Special request to send your experiences to the Government #benefitsanctions
Dear all,
The Government have agreed to Select Committee Inquiry into the effects of benefit sanctions. Many of us have personal experiences of the tortuous effects these sanctions have resulted in and the detrimental health consequences of this barbarism. Hopefully together we can all make a difference, and save lives and needless suffering.
wishing you all peace and the energy to engage with that which you love
Written by
headcase
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13 Replies
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Hi headcase - feel rude calling you that!
wishing you peace and energy too.
You are so right about the unfairness of the benefits system. The hoops we have to jump through and the endless forms are enough to tip anyone over the edge - let alone some one with a BI.
Took a quick look...saw that the deadline is today and I have no idea what this is about so knowing I am running on almost empty today I am going to conserve my energy. The minute I saw submit a document I zoned out.
With more time I might have been able to take part/get involved but not today.
Not even opened the link even tho I feel strongly about this.
I just don't have the head space to deal with this.
Does this not show how even though we are not happy, we can't actually engage in the very avenues that can take us from the circles we go around constantly.
If it were just the case of signature on a form I could add my voice.
I don't have skills to do much else on a computer or i pad as I use that more now.
It's hard to make our voice heard. Maybe that's why they have targeted disabled and sick people as they have less time and energy to argue
I think you might be right there, Danslatete, about targeting the sick and disabled.
Its not just about targeting us though, but there is the bedroom tax which we will hopefully see the end of soon, and I have heard something about pensions as well.
Some sort of idea for the government to get more money. It is all about money with the government and virtually all across the world. It is sick, in a bad way, for people to think about generating money all the time.
I have read elsewhere before that the rich think people in poverty are evil, or something like that.
Well, if all rich people were kind and genrous, there would be no poverty would there?
Completely understand and empathise this post was an act of desperation and not supposed to add to peoples frustrations. I would like to think Headway would take the lead with this but past experience
in this area has proved them to be ineffective/unwilling to engage in challenging authority with regard to the blatant institutionalised injustice around BI
The benefits sanctions, along with many other aspects of the welfare reforms, have been extremely disruptive to many people with brain injury, and this along with our other campaigns remains a key priority for our charity. With this in mind, you may be pleased to hear that we have recently recruited a new post of Policy and Campaigns Manager, so we hope to be able to further increase our campaigning activity in future.
Details of our campaigns are posted on our website, and you may be particularly interested in our welfare benefits campaigns section: headway.org.uk/welfare-bene... which reviews our activities over the last few years.
Due to the volume of reviews and consultations that take place it is always extremely helpful to receive feedback from members such as yourself, so once again thank you.
Thanks for your reply nameless Headway Administrator
Whilst I am pleased to here of the new Policy and Campaigns Manager post and have viewed the campaigns section I remain underwhelmed. After 35 years of Headway, the awareness of BI amongst the general public, seems to be hovering around the zero mark and within the medical profession is at best sporadic (at worst BI is often willfully ignored)
With regard to welfare benefits when you see a person drowning the appropriate action is to throw them a lifebuoy to still be raising awareness of lack of provision, by writing to the newspapers, whilst they drown could perhaps be deemed criminal negligence.
I am aware that it is all to easy to criticise and that I sound like (or am ) an ungrateful s--t
When I ask myself what I am doing to help the pathetic answer is struggling to avoid being overwhelmed by simply existing and occasionally engaging with real life (if only to throw stones from my increasingly fragile glass house)
Thanks for your reply. I will certainly pass your comments on for discussion as we look to focus our campaigning in future.
We do provide a number of options for support, and I would like to offer these to you given your comments. It sounds like you have been aware of Headway for some time however, so apologies if you know this already.
Our network of local groups and branches operate around the country and can provide face-to-face support. The type of support they offer varies from location to location.
As a first step, however, you might like to contact our free, confidential helpline on 0808 800 2244 or helpline@headway.org.uk to discuss your situation. I'm sure they can be a help, whether it's signposting you to local services, discussing the support that Headway can offer, or offering a listening ear.
Thank you again for this post and your comments, and I do hope that in future our continued campaigning work can demonstrate that we are serious about improving life after brain injury.
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