Disabled people to march in London...

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True enough; it's about how big people want the state to be, but I agree that this tribal baiting doesn't help anyone, especially as it isn't actually about honest, sensible debate but taking it out on people without a voice and making them suffer horribly, especially when in many cases they're fully entitled to their benefit.

There are scroungers in the system, as with all systems. It's the difference between not making the distinction between a minority of scroungers and many more people that don't "look" disabled, so therefore must be scroungers.

Why have you got such a problem with the NAS lobbying? They're lobbying to keep our benefits!

They're using people with disabilities as 'shields' in order to manipulate the government into funding their continued existence.

The two issues are separate of disability benefit and these lobbying 'charities'.

If the Nas weren't lobbying on my behalf then no one else would be and i'm glad of it. I don't think theres any evidence at all for what you say. It's completely paranoid and conspiratorial and relies on a purely negative reading of human nature.

I think that a lot of these cuts are just an excuse to get rid of a lot of people, To reassess DLA and Incapacity benefit so AS people will be unentitled is just plain wrong. Taking Incapacity benefit for example being reassessed and this would no longer take into account of people on the autistic spectrum and have an IQ of over 70. The assessors will not know of the person's that being the person being assessed. What is picking up an empty box 5 times to do with being on the autistic spectrum? The answer is nothing. The assessor makes a good few bob for assessing people as 'fit for work' and people are shifted to JSA (Jobseekers allowance) What this has to do with autistic people that many could be only be seen as fit to be turned down for work. Most employers would rather employ a trained monkey rather than an AS person and are not interested in the issues to do with autism.

As an aspie myself I do get Incapacity benefit and DLA but I don't know for how long.

There are people in disability services who are in it for the money and just to look good in front of their NT friends especially in learning disability services but there are good ones out there too. I see a lot of these cuts are just a cover up of an attempt to kill as many people as possible and to get away with it.

Dave Cameron is a twat.

The other point is, I think, that we're being hived off as 'groups' rather than as people in our own right. Fat, thin, Muslim, Jewish, autistic, disabled, smoker, non-smoker et all.

I'm autistic, but that doesn't define my identity. I am a person.

I want to work - most people on the autistic spectrum do (I believe) want to work and are capable of it, but the practicalities of such an arrangement, coupled with the tendency of the state to "write-off" whole groups of people as never being able to do anything, ever, doesn't help.

Autistics have a lot of skills that they could offer. It's all about utilising them. We need to be seen as rounded individuals, not just disability cases.

That's my take on it anyway.

And the NHS is bloody useless.

Like "community safety" organisations using children in road safety campaigns to picket drivers with school encouragement?

Like using high school children to snatch the cigarette cartons out of random passers-by?

It's a nasty, insidious and hateful technique that preys on people's emotions, without hard facts of any kind.

Balls to that.

Thanks Henbane for posting the link to the online protest. I can't make it to London, so at least I can write to my MP.

I'm confused about why the National Autistic Society and the NHS have been raised as 'bad' organisations. The NAS helped me with information and advice that I desperately needed. The NHS gave me my diagnosis. I'm not suggesting that these organisations are perfect, but I would be much worse off without them.

Regardless of any differences of opinion on the voluntary sector and the NHS, I'm not convinced that they are the real issue. I think the real issue raised by Henbane, is the "changes to welfare eligibility, cuts to disability living allowance (DLA), and local authority reductions in funding for carers and services". These are all changes being brought in by the government (UK and local). I will be protesting against the government on these changes.

How about plurality? The very word terrifies the NHS.

The NHS is mainly for the benefit of the people that work in it these days.

Maybe you could open a new thread on these issue? I don't think they're relevant to this thread.

Perhaps.

The problem (as I see it) is that you've got the state-run disability charities, Labour, the Daily Moron and others on the left using this as a political football. Then you've got those on the right, i.e. the Tories, the Sun and the Daily Mail using it also as a political football for their own ends.

Nobody bothers asking what the people themselves actually want in a careful and considered manner. We're assumed to be 'victims that need protecting from evil Tory cuts' or 'scroungers'.

I think this whole debate should have taken place in a different thread. But since we're here, and since I really would like to know, perhaps you could tell me what you would like to see happen?

I'd like to see a much less restrictive system open up. I'd like to see a serious sea-change in how this country is run - root-and-branch, really.

Encouraging the disabled to not think of themselves as disabled and helping to remove our inferiority complexes which many of us feel would be a good start.

I definitely agree on that! We'd probably have big arguments over the details though

I would choose radical classical liberalism - not the ideological extremity common in libertarianism but a more genuinely liberal approach to things.

I don't think I could choose one political philosophy that describes my beliefs. I value compassion, respect, peace, equality, living simply, and integrity. Mostly, I value other people giving me lots of space. Maybe my political philosophy should be 'hermit'