The Deepest Cuts

Hello, dear readers!

This week’s offering comes to you courtesy of a bit of a time-warp.

No I’m not talking about the dance. There will be no jump to the left nor even the slightest suggestion of steps to the right. Both of those moves tend to be just a little bit tricky for this blogger in any case. No, I’m referring to the fact that I’m actually writing to you from the depths of Saturday afternoon rather than my customary write/edit/post/pass out Sunday lunchtime routine.

It means this week’s subject matter is just that little bit fresher to the memory. In fact I owe a hefty chunk of this post to a TV show that I watched just last night

Shot Putin

The show in question is Channel 4’s quite incredible ‘The Last Leg’. I’ve posted abut this jewel of a televisual find before, if only in passing, (see here). For those of you unfamiliar with The Last Leg, well first of all, what on earth have you been doing with your lives? Second of all, catch up… please. Even if you only catch an episode or two Channel Four runs an excellent catch up service and it will not be time misspent. At least not in this seated person’s eyes.

Before you all go running for the remote controls let me provide you with a brief outline of the show.

The Last Leg is a light hearted, slightly irreverent show that looks at the previous week’s news. It has a political edge to it, a healthy streak of hard hitting satire, and usually a closing musical number. It does not care who it offends and has, in the not too distant past, taken a shot at Vladimir Putin. To date there has been no confirmed detection of radioactive poisons such as Polonium-210 (which still sounds like radioactive smoked sausage to me) in any of the hosts drinks or foodstuffs.

Triple Top

What perhaps sets The Last Leg aside from other satirical news based shows is its highlighting of issues and events revolving around disability. The show first burst on to our screens as part of Channel 4’s Paralympic coverage, as detailed in my link a couple of paragraphs up.

Since then it has grown. It quickly surpassed mere sporting events and become a champion for disability, a mocker of politics, and a voice for all those that feel like shouting “don’t be a dick!”, or who delight in seeing Jeremy Hunt publicly hounded by a Sousaphone player, or who wish they had their own Bullshit Button (yes please). The hosts, Adam Hills. Alex Brooker, and Josh Widddicombe (two of whom are physically disabled and the other a ginger) have a natural chemistry and are one of TVs great triple acts. Like Clarkson, Hammond, and May but with less legs and, in at least two cases, better hair.

So yes, please, if you haven’t already, please do give this little sliver of television gold a view. Not only is it side splittingly funny, it also raises some excellent points. Points that make at least this viewer think... A little like this.

Disabled Enough?

The conversation between the hosts and their guests (two stars of the sitcom Catastrophe) turned to the DWP disability assessments that vets, I mean assesses, the recipients of disability benefits in the UK. This is a process that I recently underwent myself as part of the change from Disabled Living Allowance (DLA) to Personal Independence Payments (PIP) and it is a process that is coming increasingly under fire.

The two private firms that undertake the assessments, Atos and Capita have made a more than steady profit since their involvement in the process and, at the same time, a stream of stories have come out as to just who has been turned down for benefits.

These include

• A partially-sighted Amputee who was told he was not considered “disabled enough” to receive benefits.
• A partially paralysed man who had half his skull removed after a stroke who was declared fit for work.
• A double leg amputee who was passed fit for work because he “could climb stairs with his arms.”

It makes the mind boggle doesn’t it? And those are just a few of the cases.

Invisible Think

The truth is, that these assessments are held after medical information is gained from doctors and the applicant’s medical files. The assessors themselves often being people with little or no medical knowledge. I was asked by mine to provide details of my disability as she wasn’t all that familiar with it (She had worked with disabled children in the past however). The assessor then presents their findings to the DWP who will base their decision on them. It has been suggested that pay for the assessors may depend on number of cases seen and ability to find things to, um, 'aid' the DWP in the decision making process (make of that what you will).

Now this process, for me, raises some very serious concerns. It means that the people actually making potentially life altering decisions are at one remove from the person they are affecting, relying on a written report for their information. This seems likely to be a contributory factor in the above decisions. If then such apparent bad calls can be made when rather obvious physical symptoms then what of those with hidden disabilities? What of those suffering from depression or anxiety, chronic pain or chronic fatigue, and the host of other 'invisible' conditions and disabilities that may not be immediately evident? What if the assessor reaches them one of their few good days? What if they base their report on this and, with the aforementioned lack of medical knowledge, recommend a cut in benefits or even a forced return to work?

In my own case I can work, and I’m extremely grateful for that. The money I receive in PIP payments actually enables that independence though, and without it I’m not sure what I’d do. The thought that there could be others who are less lucky than me, potentially being targeted for government savings in this time of austerity and tax cuts to the rich worries me greatly. We should not be trying to solve society’s ills by abandoning those whose need is greatest.