500 signatures reached
To: House of Parliment
Against unfair & stressful disability assessments (PIP)
Please consider the negative impact that the PIP assessments are having on disabled people.
Why is this important?
These assessments are causing huge amounts of stress and worry to the most vulnerable people in society. Disabled people often have compromised immune systems and often find coping with stressful situations unmanageable so to be put under such strain is totally inappropriate and debilitating.
People are reliant on their benefit (formally know as disability living allowance, and now referred to as Personal Independence Payment) and will suffer greatly if they lose this.
My personal experience, and that of others I've talked to, was the way the assessments are conducted are very unfair. What was said in the assessment is not always noted down or recorded accurately and often the information that the decision maker uses is not what was said in the assessment, in my case often the opposite!
In my assessment report it was stated that I showed no signs of Psychological distress even though the first thing I said to the assessor was that I was incredibly nervous and was visibly shaking.
My assessor was a Physiotherapist Therapist which was totally inappropriate for someone who has a mental health challenge and brain injury. They have no in depth training in Neurology and Epilepsy or how and why depression and anxiety are caused or developed.
People are assessed on an inhumane points system for daily living and mobility and I was 'awarded' no points despite thorough reports by my Occupational Therapist, GP and Psychologist detailing my challenges.
Getting the awful letter in the post telling me that my benefit was to be stopped has left me unable to sleep, properly relax and filled me with stress and sent my mood into despair once again.
A friend of mine recently went through the same experience. She, like me, was awarded no points and no benefit when she has become reliant on the money so that she could pay to see a Psychotherapist to help her come to terms with a great deal of loss. We both experienced the decision being looked at again, (mandatory reconsideration, the second stage) and once again were told we were not eligible for any points or any benefit. After that there is only one option and that is to appeal meaning that a court appearance will likely be necessary. Something that makes me feel sick with nerves just considering! But I think the way the system has been engineered it is banking on people giving up and I think the assessor and the decision makers have all been given certain targets to meet which is why the reports that are produced are so biased and inaccurate against the disabled individual.
Please join me to safeguard disabled people and stop these harrowing experiences inflicting more pain and anguish.
If the government addressed the outrageous tax dodges that are currently legal in this country then as a nation we would be debt free and wouldn't need to target the most vulnerable people in society.
People are reliant on their benefit (formally know as disability living allowance, and now referred to as Personal Independence Payment) and will suffer greatly if they lose this.
My personal experience, and that of others I've talked to, was the way the assessments are conducted are very unfair. What was said in the assessment is not always noted down or recorded accurately and often the information that the decision maker uses is not what was said in the assessment, in my case often the opposite!
In my assessment report it was stated that I showed no signs of Psychological distress even though the first thing I said to the assessor was that I was incredibly nervous and was visibly shaking.
My assessor was a Physiotherapist Therapist which was totally inappropriate for someone who has a mental health challenge and brain injury. They have no in depth training in Neurology and Epilepsy or how and why depression and anxiety are caused or developed.
People are assessed on an inhumane points system for daily living and mobility and I was 'awarded' no points despite thorough reports by my Occupational Therapist, GP and Psychologist detailing my challenges.
Getting the awful letter in the post telling me that my benefit was to be stopped has left me unable to sleep, properly relax and filled me with stress and sent my mood into despair once again.
A friend of mine recently went through the same experience. She, like me, was awarded no points and no benefit when she has become reliant on the money so that she could pay to see a Psychotherapist to help her come to terms with a great deal of loss. We both experienced the decision being looked at again, (mandatory reconsideration, the second stage) and once again were told we were not eligible for any points or any benefit. After that there is only one option and that is to appeal meaning that a court appearance will likely be necessary. Something that makes me feel sick with nerves just considering! But I think the way the system has been engineered it is banking on people giving up and I think the assessor and the decision makers have all been given certain targets to meet which is why the reports that are produced are so biased and inaccurate against the disabled individual.
Please join me to safeguard disabled people and stop these harrowing experiences inflicting more pain and anguish.
If the government addressed the outrageous tax dodges that are currently legal in this country then as a nation we would be debt free and wouldn't need to target the most vulnerable people in society.
