"DISABLED PEOPLE ARE LAZY AND A DRAIN ON RESOURCES " QUOTE TWEET — Scope | Disability forum
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"DISABLED PEOPLE ARE LAZY AND A DRAIN ON RESOURCES " QUOTE TWEET

B1nkyb00
B1nkyb00 Community member Posts: 45 Connected
THIS STEREOTYPE HAS TO CHANGE. DO YOU FEEL THE PUBLIC THINK DISABLED PEOPLE ARE LAZY? I'VE NEVER MET A LAZY DISABLED PERSON!!!!
https://youtu.be/AASIC8K8b9Y?list=PLtbcZsZIvZdKpkO7ANHZiYhp1laIZR735
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Comments

  • feir
    feir Community member Posts: 397 Pioneering
    Of course there are lazy disabled people, just like there are lazy able people. And you're entitled to be lazy if you want to be, it's a bad habit to get into but there's no law against it.

    I think most people get that disability can affect a persons abilities though and aren't as ignorant as the person who made the tweet. I see they are nationalist who made the tweet, there is a generalisation about those people too that they are supremecists, so it makes sense that they don't like disabled people and here we can see they fit their stereotype.
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  • Ripples
    Ripples Community member Posts: 189 Pioneering
    The youtuber reminds me of a Hurrah Henry type who has no concept of the real world because daddy has always been there with his wallet  yah.
  • [Deleted User]
    [Deleted User] Posts: 10 Connected
    How dare he stereotype disabled people as lazy. My wife and I would rather be at work than me caring for her in her last few months. We have both worked for over 45 years and we wont get a chance to enjoy our retirement. 
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  • Yadnad
    Yadnad Posts: 2,856 Disability Gamechanger
    edited May 2018
    You could also include those that claim the State Pension.

    It has been said that some are lazy, but in the main the majority are a drain on resources.

    Obviously I don't include myself as at 70 I am now carrying out voluntary work consisting of more hours a week than I was when working before retirement.

    In one job I oversee a £1.7m school budget and in another chair the board of directors involving a £3.1m sports & leisure establishment!

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  • Yadnad
    Yadnad Posts: 2,856 Disability Gamechanger
    Victoriad said:
    State Pension!

    What a wheeze.....lucky you ,already getting yours for the past decade and if working 30 plus years, enjoying your well earned pension.

    Ill probably be a 106 by the time I get mine....and when I do get my taxable State Pension, I intend to enjoy every last single penny of it......Ive earned every penny of it, thankyou very much!



    30+ years??? I have never stopped working.

    As for the State Pension, Had it not been for the government years ago it would be a lot higher than what it is now.

    The Pension in 1976 represented 30% of the average weekly wage Based on that and that the current average weekly wage of £510, the basic state pension  should be £153.00 a week. 

    The basic state pension that I get is £126 a week because I was born in 1948 despite 49 years of contributions. Those born in 1951 onwards will get £164,00 a week!!





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  • shirleyt214
    shirleyt214 Community member Posts: 14 Courageous
    And Disability Minister, Sarah Newton MP thinks disabled people are 'liars' for saying they are living in a 'hostile environment'.
    Shirley Todd
  • Topkitten
    Topkitten Community member Posts: 1,285 Pioneering
    This is obviously an emotive subject so I apologise in advance if I say something hard for some to accept.

    I think the term "lazy" as it is used here implies more that people undeserving claim disability rather than work or contribute. No system is perfect and I have certainly met a few "disabled" people who aren't really so. I do not know the percentage for fraudulent PIP claims but I can guarantee it is higher than the 1% that DLA had attributed to it. Unfortunately there will always be a minority of people gaining unfair advantage. However, I have seen this sort of term bandied about by the press over the years and, to the majority of disabled, it is unfair and untrue. However, the general perception of the disability amounts and other assistance that disabled people receive is well over exaggerated. I have talked to many people in a group run by MIND and where the majority are not physically disabled have been astounded by the low amounts of benefit and lack of other assistance I have received.

    Most people involved in governing the country are healthy and have no real understanding of our situations, especially those that really need to know, and rely on the warped opinion expressed by the press and TV. It isn't helped by some of the TV programs dealing with benefits who show many fraudulent DLA claims rather than showing a representative amount. I remember a particular case showing a woman claiming full mobility DLA who walked a total of 5 miles and used a bus to get to the benefit office to complain about her inability to work benefit at a time when being unable to walk 50 metres was a minimum requirement for claiming higher rate mobility DLA. It is somewhat understandable that the disabled aren't taken seriously when such people get themselves on TV. This particular person I would class as a "Stick tapper", one who carries a stick and claims to need it yet only ever taps it on the floor, never actually using it even to help her balance. Some mostly healthy people still think that carrying a stick is a good reason to deserve disability benefits and therefore do so. Personally I put as much of my weight as possible onto my sticks ALL the time but even if it is unnecessary for some and just need it to balance properly, there are times when at least some weight is put on it. Just needing a stick for confidence isn't, by itself, an indication of disability and should be reinforced by other indicators like having to stop and rest and many others. I don't say this to upset people, I am just trying to show how some fraudulent claims slip through the system.

    I suppose that, in a way, some disabled people are unintentionally "lazy". I have met quite a few really disabled people who will not try to do things if a doctor has suggested they shouldn't. Many won't find out for themselves and attribute a GP's conservative views as completely true. I find this disappointing not for my sake but for theirs as I feel that they are maybe selling themselves short by not trying. Ofc I would never out rightly say they SHOULD try but might hint to them that doctors aren't always right and, under appropriate safe conditions, it might be an idea for them to "give it a go" sometimes. I think some disabled might find themselves pleasantly surprised about what they can actually do and it might give them a boost to know that they aren't quite as bad as people around them assume. I often suggest to people in wheelchairs to contribute more in conversation as healthy people always assume they can't.

    I'm sorry, I'm waffling a lot tonight. Result of overcoming a bad day.

    TK
    "I'm on the wrong side of heaven and the righteous side of hell" - from Wrong side of heaven by Five Finger Death Punch.
  • fionah
    fionah Community member Posts: 7 Listener
    I rarely get involved with debates idealistic fit and well people who have this view. They never budge. 

    They think they work hard and think it's alright for others not working and just getting money... little do the able bodied well peoplet realise the perseverance needed to do everyday tasks in pain or feeling ill or struggling in general. 

    Everybody is only 1 serious illness or accident away from a life changing situation. 

    My ex husband made me feel a burden. He poisoned his Mum and sister against me. So I had enough on my plate without caring what strangers on Twitter think of us so called benefits scroungers. How anybody can do something. On that note most things are voluntary not paid eg £20 a week that you can do.
  • Waylay
    Waylay Community member, Scope Member Posts: 973 Pioneering
    Why do you think that the number is more than 1%, @topkitten? If the DWP could possibly cite a higher number, they would.
  • wilko
    wilko Community member Posts: 2,458 Disability Gamechanger
    @ a Topkitten, you are right in your comments and observations, having worked since 17 now disabled with MS living off benefits at 63 like you do what I can, did the Physo after my spinal decompression surgery hoping to return to work but having three MRIs and being diagnosed with the MS changed my outlook on life. Not being able to do physical tacks or taking ages or struggling it is nice to look back and see what you have achieved. Relying on a mobility scooter to dog walking  and shopping trips, unable to drive for long periods. Finishing work and claiming benefits for the first time was and still is a challenging affair, but there is always somebody worst off and many who fiddle, play the system falsely claim benefits, I can hold my head high I am not one of them.
  • Yadnad
    Yadnad Posts: 2,856 Disability Gamechanger
    Waylay said:
    Why do you think that the number is more than 1%, @topkitten? If the DWP could possibly cite a higher number, they would.
    If the DWP actually know who this 1% is then the figure should be 0%.
    To be honest they really haven't a clue. It's like the police saying that there are x% of people living in any particular street that are drug dealers. How do they know? If they did then they would be arrested.
  • Topkitten
    Topkitten Community member Posts: 1,285 Pioneering
    @Waylay and @Yadnad. The figure is what I saw quoted in DWP documentation and those that slip through can be very clever about it. However it is only an estimate and is based on the fraud investigations that occasionally discover and prove fraud . No system is perfect after all. As for PIP being much higher.... any new system or benefit has problems and PIP and Universal Credit are prime examples of inadequate research and a lack of proper controls. This leaves them little time to roll out the fraud group who do the checking on people.

    Every benefit has a fraud group and often investigations are bodged. My first wife was investigated in such a way as she was claiming to be unable to work but, at the time, was running a private business in partnership with her sister holding Keep Fit Classes (as it was described then) which even got into a local paper who reported on her business. The investigation took a year and, when I found out about it through my daughters, I asked DWP or Council what the outcome was. Evidently they collected the data incorrectly and couldn't use it to take any action and decided not to try again as she had changed her claims. They did say she defrauded the system, they just couldn't prove it legally.

    This btw, is one of the reasons that now they automatically stop or reduce benefits after receiving anonymous reports of fraud and force the claimant to fight to prove they should get it back. A dreadful method that punishes those most needing the help the most but is the easiest way for them to get better results.

    TK
    "I'm on the wrong side of heaven and the righteous side of hell" - from Wrong side of heaven by Five Finger Death Punch.
  • Yadnad
    Yadnad Posts: 2,856 Disability Gamechanger
    Topkitten said:
    .This btw, is one of the reasons that now they automatically stop or reduce benefits after receiving anonymous reports of fraud and force the claimant to fight to prove they should get it back. A dreadful method that punishes those most needing the help the most but is the easiest way for them to get better results.

    TK
    If that system works then OK, there is nothing wrong in having to prove that you are innocent. This happens every day in other walks of life. When people are arrested by the police and provided there is a public interest angle to it, that information will find it's way into the newspapers and TV, not forgetting the web.
    It may take months even years for the police to establish that they are innocent and then and only then will they be released.
    The damage is already done and it is up to the arrested individual to prove to the press and the public that they have done nothing wrong.
    Being arrested can and does cause major damage to their life which can never be undone.

    So yes let the accused prove entitlement as they should be doing at regular intervals throughout their claim period. 

Brightness