (who gets to determine what is too much mileage?!) I am even less than impressed.

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  23. and as we see today the abuse handed out by Jimmy Savile scandal: Report reveals extent of abuse
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-20981611

    we need to be aware of the abuse by the government and it's contractors on the sick and disabled and wherever we find it to report it

    remember There will always be a few in government and it's workforce out to destroy the lives of others and although the number may be small it's their none the less so we need to always remind ourself of this and watch our backs

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  24. jimmy savile and the government share just one thing in common and that's the power to deceive and conquer the most vulnerable and in some cases to their death

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  25. >>>Society disgusts me at the moment.<<<

    I can't bring myself to use such a measured response.

    This government is hellbent on hurting people for the sadistic pleasure they gain.

    Sick and disabled people are the new Jews in a new Nazi Britain.

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  26. Have just moved to East Sussex. Used to work for CAB as social policy worker, previous skills include PR/media consultant. Also worked as legal advocate for leaving care children. Could offer help with Spartacus research...have knackered old car but can drive & have previous experience of lobbying MP's..

    Please get in touch if you'd like some extra hands on board...

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    1. that is most kind of you Fiona and am sure sue will get in touch with you

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  27. Sorry if this might be off topic but I reckon it's relevant to the greater debate. It's about what happens when you are able to do some work and to move off out of work benefits.

    In 2011 I was assessed bt Atos and deemed fit for work. I moved off Income Support and onto JSA, didn't bother appealing as I felt it was a useless exercise and actually felt capable of working part-time.

    Last year I finally landed a decent job working 20 hours a week. The feeling of finding work and getting away from the stigma of claiming JSA, with the fortnightly visit to the jobcentre and all it entailed, was elevating. I still had to claim Council Tax and Housing Benefit to help with the rent.

    Three months later I received a letter form the local council with their decision on my claim and they awarded me the meagre sum of £16 per week towards my rent of £65 weekly. Council Tax benefit was awarded at 97p! This left me worse off than if I was still claiming JSA and not only that I was now in arrears as I had to pay back an overpayment of £20 - originally they had awarded me £35 pw.

    I am currently appealing but have heard nothing yet. The whole situation has brought on the depression that had originally forced me out of work and is affecting the job I'm supposed to be doing, let alone my day-to-day state of mind.

    The way they have handled my claim is ridiculous! Because I had three different pay rates in my first 3 months they esimated my benefit from an average of the 3, totally disrgarding the last wage slip which was the one indicating my proper wage. The council has an online calculator that works out my HB, using this difinitive wage slip it reckons I should be getting £28 pw and Council Tax of £5. My only hope now is that they will alter my HB to this rate, if not then what is the use of the calculator and, more importantly, what is the point of working part-time?

    At least I've found this to be an enlightening experience of what it's like having a health issue, trying to, at least, do some sort of work and what the realities of the situation really are. It would seem that, unless we are able to work full-time, the situation is one of near futility - I'm not asking for the earth but believe I should be better off than I would be on JSA! Is this too much to ask?

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  28. anyhow at the end of the day it will be down to The Supreme Court as to how far the government will be allowed to punish or make to suffer the sick and disabled whilst going through the welfare reform process

    Hopefully when The Supreme Court realize how many people have died through the continuing ongoing deaths caused though at best negligence and at worst criminal negligence arrests on those responsible can then be made but until that time comes only fear and anxiety is on the cards with death around the corner for the weakest

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  29. What about those who's local library has been closed due to cuts and replaced by a mobile library or nothing at all? In some areas even by car it could be a very long way to the nearest library that isn't closed as in rural areas they were spread out already before the closures.

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  30. Regarding the charge for a blue badge up here in southlanarkshire[Scotland]we are being charged £20,we are told this will cut out fraud,i wrote emailed mp,councilors and anyone who would listen,all to no avail,one woman from the social work dept.,emailed a councilor "£6.68 for a year round free parking is a great deal"this moron was told she can have mine and i will take her legs,the answer was no reply,these are the kind of people we have to deal with day in day out it is indeed a very sad society we have to live in.
    Mrs marsh that was a very good piece you wrote.
    Parrots.

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  31. Thanks for making us aware of these wrong measures. Take care. :) N.

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  32. Hi Marsh ,
    I loved reading this piece! Well written! :)

    jason
    RMP Property

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  33. Wonderful share of this nice post. Thanks.
    hermes birkin

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