[alienpresence]

ramboghettouk, on 24 November 2010 - 11:13 AM, said:

You tell me and others to use the advice line, well i've phoned a no of times put on hold then given a messsage and been disconnected, if the **** hits tha fan is anything going to be different

My experience is rethink has no expeience of those living alone with mental illness, it's a carers organisation, a lot of the assumptions of rethink staff show how out of contact they are with my paricular group

What happened to the forgotton generation

A lot of them got forgottten about in bed'n'breakfast. Jammy so&so's. The new forgotten generation like we are....we live in cardboard boxes...if we can find one large enough in the age of flat screen tv's....'ll have to go on a diet like the TV's?

[Admin - Rethink]

ramboghettouk, on 24 November 2010 - 11:13 AM, said:

You tell me and others to use the advice line, well i've phoned a no of times put on hold then given a messsage and been disconnected, if the **** hits tha fan is anything going to be different

My experience is rethink has no expeience of those living alone with mental illness, it's a carers organisation, a lot of the assumptions of rethink staff show how out of contact they are with my paricular group

What happened to the forgotton generation

Hi Rambo, did you call during the open times? See www.rethink.org/advice- the telephone service isn't open all day, we wish it could be - but it's also not for emergency help, but for practical advice on any MH issues.

Rethink's membership is full of people living with mental illness, not just carers. If you have a particular issue or complaint about Rethink staff, please write to info@rethink.org - we take all issues like these seriously.

[Lisa]

After reading this thread and finally understanding that at some point I am going to be assessed for ESA I am more worried than ever.
There are some jobs I could do - I can sit at a computer, and I write pretty good letters and stuff: some days I think I could rule the world. BUT I can't leave my house so I would have to work from home, and I can't always get up in the morning, so I have to work my own hours, and I don't answer the phone. Is there such a job? Does that matter for the purpose of the ESA assessment?

I don't have a Facebook account - I don't know anyone, except two family members who I haven't seen for over 5 years, and neither of them have a pc. I think my psychiatrist finds this hard to comprehend; I don't know anyone. At all. There is a local day centre which I investigated a few years ago but they wouldn't let me go as I didn't have a cpn. Now I still don't have a cpn but my psychiatrist is attached to the local cmht so they might let me attend, but it's too late; my agoraphobia is worse and I cannot leave the house. FML.

[ghost]

Lisa, on 24 November 2010 - 01:46 PM, said:

After reading this thread and finally understanding that at some point I am going to be assessed for ESA I am more worried than ever.
There are some jobs I could do - I can sit at a computer, and I write pretty good letters and stuff: some days I think I could rule the world. BUT I can't leave my house so I would have to work from home, and I can't always get up in the morning, so I have to work my own hours, and I don't answer the phone. Is there such a job? Does that matter for the purpose of the ESA assessment?

There was a glimmer of hope yesterday Lisa with the government saying they would look at the ESA test again. Hopefully by the time you are called for ESA it will have been changed for the better

[Lisa]

ghost, on 24 November 2010 - 03:21 PM, said:

There was a glimmer of hope yesterday Lisa with the government saying they would look at the ESA test again. Hopefully by the time you are called for ESA it will have been changed for the better

Thanks for that. I'll keep my fingers crossed. And I bookmarked your link to the Benefits and Work site in case I need it.
My psychiatrist told me that the number of people he sees (including me) who are getting hysterical about this work/benefit situation is getting ridiculous.

[DeletedMember]

Chris - Rethink, on 24 November 2010 - 09:40 AM, said:

Ditko, that's odd about the Facebook thing - was it a written question? I worry about the assumptions that may be behind that question. I hope that GPs or whoever don't assume that online communication is an automatic indicator of wellness etc.

I was asked right at the end of the medical, it was the last question - nothing was written down in front of me but they don't let you see the questions on their screen. My medical was carried out by an Atos examiner, I wouldn't assume he was a GP. Many of the Atos death squad are not GPs. I've read that they employ a lot of physio-therapists to examin the suspects.

[DeletedMember]

Lisa, on 24 November 2010 - 03:35 PM, said:

Thanks for that. I'll keep my fingers crossed. And I bookmarked your link to the Benefits and Work site in case I need it.
My psychiatrist told me that the number of people he sees (including me) who are getting hysterical about this work/benefit situation is getting ridiculous.

Let us know if you have any problems with any future claims, I might be able to give you a bit of advice - i'm on my sceond appeal in 3 years. There is some hope to be drwn from the HOn those days when it's too scary to leave the house we will just have to settle for ruling the world from our front rooms...

Google Professor Malcolm Harrington's work capability assessment review, as Ghost says, it looks promising.

[ghost]

Lisa, on 24 November 2010 - 03:35 PM, said:

Thanks for that. I'll keep my fingers crossed. And I bookmarked your link to the Benefits and Work site in case I need it.
My psychiatrist told me that the number of people he sees (including me) who are getting hysterical about this work/benefit situation is getting ridiculous.

I think any mental health worker who works on the front line understands that at this moment we have an explosion of anxiety and illness due to these government policies. I'm probably one of the many in the way it has affected me. People need straight talk that exists in reality, the alternative is to let people walk blindly into a situation that could destroy them. Hopefully, by discussing the possible reality people can become more informed and in turn change things and be prepared. It was very good news about them looking at ESA, lets just hope they follow up the words.

The benefits and work website is worth the subscription imo

[ramboghettouk]

Hi Rambo, did you call during the open times? See www.rethink.org/advice- the telephone service isn't open all day, we wish it could be - but it's also not for emergency help, but for practical advice on any MH issue

Maybe you consider me so daft and crazy i phone out of opening hours but that isn\t the case

[ethan]

alienpresence, on 11 November 2010 - 11:33 AM, said:

If I'm unable to keep appointments because of bad nerve days and medication induced tiredness when I become homeless and begin to starve should I do this in public or wander into the countryside to starve in private?

Book a new day to do it and get a cab.

[alienpresence]

ethan, on 08 December 2010 - 05:13 AM, said:

Book a new day to do it and get a cab.

On my bad days I've cut my own phone wires and trashed the place.....would they understand?

[Dory]

Ditko, on 11 November 2010 - 01:18 AM, said:

I don't get DLA, I was too intimidated to apply for it. I'd like to raise the following points that I am directly screwed by...

Incapacity benefit? (migration to ESA [WRAG])
Atos? (flawed and corrupt)
Legal Aid? (slashed)
Housing Benefit 10% reduction? (punitive)
Under 35's to move into shared accomodation? (I am 33)


In April I will have to move out of my flat because i'm under 35, I will have to move into shared accomodation. I've been without my IB since April and my appeal is'nt due until next year. 2 points awarded by Atos for svere Bipolar Disorder.
Keep pushing me, keep treating me like a second class citizen and eventually I will flip (think Michael Douglas in 'Falling Down'). I can only take so much, my dispair is turning into anger, fast.

I don't have any questions, politicians don't answer them.

Ditko
x

,

Its not good eh?

everyone is screwed! my despair and anger merge regularly...... now I actually think I have gone mad ;D

[ramboghettouk]

If they tell me i don't have to worry, i think am i really in that top 10% who are so ill they're safe, not as i said before what those people who told me i was stabilised on meds said, if i do have something to worry about, can't win

There is a lot of stigma attached to severe mental illness, i'd rather have the respect of not been severely mentally ill but i'm 52 with a work history that stinks, i neeed the severely sick benefit to live

AS i said to one psychiatrist these things aren't written on tablets of stone brought down from mount sinai, i do think theres room for interpretation

I'd rather be interpreted as well that is until i end up starving and homeless

[raz]

this government don't want anybody getting benefits. even them who are really disabled.

[Able Scribe]

raz, on 27 December 2010 - 06:28 PM, said:

this government don't want anybody getting benefits. even them who are really disabled.

Hi raz
This government is 2-faced: It was Okay for David Cameron to draw his benefits - On Full Pay - to take paternal leave and drop governing the country for some nappy-changing. He was no good at that so he took his old job back - to the detriment of the rest of us. One rule for the Toffs, another for the plebs.

[raz]

The prime Minster says theres going to be loads of cuts in spending in every government department what about there wages. Will they take a pay cut in there wages Like there cutting benefits. What about selling Buckingham palace its worth about a billion. And these large buildings where they deal with benefits can't they move to cheaper buildings. And sell them.

[alienpresence]

raz, on 31 December 2010 - 02:33 PM, said:

The prime Minster says theres going to be loads of cuts in spending in every government department what about there wages. Will they take a pay cut in there wages Like there cutting benefits. What about selling Buckingham palace its worth about a billion. And these large buildings where they deal with benefits can't they move to cheaper buildings. And sell them.

The French haven't had half as many cuts and their situation is twice as bad. Then their leaders know what happens when the cuts start to get out of hand and rebound back on their own heads?

[raz]

the rich will always run the country. they all go to oxford or Cambridge university.

[alienpresence]

raz, on 31 December 2010 - 03:22 PM, said:

the rich will always run the country. they all go to oxford or Cambridge university.

They want you to think that. They are seriously indaquate compared with the unprecedented crisis we are rapidly approaching. Bluff and appeals to tradtion is what got every ruling classes head on the chopping block. I'd rather be on the ground floor when this economy starts to go belly up but its not what I really want; I've had realistic apsirations and these are what will get us out of the mess not some claim to power based on a line of blood. Those who can count to a hundred without cheating on themselves will be more likely to get through this than those who know some weak-minded economic or social theory. We all get a lottery ticket in the days ahead and all we have to do is play it straight and fair. The rich will fail at the first hurdle having lied to themselves so long.