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Hhow do we challenge the blatent misuse of power rife in disability assesments

[Deleted User]

I feel enough is enough! i know im not alone. I am sick of this pathologically flawed system of assessments we are subjected to as disabled people. Can we not stop waiting for government to see logic and overturn their cruel. traumatising. unethical scapegoating aimed unashamedly open attack on each and everyone who cant work due to disability! Okay we have been demonised in the media ...its time we had our voices heard as a group. i feel we need to even the field as this is institutional abuse . We deserve to be treated with dignity and not like lying second class citizens! we are struggling unacceptably each and every day...i for one would be happy for anyone to challenge my disability but please dont manipulate or ignore the evidence to dismiss my valid claim for benefits.

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kalen

Hi Vickyanne, i totally agree with you. At present, i have challenged the assessors report to first tier CAPITA. After receiving their reply, I challenged it again 2nd tier. Got their 2nd tier reply and now in the process of challenging it still, with the department in charge of Pensions and disability security. I am seriously considering taking either CAPITA themselves, or their (ahhhmmm) "expert"? disability assessor, who is a 4 year qualified nurse to the small claims court.

I'm totally fed up with having been left trying to prove I am no liar, and in addition to my continuing complaint about the assessor, I have already, just today, completed the appeal form requesting an Oral Hearing.

For whatever reason, CAPITA are reluctant to accept some of their assessors are LIARS, complete and utter LIARS. But in their wisdom, have indirectly informed me that there are other complaints already lodged against the non-expect who assessed me.

Its just leaves you totally frustrated and doesn't do you a bit of good physically or mentally having to justify yourself. What do these cretins not have to justify themselves...........Oh forgetsy..................they are the disability experts !
x

[Deleted User]

Kalen this is so true most of us know the truth the system we face now is totally unfit for purpose! lying assessors that twist our words and ommit vital evidence and use words in a alternative way that totally misses the point and goes around in circles. my assesor took a phrase from a psychiatrist report done a year ago " low risk of suicide" and used that against me! WHY ? when the last time i looked this wasnt a criteria for disability! how appauling is this and can anyone totally know when someone is suicidal anyway? totally irreIivant and cold to use that phrase anyway. I have fibromyalgia a damaged neck . complex ptsd . pernicious anaemia and diverticular and liver disease .having tests at this time for periferal neuropathy due to the pernicious anaemia too. So why focus on that info about suicide risk. Ignored that the psychiatrist said i was depressed and very anxious and stated how i had no signs of anxiety .........even though you dont have ptsd without having anxiety full stop. Everything in assessment is a joke and i feel the media has paved the way for our bad treatment by painting us in a scrounging good for nothing way. Our voices need to be heard and this system of degration needs to end. i feel it needs a major change in the law so that the money that is being lost fighting to keep payments away from claimants is challenged by the tribunerals especially when 70% who get their benefit reinstated speaks of the inadequecies of the "assessments" William Beverage the founder of the benefit system stated that the right money to the right people at the right time is the cornerstone of the benefits system. surely the months we fight to get our legitimate awards is not acceptable even when backpaid as the whole point of the money is to help with our daily support?

Misscleo

Woohoo how true is that and so.well said.
So how do we go about taking on the dwp?
What really peees me off is madsive differences between how many points people get when they have the same health problems. There should be a scale

[Deleted User]

yes i feel this support forum is good however the root of the problem is not being tackled. we are all being gaslighted by a government that knows what its doing....a psychological tactic used by abusers to keep the abused going in circles and never getting to the problem in hand. Everyone is complaining and rightly so but nobody is actually able to right this wrong AS YET as the institution we fight has all the power. They are not fit to have this power and are blighting million s of lives, as we all know. I feel that the current criteria used is 100% flawed ...since when do humans fit neatly into these catogries or discriptors which prove disability? its a joke and if this was a way of checking ill health then GPs and hospitals would be using them to diagnose ill health . Disabilities are not difined by these discriptors!!!! logic does not apply to the assesment all they do is cause confusion which can then be used to complicate the process a word salad a gaslighting technique to steer the focus from them and onto us!. its like the public are watching a magician spirit away our daily struggles at face /paper value but we know we are still experiencing the disabilities and that we still have them.The name of it what we all feel disempowering frustration and more struggles to add to the many we have....We need to be heard and take the power back. I know it has to be done ...what do others think? Governments fight and score points between themselves whilst we get sent to our own personal hells...its got to end .

[Deleted User]

look

[Deleted User]

All who are fed up with this system what about flooding the media with our views? and all the real difficulties we are experiencing?

julie58

Hi both my daughter just had her assessment and the lady who took it has lied all about the assessment, as a result our daughter has been so ill this weekend and using self harm

[Deleted User]

yes this is unfortunetly the MO of the assessors many being apparently nurses and other health proffesionals that seem to think lying , misrepresenting the truth and using everything they can to undermine the claimant is fair ...i think we all have to stand together and shout NO!

[Deleted User]

Mental health provisions too are sadly neglected and underfunded to a dangerous level. Many have fallen through the net of the uncaring government policies....Shame on these policy making cold hearted reptiles

Topkitten

Unfortunately the media are not interested in putting forward the point of view of a minority unless something like death is the result. Just being mistreated is not good enough. I hove contacted many media outlets about being mistreated by various parts of the system as well as my MP. I was ignored by the media and the MP referred it back to internal procedures that had already failed. The governments aim is to reduce costs and their directions to the DWP and others mirror this. Unfairness is irrelevant to them especially being unfair to a minority.

Whilst I agree with the sentiments I doubt anything is likely to come of it.

TK

[Deleted User]

sent a email to GMTV...maybe i will get nowhere but that wont stop me. I did get a reply today saying its been passed to the production team .....? People are dying because the lack of support only this is being played down. it is happening though ....risk of suicide due to the government policies is there ..i myself know people who have attempted it as they couldnt cope...they were lucky and lived. i feel many dont realise what is going on under their very noses and highlighting it and getting public backing is the only way forward because then the government will see we are not such a easy target. why are they wasting money keeping benefits away from us costing the tax payer more in the long run is a valid question that sick and healthy need to know. Why are they letting our NHS go under is it because they see all the working classes as disposable pawns? its been going on for far too long and Joe bloggs needs to drop the apathy and speak up loud and clear or it will get worce. Universal credit is a sick joke of a policy and what sort of a idea is it to plunge people into 6 weeks without benefit ...this yet again affects the weakest of society....babies and children affected too! NO NO NO this is a psychopathic goverment totally devoid aof concience or empathy! what is their next cut going to be and when is the time to speak up if not now?

axwy62

After my experiences of two previous assessments I stapled a statement over the bits of the form they’re most likely to read (name, conditions, medication) which basically said I would sue the HCP personally if they messed up another assessment since complaining obviously hadn’t worked.
Both previous complaints ended up with the Independent Case Examiner and were upheld, but I doubt it will have changed anything.

atlas46

Hi @axwy62

Could you please expand on the two adjudication of the Indepent Case Examiner.

Did you take your complaints to the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman?

Where you awarde any compensation?

Thanks, in anticipation.

atlas46

Hi

My post are showing correct spelling when I post, but appear misspelt when arrive on forum. Spooky!

[Deleted User]

sorry what is the HCP? and who is the independent case examiner? i also dont know about the parlimentary and health service ombusman ...it seems you have to learn so much about law as the government is leaving us all attacked ...and using all the loopholes it can to take away our rights. Basically making a mockery of us all

axwy62

atlas46 said:

Hi @axwy62

Could you please expand on the two adjudication of the Indepent Case Examiner.

Did you take your complaints to the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman?

Where you awarde any compensation?

Thanks, in anticipation.

My first complaint was regarding ATOS and an ESA assessment. They cancelled 11 appointments before finally turning up 1 year 10 months after the first cancelled appointment, and many ‘cancellations’ were simply not turning up. One HCP said I was out when she called. Unfortunately for her, she’d posted the letter saying she’d called the day before the appointment so we’d contacted ATOS before she was due to arrive to ask what was going on. The actual assessment took less than 10 minutes and was just a repeat of the information on the form. ICE agreed that the repeated cancellations and no shows were unreasonable and gave me £20.
The second complaint was ATOS again, for PIP. Despite the info on the form regarding wheelchair etc, they wanted me to travel over 2 hours to a centre with no accessible public transport access, to arrive before 9 am on a Monday morning. They then decided that I should have a home assessment but failed to turn up, at which point I went ballistic and they decided to do a paper assessment which was so far from accurate that I genuinely thought they’d sent someone else’s report. As one example, the evidence I sent said I can only walk a few steps, can’t use crutches etc due to upper limb issues and so use a powered wheelchair. From that the HCP decided I could walk 20 metres using an aid. ICE upheld my complaint about the appointments but said they couldn’t deal with the issues with the report because I should have appealed, but DWP told me I couldn’t appeal because I already had a maximum award.
I didn’t take either complaint any further as I didn’t see any point.

axwy62

vickyanne said:

sorry what is the HCP? and who is the independent case examiner? i also dont know about the parlimentary and health service ombusman ...it seems you have to learn so much about law as the government is leaving us all attacked ...and using all the loopholes it can to take away our rights. Basically making a mockery of us all

HCP is healthcare professional - the person who does the assessment.
Independent Case Examiner handles complaints about DWP and their contractors, a bit like an ombudsman.

[Deleted User]

Thankyou

Waylay

Hi all. There are multiple groups working on this stuff, and we'd love your help! Check out:

Disability News Service is an amazing site focussing on disability news! https://www.disabilitynewsservice.com/

Disabled People Against Cuts: https://dpac.uk.net/ . Their research page is awesome, and they organise demos and protests

Black Triangle organise some protests: http://blacktrianglecampaign.org/

WOW Voices: https://wowvoices.uk/ tells the stories of people like us, and publishes them on FB and twitter.

WOW Debate is really important. Check it out: https://wowvoices.uk/wowdebate-what-you-can-do-to-help/

Disability Justice has useful info: https://www.disabilityjustice.org.uk/learn-more-and-take-action/

Inclusion London: https://www.inclusionlondon.org.uk/

has tons of useful info

*The UN is sending the Special Rapporteur on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights to the UK on Nov. 6th: https://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Poverty/Pages/SRExtremePovertyIndex.aspx *

Mental Health Resistance Network: https://mentalhealthresistance.org/

Really good blog on UC, as well as all kinds of other useful stuff: https://universalcreditsuffer.com/

Another great blog: https://www.katebelgrave.com/

And my favourite: https://kittysjones.wordpress.com/ This one is often pretty academic, but extremely informative!

Also, if you're on twitter, find me @bluesunquake . Most of the people I follow are disability activists.

Hope that helps!

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