The disability benefits system is broken. It has not adapted to a world where disability and ill health are more prevalent, and more complex in terms of the variation of impact on people’s lives or the support that could help.
Disability often results from medical conditions, and is worsened by challenges accessing health services and social care. It is also exacerbated by the barriers to participation in society and the economy – such as limited access to education, poor quality transport infrastructure, employment discrimination, and inflexible workplaces – that disabled people face.
Over the last 20 years the main policy response, in the face of rising costs, has been to make claiming disability benefits more difficult.
Additional Links/Reading: CWs in spoiler
CWs: ableism, discussions of trauma, medical ableism, neglect and abuse, eugenic and capitalist undertones/viewpoints
Disability Benefits in Different Countries
Half of disabled people ‘humiliated’ during benefits assessments, new research finds
Center For American Progress - How Dehumanizing Administrative Burdens Harm Disabled People
Disability News Service - UN committee asks government: ‘Why are you demonising disabled people?’
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Mask up, love one another, and stay alive for one more week.
This might only make sense to me but i feel the same way about still masking everywhere as I do the trans kids debate
Literally no one against trans kids or masking knows what the fuck theyre talking about.
They dont know any of the research, they dont know the rates of death/suicide, they dont know the harm it causes
All they know are posts or videos that reinforce what they already wanted to believe
oh have you been on the trueanon subreddit too? absolutely disgusting there, just a bunch of people circlejerking over how normal and well adjusted they are
That comment wasn’t inspired because of that but I was just on there
ah it seems in line with the discourse there. “thank god i never had to worry about masks because i live in florida and nobody wore them after 2020” just actively celebrating the mass slaughter and disabling of he working class because fundamentally they have the same opposition to masking as the conservatives they “pretend” to be.
I keep thinking about how much hatred there exists on the “left” for us again. All the big channels started using r-slur again and a major finance channel on the left has now it their agenda to belittle autistic people. We really don’t have a place, we are the football in this game not the other side.
Normalization of ableism is something that goes hand-in-hand with rising fascism, and we definitely have fascism rising again. People get more and more callous about how they speak to and about others, and that is absolutely devastating to listen to.
I love the metaphor of being the ball in a football game. Though sad, it’s fucking accurate.
hugs back it is sad how much it has spread. Especially in stuff like state healthcare worldwide, it is harder and harder for disabled people to get care.
big hug back Oh don’t get me started on state healthcare, it’s an absolute shit show everywhere you look. If it’s not the state imposing restrictions and withholding funding, it’s another state pressuring a country so much they can’t give proper healthcare, especially but not only to the disabled. You’d think that healthcare as a whole should be the one thing that unifies everyone, because every single person on this planet needs healthcare at some point during their life. But we all let ourselves be alienated from each other constantly, creating the situation you described. It really makes me sad.
That’s so true, a country like Cuba with political will to provide one of the best healthcare in the world is prevented because of sanctions from USA. Then there are countries which make it bureaucratic hell to get disabled benefits.
Similar thing going on in the UK right now. The USA has been using Nigel Farage to try and sell the idea that the NHS should be abolished and the UK should get private healthcare so that the big American healthcare companies can come here and make a profit.
I don’t believe in punitive justice, I believe in restorative justice however I seriously believe some people need to reap what they sow and experience the horror they create for people like us.
The trouble is, when they do, they think they’re a special case. Like working people who are against benefits - but when when they become unemployed, suddenly they deserve benefits, but still no-one else does.
Exactly!
Mhmm
I think some people on the left are too obsessed with the big picture - like achieving communism is all that matters - and it doesn’t matter to them what happens to the little people along the way. Even though what happens to the little people is exactly what communism should be about. For example I’ve had people on lemmy in particular tell me that it doesn’t matter what happens to me as an individual - whether I end up homeless, starve or die - all that matters is that I do what I can to “agitate for the cause” and I’m thinking what’s the point of the cause if you don’t care about individual people? I thought we’re in support of communism because we care that each person gets a life worth living with all the basic necessities that the require. If someone doesn’t care about that, why care about communism? And it’s these people on the left who hate the disabled, they see us as useless eaters, no different than the way fascists see us.
I think a major problem is that scientific socialism’s scientific part has been quite overplayed than socialism, as in the socialist project has been reduced to cold numbers and actions need to be taken to achieve one result, like a programme. People forget that the base socialism isn’t science, science is the method of framing and understanding not motivation. Motivation behind socialism is human suffering, from Marx to Lenin, all at the core had the motivation of reducing the suffering, they weren’t motivated “capitalism isn’t working according to these scientific standards” that was their way understanding the problem but motivation, motivation behind every socialist has been to stop the needless suffering put on mass of life on this planet.
I wonder why this happens. Why do people become attracted to a philosophy that’s meant to reduce human suffering and then stop caring about the suffering part?
Most likely because I have said, they think they’re special little boys who deserve their ‘gadgets and gizmos’ and everyone else is a freeloader
Whenever I tell not disabled ppl that I’m comfortable with where I am they always tell me to not give up on myself
I’m not giving up on myself I stopped chasing an ideal that almost killed me and I didn’t like anyway let me do nothing but make art only I care about in peace
Those toxic positivity types infuriate me.
I wish there was more understanding for these choices. It’s not like you decided on having a disability and being limited in your own personal way, so you are doing the best for yourself by making the art you care about. Never let anybody tell you this is giving up, I think you found something beautiful and special to you that a lot of people never find in their whole lives. I’m happy for you sweetie
How do you deal with the expectation to have a “career”, and like a structured 9-5? I’m coming around to just saying fuck societal expectations, but I don’t actually, practically know how to live like that.
But another way I’ve thought of things is that I essentially have two options. I can do the middle class life thing, own a car, have a few hours a day of free time, work towards buying a house by the time I’m 50. The daily life would suck but it would be somewhat predictable. On the other hand, I could live according to my own clock. Let money be secondary to keeping myself alive and passionate. Look for and accept whatever help I can get without shame. It seems more risky, but the risk of living the other life is that I hate it and destroy myself
On the other hand, I could live according to my own clock. Let money be secondary to keeping myself alive and passionate. Look for and accept whatever help I can get without shame.
I live in the US. It’s abundantly clear this fascist shithole doesn’t have much time left, so I’m essentially going to do that.
[From the perspective of someone physically “able bodied” but wracked with executive dysfunction]
It is technically possible to get a “9-5” job that doesn’t mentally torture you. Often times it’s only possible after working somewhere for a while and finding a little niche job nobody else wants to do. Often times the neurotypical people are allergic to jobs that are tedious or require focused attention AND outside everyone’s normal scope of daily work. Something like taking stockroom inventory [somewhere that isn’t retail] or doing a routine safety inspection is often on like a rotating list of people who get forced into doing it. Start volunteering to do these types of jobs and everyone will be so happy they don’t have to that they won’t notice it takes you 3x as long as it “should”
I can’t say i know how to reliably obtain a job that feels good to have but they are possible to get. Construction is nice for me because i change job location quite often and don’t get stuck in a rut.
Hopefully any of that is helpful but also solidarity. Working for the right to have free time is brutal
I am thinking the same thing, I might go for the former because, I mostly want to read and cuddle plushies
You’re not alone, I’m struggling with the same thing. It’s impossible for me to answer that question, so I’ll just say I’m afraid of the same thing you are. Maybe there’s a silver lining somewhere in the 9-5 job, but I really can’t say.
Here’s a hug, if you want one.
After being able to take my meds, I actually managed to sleep enough to dream last night and what a dream it was! I dreamt that I became a successful author, and made millions of pounds. Then the 1984 miners strikes started again (I know, it was a dream, it doesn’t make sense) and I took great pleasure in sending cheques to the mining communities, huge amounts of money to enable them to strike for as long as they needed. It was great. I felt calm knowing that I had enough money to never be homeless or hungry again, and fulfilled that by helping the miners I was making a difference in the world. I was so disappointed when I woke up and it was all a dream.
Clearly the conclusion is that you must become the good JK Rowling. Don’t let your dreams stay dreams or however it goes.
I have spent my life wanting to write fantasy novels (more in the vein of Narnia though) but my brain has turned to mush from years of illness and medications.
I can only echo what Keld said. Write for yourself, even if it’s only a sentence. I couldn’t write for the majority of last and this year bc of how exhausted and mushy I felt. Then I just wrote down an idea I had for one of my characters and slowly started adding sentences. Some of them took days to finish, but it slowly kept growing, and I love all of them, even the bad ones.
It’s different for everybody and takes longer the more mushy you feel. Don’t let that discourage you. Give it a try. The worst that can happen is having a sentence you can edit later
The trouble is my brain is such mush I don’t even have ideas any more.
I understand, but I can confidently say you do have ideas because of that dream you described to us. Sometimes, a dream is enough. I know I sound very “whimsically positive” when I say it like this, but dreams just go to show that your brain still comes up with ideas. Don’t take this as a “You can do it!” comment, I’m just trying to point out that you do have that creativity in you
I think I’ll start with going back to keeping a dream diary as that’s easier than thinking up new stuff myself.
That’s a great idea. I hope you have fun with it
I’m not going to say to just do it, because obviously if it was that easy you would have just done it. But if you can only write for 10 minutes a day and what you produce nearly as good as you want it to be that still makes you better morally and qualitatively than Rowling.
Edit: Not even saying write stuff to actually publish it or anything. Again, not trying to do a “Just do it!” type thing. I’m just saying by virtue of not being Rowling you’re already doing ok.
the discourse around the kn95 lesbian bar thing is so disheartening
An article that should have been a single post on a drama subreddit. At that level I probably wouldn’t be so critical. Being blasted out to a(n) (inter)national stage so we can all make fun of mask wearers and lesbians is just gross.
It is also just not important. Silly drama happens every day. Why is this worth an article?
It’s because of the demographics.Why can’t the voices in my phone just shut the fuck up about this shit in running out of podcasts
The antibiotic ointment isnt working as well anymore after only 5 days and the infection is spreading
I contacted a compounding pharmacy to see if they could make an oral antibiotic im not allergic to but even if they can, ill have to do another bullshit telehealth appointment and get them to coordinate with the pharmacy, wait for them to make it, get it shipped, and then wait for it to kick in
Also cant go to my pottery class (missed last week) because I have to wear gloves during it due to my regular sensitive skin issues and might just not be able to go for most of this semester and it was really expensive :(
Hate being disabled and my adoptive family doing everything they can to make it worse
You can’t do pottery with gloves? Well that fucking sucks.
I cant right now because gloves create a good environment for the infection on my hands
Lecturerer referred to doing something “normally” and doing it “chinesely”
The Chinese way is using math. The normal way is measuring it. The only East Asian student in my year isnt here, but the oof size is off the charts.
What a disgusting thing to say. I know these types of jokes from high school too.
CW: Racism/Sinophobia
One of my physics teachers once said “Back in the day, we had to use calculators for this. Today, that’s what we have the Chinese for”.
You know what? I don’t want to be reading racist shit.
Thank you Lemmy’s spoiler formatting functions, and thank you gingerbrat for putting that in a spoiler!
Now if you’ll excuse me I’m going to continue playing Spider Solitaire on my phone and continue processing through my current gender related existential crisis.
You’re welcome sweetie. And may I say, I’m glad you had such a profound realization about yourself
Eugh.
I know this is secondary to the racism, but I also have to mentally adjust each time I see people laughing along with it. Like oh I thought people were cool. But no.
Yeah, the amount of classmates who laughed back then was terrifying. Like, a handful of people looked disgusted but the vast majority just thought it was a really witty/funny comment.
deleted by creator
Racism is so normalized, it’s astonishing how unfiltered so many people are. (Small mod note, can you please put a spoiler tag around your comment? Thank you sweetie.)
I removed it because the spoiler tag just didn’t seem to be working properly for me.
Are you using an app or your internet browser for hexbear? I know the spoiler formatting can be strange sometimes depending on what platform you use it on.
A.) Ew.
B.) Watch his mind be blown at the sight of Chinese people doing math AND measure stuff!
I was able to collect some of my meds today, thanks to the help I received from mutual aid. Hopefully the rest should be ready tomorrow. I hope this calms my stomach down now.
i hate that i basically only have the energy to exist. thought about going out to get some food, then thought about how i would have to dress properly, talk to people who were in customer service mode, sit up for an hour…
Probably gonna have to start every-day-carrying a pocket multitool or something because I am NOT being turned into a statistic!
If I could, I would’ve brought you some dinner
Yeah I’m absolutely not cis. I might not even be a nonbinary male.
Anyway the cheap AA powered clippers from Family Dollar seem to work adequately!
Then again I’m using some nice high quality NIMH batteries which are more then happy to supply a couple amps to things.
I’ve been so ill these past few days due to being unable to get my meds. Thankfully someone came through on mutual aid now I can hopefully pick them up on Monday. The worst thing right now is my stomach. I get two prescription meds for my stomach as all the other meds are so harsh on it, they cause incredible amounts of stomach acid to be produced which is torture. So I get a once a day pill to make my stomach produce less acid, and a liquid that I can take any time to calm it down when it gets really bad. But without these for the past few days my stomach has been producing a tsunami of acid and it’s so awful I can’t sleep at night or get comfortable during the day and can barely eat. It’s just torture. And it can take weeks of taking the meds to get it to calm down again so I’m dreading how long this will take.
The whole system is just stupid. They know I am permanently entitled to free prescriptions due to being a lifelong cancer patient. So why make me apply for an exemption card every few years? It’s just more needless bureaucracy designed to make life more difficult and stressful than it needs to be.
Amazingly though, I actually managed to get an appointment about this cough I’ve had for three months. Of course it wasn’t with an actual doctor, but a nurse. But she said she’d refer me for a chest x ray. Who knows how long that will take though. I also think it’s unacceptable that the doctors surgery always has loud music playing and scented products everywhere. It’s really inappropriate I think, it’s a migraine trigger and allergy risk for some people. They often send me a survey asking how my appointment went, I will reply next time to complain about that, although I doubt they will care.
Scented crap in the house is a pretty much neverending source of contention between my landlady and I. Scents trigger migraines for me and we came to an agreement that she wouldn’t use them. But she keeps introducing stuff into the house that smells anyway. Yesterday she brought some pungent lavender product in. It stank the entire house out and a migraine started, my face went completely numb and then the symptoms cascaded from there. When I reminded her she’d agreed not to use scented stuff she said her favourite phrase “but it’s natural.” No matter how many times I tell her it doesn’t make any difference whether a product is “natural” or not (and she has no idea what natural means anyway, even bottled, manufactured crap full of chemicals is “natural” according to her) it’s the fact that it smells that makes the difference. Anyway in the end she agreed to get rid of it but now she is giving me the silent treatment, which obviously makes for such a pleasant atmosphere, plus it means I have to manage alone with no one to drive me. This is one of the things that really sucks about being so poor - never being able to live alone in my own place and control my own environment.
And now I can’t even collect my prescriptions as my medical exemption certificate, entitling me to free prescriptions has run out and the NHS still hasn’t sent me a new one. I have to either pay for my prescriptions while I try to get this sorted, or go without. Including my literal lifesaving cancer meds, stroke meds and thyroxine. What kind of a stupid system is this?
You sound like you could use a hug
I absolutely get the frustration with your landlady. What the fuck is “natural” even supposed to mean urgh love that type of comment. I’m sorry this is making things difficult for you on top of the certificate and the migraines the smells are introducing.
Thank you.
It’s just an endless source of stress never knowing when she’s going to start doing it again. And she is a stereotypical boomer with that whole immature boomer attitude of “I’m not getting my own way so I’m going to behave like an angry toddler throwing tantrums and giving people the silent treatment”.
was lonely today, had violent thoughts, fun stuff
Im sorry, comrade
One of my professors told me that “Oh yeah I can’t tell the difference between these things either” for two things I have to distinguish for my exams.
Well fuck
Then… How do they expect you to know??
One of the thingamajigs unlike the other thingamabob is usually (But not always) next to a third structure. We are not guaranteed that the third structure will be present in any sample.
Help
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