GETTING THE PIP

Getting the pip is an old fashioned expression which means a bad attack of the gallops,Montezuma's

revenge, the trots....call it what you will. Having spent over twice as long as it is supposed to take to obtain an assessment for the Personal Independence Allowance,P.I.P I find the analogy most appropriate.

This allowance is paid to people ,who are,like myself disabled in such a way as to make independent living very difficult ,even impossible. It has always been difficult to persuade the D.W.P to part with cash but since the Conservative Government chose to treat the Disabled, the Elderly and the Unemployed like a bunch of cheats and loafers it has become well nigh impossible even to get an assessment.

Today the long awaited assessment took place. Every corner of my private life was examined,and my personal problems will now be weighed in the balance by a bunch of soulless bureaucrats who get paid by the Government to ensure that as few people as possible obtain this much needed relief.

Not for nothing is the company which does these assessments called Capita for I am told that they are paid,per capita for the number of people they turn down.

Although this may not be entirely true what is certain is that not only are new applicants being turned down in droves but people who have been severely disabled for years are having their payments cut to the bone or even in many cases revoked all together.

It is all a part of this benighted Governments “Back to Work” programme.

Here is a fairly typical example of this nonsensical new rule.

I severely disabled woman living in a rural has been receiving the allowance in order to be able to afford to buy  and run a specially adapted car. This enabled her to drive in to town to work,she had been able to support herself for years with no further Government aid.

Suddenly this benefit was stopped,the result was that she could no longer afford to run the car and pay her rent along with other household expenses. She was forced to give up her job and now relies on unemployment benefit,housing benefit and other government aid. Which is costing the tax payer far more that her original benefit.

The D.W.P not content with the havoc they have created in this woman’s life are now considering weather or not to cut her unemployment benefit because.....wait for it …...she is disabled and unable to work!

Now some of you may think that I am exaggerating, not so.

Shortly after the new regulations came in to force an undercover journalist posing as a new employee secretly filmed his initial briefing. He was instructed to disbelieve everything he was told and only pass so many people a week as disabled enough to receive help because. “They are just a bunch of scroungers.”

I must say that the lady who did my assessment seemed very kind and understanding but it will not be she who decides my fate. Nor will it be the doctors and consultants who have treated my worsening health over the years. My fate will be decided by the afore mentioned faceless bureaucrats. It will be they who decide if I deserve help with the cost of transport, or help towards the cost of special; equipment,even my qualification for a disabled badge allowing any vehicle I use to park in no parking areas will be decided by these.........people.

Since I am unable to walk more than a few yards you would think it a foregone conclusion...not necessarily. I am at present a prisoner, unable to leave the village as I cannot use public transport. Unable to visit my ninety year old mother because I cannot use trains. Disabled people, weather town of country dwellers can all to easily become trapped in their own homes.

Next time you hear someone complaining about the money given to people like me remember that what has happened to me could happen to any one at any time.

Oh, and please wish me luck.