Sunday 6 December 2009

Why not kick people while they are down?

I know, a strange title for a post.
I have just read this article, and wonder what the world is coming to. These days if you are off ill from work, where I work you have to undergo a "return to work" interview. When you've been off work ill, you just want to get back into your work, and yes, I know many companies do this now, but why when you have long term conditions that are made worse by stress, do they make the interviews as stressful as possible.
This past week my asthma went out of control, I don't know why? But to such an extent that on Friday I coughed myself sick, and was unable to go to work.
While I'm grumbling about draconian measures taken these days, perhaps I should point out something else the current government initiatives have caused. I have a very dear friend who suffers from Arachnoiditis, this is quite a rare condition, but they were retired from their work because of it. At one point they were hospitalised almost totally paralysed. This person has enough courage and determination to get them self mobile again, yet they have to take very strong painkillers to ease the condition. What is the latest indignity this person has been subjected to? They have had their Disability Living Allowance taken off them, which has meant losing their car, and this at a time when they have successfully overcome throat cancer for a second time, and keep ending up in hospital with vasovagal syndrome. Yet an overweight neighbour of mine, who has never worked as long as I have lived here has a "disability", yet he owns a minimum of 4 vehicles, all with the tax paid by the government.
This doesn't seem at all fair, especially when my friend keeps himself busy, and this neighbour seems to do nothing but help keep the local hostelries open

1 comment:

Helen said...

Your friend should appeal their DLA decision: they turn down far too many applications but they can always be appealled. Get the Citizens' Advice Bureau to help - don't let them get away with it.