What do I want for my birthday?
It's a question I dread because what I want, what I hope for,- what I really need, can't be bought.
All I want is the Work Compatibility Assessment to be scrapped, so that no one else (including myself), has to fear it.
We are human beings! We don't choose disability and illness but we have to justify ourselves for the right to basics, independence, dignity...LIFE!
Most people take those things for granted. They can feel safe, wanted and valued in society.
They are not being demonised, lied about and scapegoated by our government, and a mainstream media that is happy to do as it is told rather than report the TRUTH!
Thousands and thousands of people are dead as a direct (and indirect) result of government Welfare 'Reform' policies! Countless more are being left with nothing!
Just because you don't see it on the news or in the papers, it doesn't mean it isn't happening. Likely (if it isn't happening to you), it will be happening to someone you know.
People are living in fear of the letterbox in case it is their turn for assessment. People are having nightmares about that assessment. Nightmares full of judgement,darkness and fear.
I know, because I am having them myself.
In my case, I'm more frightened of the assessment than the outcome.
It doesn't matter how much I think I know or how much advice I get to try and be prepared. It is still there.
I have Cerebral Palsy which means I cannot walk or stand unaided. It is a condition which won't improve, and actually has started to deteriorate due to constant 'wear and tear' on my body.
Waking up from yet another nightmare, my muscles are tense and in spasm, which only adds to the (more or less constant) pain I am already in.
I was given (what was) 'Lifelong' Disability Living Allowance in recognition of the fact there would be no improvement in my condition.
At some point soon, I will still have to face assessment in order to qualify for Personal Independence Payment.
At some point soon, I will still have to face assessment in order to qualify for Personal Independence Payment.
When you suffer from depression and anxiety already (as I do), the worry is compounded. The constant 'scrounger' rhetoric hasn't helped either! I am not a 'scrounger' - I am a person, and I didn't ask for this,
I know I am luckier than a lot of people in that I have support. There are countless who are in far,far worse situations than myself, but what I want for my birthday, (the only thing I really want for my birthday), is that NO ONE should be having to go through this in a wealthy society.
Despite what government and media would have you believe, we ARE a wealthy society. At least we should be able to support people that need it.
The fact that we (apparently) can't is not the fault of those who already struggle, it is the fault of those at the 'top'. Why are we paying the price?!
Disability or illness can happen to anyone at any time. No one is immune. I think it is easy to forget that. It is easy to take your ability, your health, your freedom and that of those closest to you for granted, but all it would take is a few seconds or being in the wrong place at the wrong time, and your life could change.
In an ideal world, what I want for my birthday (or a point very soon), is for all this to stop! Unfortunately though, I know it is too much to ask.
#WCA
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