Dementia and working age Benefits

As I now have dementia, but used to work in Benefits, I think that I understand, but don’t agree with, the theories.

Most governments want everyone to work that can, mainly to produce more taxes and claim less benefits. If the DWP think that you can work 16 hours out of seven days, that is enough to stop ESA; for instance if you can work five hours on day one, but take day two to recover then five hours on day three, day four to recover, work five (they will believe six for one day), on another that’s sixteen hours a week. They don’t see, and don’t care how exhausted you are after each day. Yes, this does negate people with dementia from being too visibly active, but the govt puts paid work above claimants doing beneficial unpaid work. The main problem is for those who have to rely on the pittance of Benefits to survive; the choice boils down to, do we live actively and lose Benefits or become inactive. Actually, I am “fortunate” in that I cannot do more than two hours concentrating a day, so this dilemma does not face me. Disclosure; in a sense it is my own “fault” as I “walked away” from a very large inheritance, but have never regretted it, and still don’t. One never knows what life will throw at you, one has to be happy in oneself.

Again with PIP, if one is too determined to be active the DWP do not believe you require assistance. It is very much a catch 22 situation. I say the DWP, I mean the govt, but the govt only does what the public lets it get away with. Yes, the media stoke Benefit fraud stories, but again if people did not read them they would not be profitable to write about. So, ultimately I am afraid the real people to blame for this terrible situation is society as a whole, because they do not want to see the problems. When they get hit by Benefit poverty, or lack of Social Care it is too late for those individuals to fight as they are having to firefight to just survive.

We all fight at our different levels, because I can’t travel etc I have decided to fight a local level. I believe Councillors should be shouting from the rooftops about the cuts to their budgets and Benefits using, authorised, personal stories so the public can see what is really going on, then change might happen….. we all live in hope..