Category: News and Views
Hello all,
Thought I briefly as I am posting as is my habit (so it would seem) in the middle of the night and feel bad giving this a fraction of my energies, but thought I'd keep one informed in a general way, about the situation that is going to affect particularly harshly blind people in the UK at the moment.
Basically since a new Government came in back in May 2010, they originally with some justification and in other area may be still do, had to deal with the situation where the country was in spiralling into increasing debt and spending went on regardless, I’m no economist but think this is the case in other western countries too, but their approach to dealing with it has affected disabled people/will do as time goes on that’s the problem.
To pick the worst example, and despite efforts of the UK's Royal National institute of Blind people - www.rnib.org.uk for blind and partially sighted people, and other disability organisations representing of course other disabilities, their is to put it mildly an upheaval that will almost certainly see blind people in a worse situation (a much worse situation) and I'm not denying other disability groups too will be affected, but depending in the degree of one's sight loss blind people/partially sighted people are going to be one the "Hardest hit".
Now, I put that in quotes as disabled organisations last year rallied to try and change the UK Government’s mind, and still working on it, though as time goes on the chances of success are getting bleaker and bleaker; they tried to get the coalition government of the UK to change their policy, but with little success, and at the heart they are going to change a benefit called Disability Living Allowance (DLA) to a new one called Personal Independence Payments (PIP) or something like that, and although it might sound fare, it causing I can tell you just from myself and I know from others a lot of anxiety at the moment, only a couple of years ago a loophole had been filled to allow blind people to qualify for one aspect of the apparently soon to disappear benefit (DLA) which RNIB and others fought successfully to get blind people should get, and now not only is it to be reversed, but all ripped up and replaced and wholly unnecessarily at that and replaced by a much inferior system.
I won’t go into the details here or the awful things I@ve hard but some of it is sickening, even as a result lost my interest in UK politics as a result, and I thought I was a loyal person especially to one of the parties in power now, but that’s no longer anywhere near certain.
I have not explained this very well, but although this has enfolded for some time now, I thought I give it coverage as a topic on here which maybe I ought to have before/forgive me if someone else from the UK has already posted, not in this topic (well got to the end of the first page, so not on that page anyways) at any rate, I know this is a US-based website but thought one & all should know what's going on elsewhere, and I'll end by the disclaimer that I'm sure any cheats, or call them what you will, sadly will still manage to get the benefits they are not entitled to which makes it even the more sickening outrageous etc, but that's not the main point of me bringing this up, wanted to expand the title, but I ran out of room, so I don’t think the best as it or as good as it ought to be but had to get this proverbially off my chest, well I’ll still be anxious of course less I hear some quite frankly miraculous news in the next few months or so, but least I can sleep knowing I’ve put it on here is what I mean really.
I'm posting late in the UK, very late in fact, so forgive my typos and hope you can gather what I'm saying (though have painstakingly proofread it/spell checked in the end note)!:((/*SIGH*
Kind regards,
Timber AKA Timothy Bamber (user #7902)