I am seriously worried about the future. Not so much for me, because I am blessed to have the support I have, but for those people suffering from chronic illnesses and disability who are running out of options.<\/p>\n
You may think I am being somewhat over dramatic here, but in reality, there is a problem, and it is being hidden, and there is a systematic assault on the very people who need protecting most. But the news doesn’t report this. The voices are dim, the fights are weak. The most vociferous are often the most suffering. And this is wrong.<\/p>\n
A couple of weeks back there was a march against the DLA\/ESA reform in London, called the Hardest Hit.<\/a> It barely featured in the 1 O Clock news, let alone the 6\/10pm slots. Was almost one of those afterthoughts – those ‘aah, isn’t this nice, people in wheelchairs out for the day’ type things. And then came the Daily Mail type comments; ‘if they can get down to London to protest, they can jolly well work and stop scrounging off the taxpayers money’. There is a lack of empathy pervading society that shocks me and leaves me cold, and yet this could be just round the corner for any one of us.<\/p>\n I had a look at the new proposed criteria for the ‘Personal Independence Plan’<\/a> and only became more worried about the narrowing of criteria and the loss of dignity this will inevitably bring. I fear that many will now be caught in a trap; that of not being ‘disabled enough’ to gain disability benefits, and yet being too ill to be employed, not being able to get JSA because of not being able to get to the Jobcentre due to illness or lack of mobility, having lost mobility allowance….and so on, and so on. A vicious circle of ever decreasing proportions which may leave some at best housebound and despairing and at worst – well, let’s not go there. As a society which prides itself on looking after its most vulnerable citizens, we are in danger of falling into a pit of unseen depths. If you still think I am being dramatic, please take some time to read this<\/a> to see how this is already affecting thousands.<\/p>\n For me as a Christian, this is affecting me so much because of how we see people. Are people valuable, or are they commodities? Do people matter because they are people, because they are who they are, or because of what they can bring to society? As someone who believes all are made in God’s image and all are inexplicably precious and amazing, it feels like these reforms may be devaluing and cutting off those who cannot fight for themselves, and this is utterly contrary to God’s ways.<\/p>\n For me as someone with chronic illness, this is affecting me so much because I am reliant; on my family and on society as a whole to live. Perhaps for those who have no support system their thinking will soon verge on whether they have any value at all, whether it is worth fighting, whether it is better to give up, and stop burdening others.<\/p>\n I am worried about the future. The future looks cold. What are we going to do about it?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I am seriously worried about the future. Not so much for me, because I am blessed to have the support I have, but for those…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_wp_convertkit_post_meta":{"form":"-1","landing_page":"0","tag":"0","restrict_content":"0"},"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[79,38,76,43,4,45,47,94,39],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-56","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-atos","category-disability","category-dla","category-esa","category-god","category-illness","category-suffering","category-value","category-welfare"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8T2j8-U","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":36,"url":"https:\/\/greatadventure.carterclan.me.uk\/?p=36","url_meta":{"origin":56,"position":0},"title":"Paralympics Meanderings","author":"liz","date":"September 1, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"How fabulous are the Paralympics?I love seeing how the athletes have worked so hard and triumphed over such adversity. They are inspirational. It's quite staggering to see how far some of them have come in their lives and their sport. And - well, they're fantastic athletes.However, there is something of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "atos"","block_context":{"text":"atos","link":"https:\/\/greatadventure.carterclan.me.uk\/?cat=79"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":57,"url":"https:\/\/greatadventure.carterclan.me.uk\/?p=57","url_meta":{"origin":56,"position":1},"title":"Why I love Brussians","author":"liz","date":"May 9, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"I went to a meet up this weekend with a few people from the website 'Bronchiectasis R Us' which was set up a few years ago by the lovely Charlotte as a way for people suffering from this rare disease to connect and share information and support. We've been having\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "bronchiectasis"","block_context":{"text":"bronchiectasis","link":"https:\/\/greatadventure.carterclan.me.uk\/?cat=95"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":19,"url":"https:\/\/greatadventure.carterclan.me.uk\/?p=19","url_meta":{"origin":56,"position":2},"title":"If they won’t I will","author":"liz","date":"August 31, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"There's a lot going about on Twitter at the moment about the death figures for those claiming ESA in the past five years. It makes for some fairly scary reading. 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In the first case, pondering on the harrowing and unthinkable suffering parents of these incredibly premature babies go through, and endeavouring to imagine what it would be like (impossible to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "babies"","block_context":{"text":"babies","link":"https:\/\/greatadventure.carterclan.me.uk\/?cat=66"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/lh3.googleusercontent.com\/-VU46xaeB4iI\/TXzt5MSGpqI\/AAAAAAAACio\/rh9FheAeqh8\/s320\/baby%2Bhand.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":24,"url":"https:\/\/greatadventure.carterclan.me.uk\/?p=24","url_meta":{"origin":56,"position":4},"title":"Where is God when it doesn’t hurt?","author":"liz","date":"November 3, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"I've been pondering on this one a little of late. Over the summer, after I came out of hospital in early June, I felt considerably better. For a considerable amount of time - around two months in all. I had some glimpses into 'normality', whatever that may be - life\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "dancing"","block_context":{"text":"dancing","link":"https:\/\/greatadventure.carterclan.me.uk\/?cat=53"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":22,"url":"https:\/\/greatadventure.carterclan.me.uk\/?p=22","url_meta":{"origin":56,"position":5},"title":"Yet Another SF and Suffering Blogpost.","author":"liz","date":"February 11, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"I know, I know, there are thousands floating round the internet. But seeing as I am sitting propped up in bed and have just taken painkillers, I have a window where I may be able to pen something that makes some kind of sense. 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