The Oxcliffe Vixen

Yesterday, I heard yet another person complaining about people being on the sick unnecessarily & get free cars etc. I do wish some people would realise that some people are disabled even though they look perfectly normal. To get any sickness benefits you have to go through rigorous medicals. To get free cars you have to prove you cannot walk more than 100 metres without stopping or pain.

It's something that particularly gets to me. I started getting sickness benefits at a young age - still in my 40s. I look normal when you see me sat down. I'm bright, articulate, laughing etc, like everyone else. It's not until I get up you realise I'm not so able. The odd time the Fox has not been able to help me at the Pub, where we are well known, and have to ask staff for help, that they suddenly realise how hard they have to pull to get me up, or how much weight I put on them to get down just one small step. Then they realise I am indeed disabled. Even now I get scowls when we park in the disabled places in car parks. That is until they see the Fox getting out the wheelchair.

I am sure I'm not the only one with real problems which people don't notice, or haven't the eyes to see. I have a couple of friends with ME. The number of times I've heard people dismiss their difficulties as being all in the mind. They're just being lazy or attention seekers. They look normal. But, as with me, anyone outside the home, only see such people on their good days, when they're feeling brighter, and often it's only for an hour or so even then.

No. Have some compssion. There may be some scroungers but most people on sickness benefits of one sort or another are genuine. They've often fought hard to get that benefit, at considerable cost to their own health as they've coped with the stress and/or pain that are a consequence. And at the end of the day, the benefits are not that great, compared with the costs involved in being disabled. Many aids have to be bought, as does home help if you don't have a willing family member or friend to help. And those family & friends get a pittance for their efforts. The Fox is on duty 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and yet Carer's Allowance is only £50.55, not much for so many hours of work!

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• #1 Comment from heterocon 
  17/07/08 11:52 | Permalink

  A wholehearted endorsement for this post. As one of the "scroungers", I simply wish that the finger pointers had to share their lives with someone with an "invisible" disability; then again I suspect that most would collapse at the first hurdle. The name of the game seems to be making people feel guilty about being dis-abled, rather than being grateful that they themselves enjoy much better health!