Blaming the disabled....

They have demonised us, trivialised the conditions that cripple us... and now they want to blame us.  We shouldn't really be surprised. 

But that doesn't mean we should just take it.  The powers that be have always liked the idea of dividing people into deserving and undeserving groups.  In Victorian times the deserving poor could have a pat on the head, a bowl of gruel and a quick and uncomfortable stay in the workhouse.  Those considered undeserving on the other hand got nothing apart from a swift kick in the bum (and maybe a stay in the local lock-up for good measure.)

These notions - that the sick, the poor and anyone else who is considered an inconvenience - can be set to one side and ignored for the most scurrilous of reasons, should have been long since discredited.  The fact that they are resurfacing and worse, supported by the people who are supposed to be running this country, is worrying.

Who gets to decide these things?  Anyone who is disabled shudders when you mention ATOS who are clearly not up to the job of even deciding factual matters such as disability.  Can you imagine what would happen if we added a moral dimension to this?  The tick-box mentality would run amok....

Question 1.  How could you have prevented your disability?  (Note that they will not ask 'Could you have prevented it - that will be a foregone conclusion.) 


And no matter how you answer, you will be doomed because the whole thing is so badly skewed.  And nobody is capable of using even a smidgen of common sense.

A while back, I applied for a disabled person's bus pass - I need to be able to take a companion with me when I travel.  I was told I did not qualify any more because the criteria had changed.  Oh, they had changed all right.  It is no longer enough to be partially sighted, or blind, and have mobility problems, you now have to have a visual AND hearing disability as well. 
I pointed out that visual problems are highly disabling when you need to travel, but was told there was nothing anyone could do, because it was 'the guidelines.'
So I asked, 'If the guidelines were changed to allow bus passes only to people with two heads born in Alpha Centaruii, would you go aloong with that too?'
There was a confused silence.  'Well, no....'
'And the guidelines allow for the application of some discretion?'
'Well, yes....'
'Then why can't you apply it in this case?'

I got my pass eventually.  But I can't help wondering how many others just give up.