Running joke? I always thought it was a cast iron certainty, especially with the whole Atos sponsorship thing.

ATOS have also queried the medals given out in the dressage on the grounds that not one of the horses was disabled.

Would love to quip “you couldn’t make it up” – but people did as a joke to exagerate how bad the system is – and now it’s true.

Seriously – should we not just set the a-bombs off and start again? This world has become so uncaring and selfish I’m not convinced it is worth saving anymore.

Just a little note for accuracy, DLA is going to be replaced by the Personal Independence Payment, or PIP.

DLA is to be replaced with PIP. Not ULA.

One thing not explained. If this guy got DLA in 2005, what happened to it? Did he give it up for some reason (foolish, as it’s very had to get back), or lose it?

A DWP spokesperson has said “DLA is designed to give severely disabled people who are unable to walk or virtually unable to walk the extra cash support they need to live more independent lives.”

Quite so, and the basic points of DLA Mobility are how far you can walk without pain or discomfort, and ditto, but in a specified time. With one leg, and unable to wear a prosthesis this guy can’t walk at all, so should be a shoo-in for DLA.

So, is the system really that corrupt, now, or are there factors of which we’re not aware?

Apologies to everybody who has quite correctly pointed out that DLA will be replaced with PIP. This was supposed to be changed, but I don’t appear to have submitted the correct version of the article. A very silly error on my part, sorry.

The version has been updated to correct my error, but as the site is cached it may not appear for half an hour or so.

Thanks

Sarah McAlpine

“If this guy got DLA in 2005, what happened to it? ”

“After losing his position in a customer services role earlier in the year, Fisher has taken temporary positions that involve standing up for long periods which caused painful abscesses to develop, and he now requires surgery. He cannot currently wear his prosthetic limb”

Simple. He got a job, rather than continue to claim. He then lost that job, but rather than claim, he then took a series of inappropiate jobs that made his health worse. Now he has no alternative but to claim.

In other words he has done exactly what the tabloids and the right wanted him to do – make every effort to find a job. And this has been to the detriment of his own health. And still they’ll penalise him for it.

“So, is the system really that corrupt, now, or are there factors of which we’re not aware?”

Yes. It really is.

I think the system’s just that corrupt now Ron.

Late last year the NHS said I had to start using a wheelchair. I applied for DLA, filled in the enormous forms, sent off contact info for my GP, Physio, Occupational Therapist, Rheumatologist and the report from wheelchair services.

I was refused, twice, each time they said “using suitable aids and equipment you have no difficulties walking.” That suitable aid is a wheelchair. Baffling.

I asked for a Tribunal and they replied with “No need for a tribunal, we’ve contacted your GP now and we are happy to say you have now been awarded DLA.”

Which begs the question, why not do that in the first place?

This took from November/December 2011 until May 2012. I was housebound all that time. They still didn’t award me the right amount but I was too tired and upset to fight it.

@Planeshift. DLA is not an out of work benefit.

It is an allowance to pay for the extra mobility and care needs that disabled people have.

The benefit for those who are too sick or disabled to work is called ESA.

However, the DWP have been known to use the fact that someone has got a job to take their DLA away, which strictly speaking they aren’t supposed to do. But they do it anyway.

They use the fact you can manage to get to work to say your disability has miraculously disappeared and now you don’t need any help or support.

The most ridiculous thing of all is that many people rely on the mobility part of DLA to get to work and without it they have to give up their jobs.

Kafkaesque is overused but apt in this case.

I have nothing good to say about Atos, but they didn’t make this decision, the DWP did and unfair as it sounds, no, he may not currently qualify for DLA.

As I understand he wears a prothesis usually and when using it is deemed not to have trouble mobilising or need guidance when outdoors. He currently cannot wear that prothesis due to the abcesses, but under the rules of qualification for DLA, you must have had the problem for 3 months and reasonably expect to have it for another 6 months to qualify. So if he hasn’t had the abcesses for 3 months and isn’t likely to have them for another 6 months and thus will go back to wearing the prothesis, then no, he doesn’t qualify. If he’s claiming because he cannot wear the prothesis again due to long term issues (such as pain) or that his mobility with the prothesis has altered, then the decision is wrong and he should appeal.

The story here should be that the DWP are asking people to prove this twice and three times at the moment where recently once was enough. Not that there are rules at all. i know you’re trying to help by highlighting the issues with Atos and welfare reform, but so far twice this week you’ve covered the issue inaccurately and made it sound like you’re against there being any qualifying rules.

Also, DLA is not an out of work benefit and this article is written to suggest it is. He could be claiming ESA for this issue as well and should qualify there. I’m pleased you’re taking an interest, but please run your articles past people with expertise.

Errm… has he considering signing onto the dole if he can’t find a job? That’d give his family an extra 50% or so?

Is the phrase ‘running joke’ also supposed to ironic?

Seriously though, they need to make it clearer to the public who is eligible for what and why. Hopefully by simplifying the system this’ll be easier, but I doubt whether they plan to make this stuff public? The trouble is, it’s very hard to evaluate the fairness of Government policies when anecdotal evidence is given, particularly when it is given by one side of the argument. In this particular case, it is difficult to ascertain if this is a failure of policy or a failure of bureaucracy (although admittedly the latter could also be caused by a failure of policy).

Let’s simplify it, then let’s make it public who is eligible for what, and then let the ballot box (and people writing to MPs, campaigning, etc.) decide if the public thinks those definitions and amounts are realistic (although admittedly that’s putting a lot of faith in the current broken electoral system!)

re: tommy5d

Someone please correct me if I am wrong, but to sign on to the dole you need to be fit and about to look for work. This often (I have heard) produces the situation where the PIP/DLA is denied to you saying you are not disabled enough whilst the jobcentre turns you away as unfit to find a job.

@Ron:

He probably only got a limited-time award. DLA isn’t handed out as indefinite awards or nothing; they often issue awards that are for 1, 2, 3 or 5 years. Even to people with incurable conditions.

Just ridiculous!! I am stunned! It is difficult to get work as a disabled person because employers will not wish to incur extra costs. They don’t get that Access to Work will help with workplace assessment and funding especially for SMEa and Charities/Social Enterprise.
What you have to do is explain the worst day as if it was everyday, because even when we do manage, we have to recover.

@12 tommy5d. He’s not able to sign on for JSA, to claim JSA you have to be “fit for work” he obviously isn’t fit for work. If he did that it would be benefit fraud, also the Job Centre probably wouldn’t allow him

How can he fulfil his agreement of actively being available and looking for work while he’s going through this?

Sadly I think we’ll only see any outcry from the public in 4 years, when, after so many of our paralympic athletes have been stripped of any support, that we pull in a lousy medal total.

Maybe then we’ll get some public questions asked, but as for just disabled people suffering over a lousy 20 or 30 quid a week, just to sate the rabid opinions of Tories and Daily Mail readers, there certainly SHOULD be more anger.

Again, DLA is a benefit designed to help disabled people keep working, stripping it away is just going to force so many to stop working, and get seperated from society.

There again, how many disabled people can afford to throw ‘donations’ to Tory funds, so I guess they don’t matter.

@Keith – lousy medal total? Pretty sure the aim of the benefits changes is to ensure that we get zero, due to not having any paralympians to compete. It is, after all, the ultimate goal of any would be meritocratic society.

@ 15 Lisa

“He probably only got a limited-time award. DLA isn’t handed out as indefinite awards or nothing; they often issue awards that are for 1, 2, 3 or 5 years. Even to people with incurable conditions.”

In fairness to the powers that be, sometimes incurable conditions become curable. Although, if they haven’t, it should be a mere formality to get your DLA renewed.

@ 17 bendyleopard

“He’s not able to sign on for JSA, to claim JSA you have to be “fit for work” he obviously isn’t fit for work. If he did that it would be benefit fraud, also the Job Centre probably wouldn’t allow him”

In which case, shouldn’t the Job Centre be straight on the phone to the DWP saying “this bloke isn’t fit for work, better sign him up for benefits”?

@21 Chaise Guevara

What the Job Centre should do and what they are allowed/bother doing are not the same things.

He would have to apply for ESA with no Job Centre help, just like anyone else

Isn’t this an insult to the many people with one leg who do hold down jobs and do pay their own way.

There are many jobs available that don’t need 2 legs.

Can he touch-type and work as a PA? Sign up to work from home as one of the ‘Virtual PA’ type people (and saves him the hassle of a commute too).

Seriously – it is surprising that anyone with the determination to get to the paralympics and practise-practise-practise, hasn’t landed a job yet.

But he’s got a whole lifetime ahead of him – and it;s more important for his own long term pyschological well-being to prepare himself for a career, than to get disabilty benefits now.

JV
Mostly just bitter and resentful but able bodied right wingers complaining.

Of course his condition may not have deteriorated so badly had he not felt so driven to work that he accepted unsuitable jobs. But hey, let’s force him back to that so bleeding hearty right wingers like you are not insulted on his behalf by the understanding shown to him by us bigoted lefties…

@23 Just Visting

Why are you saying stuff about him not “having a job yet” when it clearly states that he was working and lost his job? And has had several temporary jobs since then.

Why are you talking about “disability benefits” as though they are for out of work people when it is very clear he wanted to apply for DLA which is NOT an out of work benefit? It also would have helped him GET another job.

Why are you talking about him having a “whole life ahead of him” when he’s clearly been getting on with his life, working, having a child until his condition worsened due to standing too much in his last job?

Did you even read the story?

@@12 tommy5d. Even if he was fit for work and applied for JSA, his wife has a job (assuming she is receiving ‘maternity pay’ from an employer) and so he would not qualify for any benefit – she would be expected to support him. This is life in 2012.

@23 Just Visting

I’m sure they have a lovely leg for the job.
We realise that you have nothing against any one legged person or their one leg.

The trouble is neither have they.

That is how America operates. I was denied disability because I never made over 24,000/year gross and only worked 14 years (since I was 15) before my disability. People like me haven’t paid enough to deserve anything is what I was told. It was suggested that I try to work for an escort agency or go to a strip club since I was attractive. Are you telling me this isn’t standard operating procedure?! You may think I’m joking – but I’m not.

I’d rather employ one of those disabled athletes than most of the low life tracksuit wearing scrotes that frequent the Job center. x
Fair enough, the guy can’t grow another leg. No more than an MP can grow a moral compass.
An that’s a fact.
HOWEVER.
He has too come to terms with that and look at things he can do rather than what he can’t.
I know amputees who are happy and successful at work.
One minute disabled people want to be treated equally and the next there asking for special treatment? Its like two conflicting trains of thought.
Thanks to computers anyone with enough skills to post a message on this blog is more than capable of doing a computer based job an that’s FACT.

Stop moaning…

I love that PAUL GIBBONS hasn’t read the story. Much like some others. I love that people only read the headline. I love that people get angry about *DISABILITY BENEFITS* without learning what that means.

HE WANTS A JOB, PAUL! HE JUST WANTS DLA TO HELP HIM *GET* TO A JOB.

DLA helps people work, Paul.

Apologies for shouting, but I thought phonics might be too advanced.

@29 Paul Gibbons

But will he get the role of Tarzan, Mr Gibbons?

bendyleopard

The DWP use form ESA85 to datermine on DLA claims. It seems to me the DWP have no peers in terms of mental dexterity. Not even South Yorkshire Police.

Come 2016 there will be hardly any British paralympians apart from say archery. I do not blame Atos for this.

In the article there is a quote “cracking down on benefit cheats”. Mr Fisher is suffering from some form of temporary mental deficiency. He should claim ESA.

I’m not making this up.

@ 22 bendy leopard

“What the Job Centre should do and what they are allowed/bother doing are not the same things.

He would have to apply for ESA with no Job Centre help, just like anyone else”

Thought as much. That needs fixing, then.

@ Just Visiting

“Isn’t this an insult to the many people with one leg who do hold down jobs and do pay their own way.”

Don’t be facetious. The message here isn’t that it’s impossible for someone with one leg to be employed. It’s that it’s much harder for them to find work, because a) the pool of potential jobs is that much smaller, and b)transport can be a much bigger problem.

“But he’s got a whole lifetime ahead of him – and it;s more important for his own long term pyschological well-being to prepare himself for a career, than to get disabilty benefits now.”

I’m sure he’s grateful for your kind condescension. However: he’s trying to get a job. Sadly this is difficult, as the government won’t give him a mobility vehicle that he could use to get to potential employers. Short-term investment could do wonders here.

Still, easier to blame the victim than the address the problem, isn’t it? I mean, it’s not like YOU only have one leg. So who cares?

To Paul Gibbons, are you a doctor.

Since you posted your view as fACT I have to ask the question.

Posting on a blog site doesnt mean someone can work, you seriously cannot tell the ifference bewteen writing half a dozen lines and having to commute to job interviews (to get a job) then commute to work on a regular basis on time (once have the job) and then have a good attendance record (to keep the job) as well as be productive for all the working hours (to keep the job). 40 hours a week with commuting is a bit different to doing a blog post. Also its quite possible people have aided computers, someone may be typing for them or computer is voice activated etc. It might be someone takes 2 hours to type that blog post, you dont know as you dont know them.

Everyone I know who is disabled and works full time is either a high level person eg. company director or owner, or an existing employee who was already working for the company and then the company adapted to their new condition. Just because you might know someone with lost legs working ok it doesnt mean anyone can do it. But of course DLA isnt even an out of work benefit so his denial is actually nothing to do if he can work or not, on the face of it I think the DWP have made a bad decision, the walking assessment for DLA is supposed to be ‘without’ aids. Its ESA (and the upcoming PIP) which include aids. So he might be able to hop 50 metres, but that isnt walking so this should be a very simple tribunal appeal for him if he appeals.

Ron Graves.

He lost his award three years later, under a medical, having lost a leg DLA would be awarded not for the loss of the leg, you cannot get DLA for any illness except a handful such as Cancer, receiving treatment , and a few others.

You get DLA for how your illness or disability affects you, I cannot for the life of me walk more then four or five steps without stopping to rest due to chronic pain.

I cannot wash my own face or clean my self when I mess myself, so I need a carer.

DLA would be stopped for a person with one leg if the loss is above the knee and you walk more then 50mtrs now playing sport would mean this would be rejected, yet your able to work and get DLA so long as you meet the reasons for it being awarded.

This is life, this is life under New Labour/ Labour and the coalition, bankers have to be paid the crises has to be resolved and the disabled who do not have a political group unlike age concern

Kim

That is where we are heading. So far no one has yet challenged the universality of our benefits – so, basically, you don’t have to have put into the system to get disability allowance if you are disabled. You just need to be disabled.

But we are thus developing an alternative way of denying disabled people any support – by telling them they are not disabled after all.

It is no less cruel and there is no less reason to believe it will lead people to the game or other disreputable activities like theft or drug-dealing to get by.

margin4error

This is where we are. A new definition if disability.

The hubris of paralympians who run, jump, throw, swim better than the overwhelming number of able bodied is boundless.

Nemesis for the rest of the physically disabled who with a bit of effort could emulate them. Obviously they are at fault.

Kim, thank you for the idea. Never thought about a career on the game before. Well it is work.

Must go now and think of way of doing some honest fraud. Duck houses have been done. Honest.

I’m not making this up.

CASSANDRA

Though you presumably see the future and know what I’m about to post – never under-estimate the ammount of money you can make by selling drugs. More and more people are doing it these days and there seems to be a lot of demand. You don’t even have to do it by standing on street corners anymore. Just buy in bulk and run a mail order system using sealed dvd cases. (seriously, one of these turned up at my house once by accident – phenomenal fun for an elected official).

Who needs welfare when we have an illiberal society that forces employment into the black market hey?

To all you pillocks out there, i doubt for one minute this person is saying he cant work or do a job of some nature at all, the point being he lost a limb fighting for this shithole of a country in a fight that has nothing to do with Great Britain but as always lets stick our noses where its not wanted,so yes this chap does deserve compensation so give it to him or is it because he’s WHITE,not black, chocolate brown or whatever other colour you have to be to get lots of money from this goverment,you’re all hipocrites,stand up and be counted,lets take this what was once a great nation back and make ours again and stop all this religious bullshit before its too late,if its not already.

What a rallying cry!! Who will stand?!? Who will fight the chocolate brown people and the vaguely religious types? Who will take us back 2,000 years before these religious people came along and there weren’t a lot of brown people hanging about?!?!

If that doesn’t get them to give him DLA, at least we can say we tried chaps.

@ 40 alan brennan

You had me up until the point where you said that people get money from the government for being “chocolate brown”. After that, I came to the irresistible conclusion that you’re a stupid twat. Am I right?

SPOILER WARNING:

I’m right.

Mr Brennan

The man is lacking a limb. If the lack of a limb is a result of the Queens shilling it is no direct concern of mine. I pay taxes for the compensation of those who are maimed in furtherance of the policy of the State.

This tax is paid without rancour to those who have taken the shilling even though I may disagree with their motivation or why the endanger themselves.

The source such compensation is known as taxation. charity or alms. In the Muslim tradition payment of this nature is known as zakaat

Mr Brennan would you be good enough to get your brain in gear.

Failing this may I respectfully suggest you avail yourself of Mental Health Act.