Quote:
Originally Posted by Taf
I know several disabled people who use their DLA to pay the extra costs involved with finding and staying in full employment.
Whilst their wages (AFAIK) have been frozen for years, their DLA has increased very slightly, but not enough to absorb all the extra costs involved with transport especially.
Taxation of DLA might make it financially impossible for them to stay in work.
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Absolutely, I alluded to this earlier. Apart from the human costs associated with the disabled having to give up employment eg independence, loneliness, pride etc; it would cost the state much more in support if they had to give up work.
Don't forget that the Government has cut support for the Access To Work Scheme too. This provided sign language interpreters, for example, to enable the hearing impaired to go out to work.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Osem
Carers don't only give up their time to those they care for full time, they often give up their chances of a decent job or any sort of career and therefore sacrifice their own security and ability to support themselves when they either lose their role for whatever reason.
A good friend of ours spent quite a few years looking after his profoundly disabled son 24/7 whilst living in a grotty HA flat on an appalling estate. Last year, having come to the end of his tether, he finally made the difficult decision to put his own life/sanity first, get a job and put his son into full time care. Whatever the state spent supporting him and his son over the years pales into insignificance compared to what it's now going to cost for the foreseeable future. There are no cheap or simple solutions to this problem.
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Again, I absolutely agree. Anybody who thinks that being a carer is a form of "freeloading" is welcome to give up their job in return for £61.35 for 35+ hours a week. Caring often includes talking to mentally ill people to try and persuade them not to commit suicide (mentally exhausting), lifting hoists to get them into bed, pushing wheelchairs around (physically exhausting) as well as feeding, toileting etc.
Anybody who resents or is jealous of the limited support that disabled people and their carers receive is an idiot.