Green Paper, you're all so smart! What are you guys saying?

What did all of you clever and smart people say in your response to the Green Paper?


forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx...RkZGN1RUQSQlQCN0PWcu


I think that both condition AND functionality should be considered. But not how they've done it. Some of us function better than others, some of us have a change in our functionality all the time! And, some of us can't get a proper diagnosis for years and years. I don't know a way to give a good example or how to put that into words that make sense and provides a meaningful reply but I'm going to try!

Share what you said so we can encourage others to participate!!!

Hello Wiggles,

I was hoping other members would respond to your post, as I, too, would be interested in seeing what other people have said in response to the consultation document. Tuliptrees did post a number of answers a while ago, when Chris first shared the link to the responses form, but we've all been rather shy since!

I completed the online form a while ago, but it took me over three hours to type in my answers, even though I had prepared my responses in advance. The problem with the form is you can't save what you've already entered and return to it, so it all has to be done in one go. However, I imagine you could complete a page at a time and submit each one separately (though the whole form would have to be submitted each time, including the pages left blank, if you see what I mean). After all, the important thing is to have your say and there's not much time left now, although I suppose you could still e-mail your views or send them in a letter to your MP.

I used the template blank form from the B & W website to help draft/record my answers - thank you, B & W - and also found the document containing B & W's own responses to the questions very helpful when I needed guidance. Both are available from links in a news item headed "Replace PIP with a catalogue" etc. dated 30th April in the "News" section of the website.

I considered my answers very carefully, but I didn't like the way the form is constructed and, by the time I reached the end, I began to think it had been drawn up towards the end of the evening at some particularly well-oiled Downing Street party. However, I did take it seriously because I feel it's important we try to convey the difficulties faced, on a daily basis, by those with disabilities, which is something whoever contributed towards drafting this form clearly cannot understand. Catalogue shopping may be something some people with disabilities can do, in the comfort of their own home, but it really won't help those who need continuing, long-term care at any level.

Since you asked for examples, this is my reply to Question 19, which asks you to explain your response to Question 18, the horrible "multiple choice" question.

This is a dreadful question and impossible to answer objectively; therefore, I have been forced to answer it from my own point of view, but I feel very uncomfortable in doing so because I am well aware that what is most important to me will be quite different from the priorities of someone with different problems. It is this "one size fits all" approach which is the cause of the unfairness inherent in PIP. What is most important for a person with one type of disability will not be the same as for another. People with disabilities are not all the same and should not be forced to compete for the extra resources and help they need. In a country which considers itself to be civilised - the sixth richest in the world, no less - no-one, but NO-ONE, whether sick and disabled or hale and hearty, rich or poor, should have to make such choices on the basis of cost. This long and complicated list of so-called choices a disabled person might need to make is the best reason there is for leaving PIP as it is - a financial contribution which can be used at the individual's discretion for their own individual needs.

Sadly, I'm a bit embarrassed to say this was not the only question which I found impossible to answer objectively and without reference to my own - admittedly hopelessly left-wing - political stance. I wish I could have adopted B & W's more measured approach and answered more succinctly, but it's hard to be dispassionate when you feel you've been left to cope with a loved-one's lifelong difficulties, upon which the State is eager to pass judgment, while offering little practical help. The previous Government always sought to justify its actions by pretending it was aiming to make savings on behalf of that mythical being, "the taxpayer", as if there were only one, so I also felt compelled to point out that people with disabilities are taxpayers too - thanks to the introduction of V.A.T. long ago we are all taxpayers, even those who cannot work and have no capital wealth - and many also have the capacity to vote.

Since the election, I'm hoping that a more sympathetic Government will be looking at the responses to the questionnaire.

Sorry about the rant. (Well, maybe not so very sorry - after all, you did ask!)

Best wishes,

Wendy Woo

Very well said Wendy Woo

Wonderfully put Wendy! Thanks so much for your reply. I'm sorry it took me so long to respond.

I think you may have answered the same way I did, trying to answer honestly but also from a place of I'm but one person!

I was appalled at how the questions were asked, like we had to choose the lesser or evils or explain why these choices on offer were beyond demeaning while also trying to address the questions. The other issue I had was this idea which I think was evident to some (?) in the questions was how to not strain the NHS. As if the NHS is only for healthy people or for an acute issue.

Sadly, I didn't save my answers, you were far more organised than me! It took me a few days to answer and I did a similar thing to do by answering outside the website. I couldn't close the machine down or else I'd lose it. This right here is how little they understand disabled people.

Trusting it's okay to say this given you've been open with your views: I'm disturbed by Labour's continued attacks on sick and disabled people. I feel sick to my stomach every day with worry. We're going back to the days of Blair's Malingering and Illness Deception idiocy. The same characters are involved, too (Alan Milburn, Michael Sharpe, Simon Wessely et al). Then we have the continued black box of AI being pushed by Labour on to disabled people. It really makes me realise how the distain for non-normative bodies and brains is rife amongst these people irrespective or political party it would appear. I was hopeful, I am no longer.

Many thanks for sharing your thoughts and concerns, your answer. Your time sharing this and filling out the form is massively appreciated by me and I'm very sure by others.

Wishing you and yours well.

Hello again Wiggles,

Thank you for your reply, especially as I can see from your other posts that you have a lot of other concerns at the moment, so I appreciate your taking the time to respond - I agree with everything you've said.

I'm very upset by much of what has happened since 4th July - I felt we needed a change of government, but I never expected it to be so divisive. More than that I cannot say, not only because I'm aware that this forum is not intended to be an arena for debate, but also because I'm grieving the loss of a couple of long-standing friends who have decided they can no longer bear to indulge my unrealistic ideals about universal benefits. (By which I mean benefits for all, not the dreaded "Universal" Credit which appears to be anything but universal.)

I'm glad the new government appears to have ditched the plans to which the PIP questionnaire relates, but I felt it was important we should all have our say, even though I felt the form had been made deliberately difficult, especially for people with disabilities to complete themselves.

I was intending to move on to completing the new government's NHS questionnaire, but will need to think very carefully about doing so, as this one does not allow participants to remain anonymous, and I've realised recently that I need to be much more careful about sharing my deeply-held but, apparently, unreasonable beliefs with other people!

With all good wishes,

Wendy

Oh Wendy I'm so sorry to read this. I'm deeply sorry for your loss, for your communities loss. That's awful.

Thanks for your understanding and also thanks kindly for filling in the NHS questionnaire, too! It's hard for us to stay on top of all of this but we've got to keep trying.

Wishing you all the very best, too!

Wiggles