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arachnekallistiThe ATOS work capability assessments, as they exist, are unfit for purpose. Even one of the people who designed them thinks so. They're particularly badly designed for taking into account invisible disabilities and variable conditions; the idea appears to be that if you can get dressed and drag yourself into the interview, then you should have no problem holding down a job.
There's an open letter in today's Guardian, signed by the chief executives of most of the major mental health charities, begging the government to rethink their policy on disability benefit assessments. There's an accompanying article here with some more details on the scope of the problem.
The mental health charities are understandably worried about the effect that putting this amount of persistent stress on people who may already be severely depressed or anxious will have. There have already been cases of people taking their own lives after having their benefits stopped.
This is wrong. This is not the behaviour of a civilised society. I can only conclude that this government either hasn't given a single thought to the consequences of their policies, or honestly doesn't care whether people with mental health problems live or die.
Sue Marsh at Diary of a Benefit Scrounger summarises the problems with the welfare reforms here. Please write to your MP and let's hope we can get this stopped before it ruins more people's lives.
There's an open letter in today's Guardian, signed by the chief executives of most of the major mental health charities, begging the government to rethink their policy on disability benefit assessments. There's an accompanying article here with some more details on the scope of the problem.
The mental health charities are understandably worried about the effect that putting this amount of persistent stress on people who may already be severely depressed or anxious will have. There have already been cases of people taking their own lives after having their benefits stopped.
This is wrong. This is not the behaviour of a civilised society. I can only conclude that this government either hasn't given a single thought to the consequences of their policies, or honestly doesn't care whether people with mental health problems live or die.
Sue Marsh at Diary of a Benefit Scrounger summarises the problems with the welfare reforms here. Please write to your MP and let's hope we can get this stopped before it ruins more people's lives.
