So you’re somebody with a disability who thanks to a bit of support from the government is still able to work and keep yourself going; you’re not doing brilliantly well perhaps but you cope. And then they take that support away:
So imagine my devastation when my government, took away my car and told me, you are no longer entitled to help or benefits because frankly you’re just not disabled enough. With no car I fear now my life as I know it is on borrowed time. I’ve appealed but the minimum wait for an appeal is another 11 weeks. With no car I’m struggling to get to work, I have to walk to the bus stop and try and manage two bus journeys and another walk from the bus stop to work. By the time I get there my feet already scream in pain. By the time I’ve done an 8 hour shift I’m dead on my feet and I have the same two bus journey home to do before I can even think about sitting down and resting my red raw and sore painful feet. If they ever get that bad I usually don’t walk on them for 24 hours to try and let them recover but without a car and rent and bills to pay I have less than 12 hours before I have to do it all over again. There’s no chance of food shopping (how on earth could I carry it home!) and I don’t think hospital appointments are available on a weekend.
If I lose my job I lose my house and then where do I go? On a council housing list? Oh I’m afraid not, you see I was bought up to earn my own living, take the minimal help i need and don’t have babies until i can afford them, and yet when I call to ask for help I am told that as i don’t have any dependent children they cannot house me and as i elected to leave work (regardless of why!) they won’t help to find me a home because I had one.
So here I am, in pain and in fear of losing my home because I can’t physically carry on getting to work but more importantly because today my government gave up on me. I’ve spent all my life trying to live the right life, to be a productive part of society and not different but it seems I got it wrong because my society cannot help me unless I have done all the things my hard working mother told me not too.
What do you think will happen? If she’s in luck this poor woman might just win her appeal, “only” having had to suffer unnecessary pain for the eleven weeks or longer it will take her to put her appeal through. More likely she’s fucked, her appeal will be denied and instead she’ll try to cope a bit longer, probably fail, lose her job, her health and her house and finally the council will have to take care of her, at much greater cost to both her and that mythical beast the taxpayer, but at least she won’t be a “burden” on central government anymore…
Welfare reform is always contraproductive, ruining lives for dubious savings. And this particular instance of it doesn’t even save money, but just shifts the expenses to local government, much less able to bear it.