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How I almost lost my boyfriend to the WCA
Posted Monday 30 July 2012
Lauren’s boyfriend Mark has been repeatedly failed by the benefit system and is featured in tonight’s BBC Panorama documentary on the Work Capability Assessment (WCA). Mark struggles with written communication but here his girlfriend Lauren speaks about his experiences, and the impact it’s had on his mental health.
In October 2008 my boyfriend Mark just stopped. He stopped going to work, he stopped paying his bills, he stopped looking after himself, he just stopped everything. It wasn't until January 2009 that his mother and I were able to get him to see his GP, who was so concerned that she immediately referred him to the Intensive Home Treatment Team.
Armed with a diagnosis of severe depression and anxiety and a sick note he was able to apply for Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) which had been brought in four months earlier. Mark filled out the form, sent it off and was called for a medical in April 2009. A few weeks after that he received a letter telling him he'd been found “fit for work”. The effect was devastating and had his mother and I not been around to restrain him we would have lost him. We were able to talk him down and, with the help of a welfare rights organisation, started the appeal process. Five months later they represented him at his tribunal where he was awarded ESA.
He was reassessed in May 2010, had the medical part of the WCA in July 2010 and failed. We appealed again and at the tribunal in March 2011 he was awarded ESA.
His third assessment began in December 2011 with the form arriving the week before Christmas, which put a huge dampener on the entire holiday period. We handed in the form in the middle of January and haven't heard a peep from them since. It's been over six months and he still hasn't had a medical assessment. The uncertainty of this is making his depression and anxiety much worse and he's currently on the highest dose of amitriptyline that can be prescribed without being an in-patient in a psychiatric hospital.
ESA was supposed to be a disability benefit that would support disabled people and help them get back into work. In theory it should work but the way it has been implemented makes it, in Mark's own words, “The benefit that keeps me ill.” We both believe that had he been correctly assessed in the first place and not undergone all the uncertainty and stress of appealing he'd have recovered and returned to work many months ago. With each week that he has to wait for an assessment or a tribunal or the next ESA50 form his condition deteriorates. The system has failed him and is prolonging his suffering. No one deserves to go through this sort of torture especially not an extremely vulnerable mentally ill human being.
He got involved with tonight’s Panorama programme because he wanted to put a human face to the pain and suffering caused by this assessment process. He hopes it will help change public opinion of the disabled who are continually reassessed in this way, and pave the way for changes to make the assessment process more accurate and less painful.
Lauren S
If you would like more information about the WCA, or you are looking for support, visit our page on benefits and welfare reform.
31 Comments
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These new rules have been put in just to take from the most vunrable to make up for the incompidence of our so called leaders. If you have the bitter problem of haveing mental health issues, you are seen by a great number of the istablishment as sub human and they think that we should not be treated as a normal human being, I'm sorry to say that in the 25 years of suffering depretion I have found this to be very true.
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From my personal experience the benefit system is so focused on fraudulent claims that those suffering from debilitating mental illnesses are treated like fakes. About 8 years ago I had to attend an assessment every six months in order to receive the then incapacity benefit. The assessment offices were a 25 minute drive from me in the centre of Reading. I got completely lost, became utterly disorientated & ended up stranded in a busy garage trying to calm myself down. The result was I was unable to make my appointment & my benefit suspended until i was issued a further appointment. I was a lone parent coping on my own with two small children & I was met with no understanding from the staff at the assessment centre & left feeling like a con artist trying to play the system. It's a horrendous situation to be in, the stress contributes to the illness & creates a fear that you need to be deemed to be at some optimum level of 'illness' which includes being well enough to navigate to assessment centers but poorly enough not to cope in the rest of your life. I became more preoccupied with what officials would make of me & my focus was always on not functioning rather than getting better. I hope Mark finds the support he needs to keep on the road to recovery. He clearly has fantastic support in you & that counts for a great deal. I look forward to watching the program :)
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Lauren, A truly tragic story, but one that is becoming all too common at present. I belive all medical matters concerning the DWP and WCA should be carried out by the NHS alone. These fly by night profiteering private organisations like atos do not have the individual patients well being at the core of what they do. If they did, they would not damage so many us with the indifferent approach they take to their so called work. They want the numbers to look cause they have a contract with an indifferent government it seems. And when the government mantra about cuts being inevitable, remember, its about choices not inevitabilities. The goverment choose to make cuts to the most vulnerable whilst doing very little about (and even encouraging) tax avoidance, which would probably be more than what they expect to cut from the welfare budget. Yet we are all led to belive there is no other course. Its a LIE! When private organisations like atos seem surprised with false concern too at the allegations against them, they are not daft, they know what they have done and are doing to many damaged individuals. There is not only a legal case to fight here but one of social justice too!
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ATOS are in charge of assessments for the DWP and the NHS. So there's little point asking the NHS to do them. Under ATOS, NHS staff who go sick more than twice in three months (even for a day), face disciplinary action which can result in the loss of their jobs.
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The millions paid in contracts to assessors for WCA and the millions wasted on appeals/tribunals cost the tax payer but make money for the companies.
So much money made by companies from forced unpaid work which doesn’t secure jobs, just profit for the companies. You go to a company that then uses you to increase their profits, and displaces a paid job. It will drive wages down further because why will companies bother paying decent salaries when there’s an endless supply of completely free labour through the Jobcentre. Or you do a community activity that is indistinguishable from community payback schemes for people who have committed a crime.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2012/jul/29/sovereign-capital-tory-donors-millions
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2012/jul/29/long-term-unemployed-unpaid-work
The final solution: to have all sick/disabled people in addition to the unemployed into long term workfare on threat of losing minimum benefits. That way there will be no ‘problem’ with employing sick/disabled people because everyone will be ‘employed’ via the work programme. The companies make money, the suicides are acceptable collateral damage. The media and charities give awards to programme's about employing the good looking executive/designer/managerial mad people with few gaps in their CV's longer than months and everyone falls over a few MP's 'coming out' when they all voted in favor of welfare policies. Unless there's a successful judicial review no one is going to stop this, we'll just continue with a few blogs and the occasional programme.
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The horror stories are legion and when I started to help my partner compile the information for his form - to replace DLA which he has had for some time, sadly - I scoured the web. There are several helpful sites showing the detail and the wording that is required to even stand a chance of avoiding assessment: but everyone said, do not expect, ever, to avoid a medical assessment, especially for mental health issues.
The form went off and of course we were both depressed at the thought of an assessment, the inevitable refusal (have you seen the test and the way it ignores mental health issues) and the need to appeal.
After several months he received, quite out of the blue, a notification that he would be in the supported group, and he has been able to continue his supported work scheme (up to 16 hours a week in a supervised environment) and receive benefit.
This happens to be the very best solution for his health, and I believe the country. Of course, we have an awful feeling that the system has made a terrible mistake .... so I am not giving any clues, nor do we broadcast our 'success'. We are just thankful that somewhere in the DWP there is a human being. Can't be many though. -
When I moved in with my boyfriend my Income support/ESA was stopped straight away - because I haven't been working and paying stamp/NI for the past 2 years (I have been suffering with depression and anxiety for 30 years but had been signed off due to going through heavy chemo/radiotherapy/masectomy - which I found NO WAY near as painful/ shamefull - as the years of depression...
I was also told that I wasn't even allowed to take up any of the "Back to Work" courses I was looking at in local Job Centre as I wasn't entiled to ESA -, because I hadn't paid any stamp again, etc... due to illness and my partner worked more than 24 hours a week (he works for minium wage)
HOW THE HELL is this supposed to be helping and supporting people..??When the PM came to power he gave a speech saying that he would encourage and support people back to work and make sure that there was care in place for people who were not ready for work yet....
I wrote to my MP ANDREW GEORGE weeks ago about all this and he hasn't even had the decency to reply.... -
I'm so sorry that you've been through this Lauren (and Mark). I came within 3 days of my fully planned suicide after my first full PCA (I haven't been through the WCA yet) and only lived because my reconsideration came back in my favour. There are rules and exemptions in place to stop this, but no-one's bothering to use them. The whole process is revolting.
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Thank you Lauren. It's so very rare to hear about how the WCA affects someone, how badly it affects your health, how it's a relentless cycle of assessment - waiting - appeal - waiting - assessment. And the fact they make you wait for 6 months for a reply then start assessing you again straight after just hows how little they understand how ill it makes you.
I look forward to the programme tonight. I was scared of watching it, fearing it would be another one that brands everyone as a scrounger and says we should all get out to work no matter what, but hopefully it will do some good if it contains stories like this."The benefit that keeps me ill."
What a statement. -
Thanks everyone for your comments, really appreciate you sharing your experiences and so sorry to hear that all too often there is this common theme of people being failed by the WCA. Huge thanks also to Lauren and Mark for telling us your story.
When Mind started campaigning around the WCA in 2008 is would have been unthinkable for there to be a prime time TV documentary on this topic, let alone two in one evening. We've come along way in raising awareness of how bad things are, and why change is needed.
I'll be watching tonight and Mind will be live tweeting throughout. I'm really hopeful that the shows will expose what we all know is happening on a daily basis, adding more pressure on the DWP to address this.
Finally I know this is a really distressing subject for so many people. If you are struggling and need advice or information please contact our Infoline on 0300 123 3393 or the Samaritans on 08457 90 90 90.
Take care everyone, Vicki from Mind
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I feel for these people. I am currently and have also historically been in the same situation.
One of my ASOS appointments had me so confused and distressed that I fled the appointment and building in floods of tears, utterly inconsolable.
I agree that people who scam off the government and claim for benifits that they are not entitled to should be stopped, but when mental illness is an issue the powers that be treat us so unfairly. People who have a broken leg are believed that they have a broken leg, so why when my GP, Occupational Therapist, Psychaiatrist, Psychologist and Psychotherapist say that I have BPD do they not believe them and I have to be run through hoops which set back my progress by months???? perhaps even years??? -
i am waiting for my appeal to come through as i am down as depressed
i am on mirtazapine the dose is 45mg on a night and on 200mg of sertraline on a morning but the DWP say i am fit for work i asked my doctor for a ect as the pills are not working he said only a shrink can give u that option i have had councilor but that did not work i am on my own i have family but i dont wont them to put up with my moods as they have kids its not easy to live this way as i was told to walk and get out as much as possible when i was a kid i did not show my emotions and i still dont like to so what can i do my brother said get a job and if u hurt anyone its not ur fault is them for forceing u to go back to work as the want all the people of the sick and work as they have did a big mistake with the law of this country i have two things to say stop putting presure on people to find work with depression and make the DWP do the right thing with people mental heath problems -
I feel for these people. I am currently and have also historically been in the same situation.
One of my ASOS appointments had me so confused and distressed that I fled the appointment and building in floods of tears, utterly inconsolable.
I agree that people who scam off the government and claim for benifits that they are not entitled to should be stopped, but when mental illness is an issue the powers that be treat us so unfairly. People who have a broken leg are believed that they have a broken leg, so why when my GP, Occupational Therapist, Psychaiatrist, Psychologist and Psychotherapist say that I have BPD do they not believe them and I have to be run through hoops which set back my progress by months???? perhaps even years??? -
My friend sent me this article ~ I am in a similar situation to Mark and the story struck a cord with me; "With each week that he has to wait for an assessment or a tribunal or the next ESA50 form his condition deteriorates. The system has failed him and is prolonging his suffering. No one deserves to go through this sort of torture especially not an extremely vulnerable mentally ill human being."
This is the absolute truth of the situation. The medical assessments are geared towards assessing physical health problems. This is why I believe i failed mine. I am physically fit for work. I want to work.
However I am not in a good place right now and cannot face pressure or failure. This, I know, is what I face being on jobseekers. I am failing to stay right minded. I felt myself deteriorating through 2010 and the whole of 2011, by the end of which I was at, and remain at an all time low. I was in desperate need of counselling but didn't want to waste their time because I didn't know what had caused the relapse of my depression. I'd stopped seeing doctors for my diabetes cos I wasn't taking care of myself. And then. I had to go for a medical assessment. Just to be told as a result that because I was no longer having episodes of unconsciousness as a result of hypoes I was managing my diabetes!
I'm fighting the assessment decision because it is wrong, because if I didn't I would die and becuse I know there are others like me who through their mental health conditions don't have the strength to stand up for themselves. More than 7 months after my assessment my appeal is now going to tribunal. I have no one to stand for me because as I said I hadn't been keeping my doctors appointments and becuase I am all alone. But I am determined to go through with it. God knows what will happen afterwards. I am still waiting for a counselling appointment. And I still don't know what triggered the relapse in my depression ~ although I do know what's causing the stress and anxiety!
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A truely dreadful impact of these assessments. I received a written warning from a past employer as I took a month of sick during the 6 month induction period due to a relapse in my condition. The warning letter stated, 'Poor Attendance' and I took this in a bad way. I also recently became ill again in a second 6 month induction period so I resigned when unwell as knew the same thing would happen again. I have been unwell for 4 months and am not claiming any benefits for fear of being told OK to work so I am trying to manage daily living myself.
The impact of these assessments is devastating for genuine recipients of any long-lasting condition and ATOS are not health staff. How can ESA continue in this manner as if help into work is not available and employers have in place outdated rules around illness.
I get the distinct impression that this system is exacerbating mental ill health and has to stop now. I really feel for your story and I myself feel trapped even though not officially a statistic as the system is scaring me from applying for benefits. -
Vicki, we have been telling you this for YEARS.
I admire Lauren and Mark for telling their story but to suggest Mind had anything to do with it other than providing this platform for this single blog post is insulting and WRONG. -
I have just filled in my first WCA form, after 5/6 years on DLA and IS. What should I do to get more advice?
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Thankyou, Lauren, for sticking by your boyfriend. So many people are not so understanding and supportive. Despite his difficulties, Mark is a very lucky man.
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I admire Lauren and Mark for telling their story, I have my ATOS assessment tomorrow, I'm not looking forward to it. I suffer with manic depression and obsessive compulsive disorder, anxiety issues. I take lots of medication to help me with my mental health problems which totally destroyed my career and nearly destroyed my personal life. I'm so lucky to have a loving supporting wife coming with me tomorrow. I'm determined not to let this ATO's assessment make my condition worse or cause me any stress.
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Pity Mind wasn't involved in either programme..
"why aren't you dead?" [Panorama], that's stuck in my head, actually I really wish I was [please don't suggest I ring any info/support line]. -
I hope MIND will now seize this opportunity to come out much more forcefully in the media against the barbarism being inflicted on sick people. So far I feel, apart from offering this website, it has done little to highlight what is happening to its clients - the most vulnerable group in all this.
But the problem with ESA is that it also CAUSES mental illness. My primary disability is purely physical with ample medical evidence to proove it. Yet I know I will fail ESA and be found fit as I don't tick the boxes and look "normal". Yet I will physically be unable to sign on or meet any of the work requirements. So I will have no income. The constant anxiety and worry over this has reignited depression and severe anxiety that I last suffered from over 20 years ago. I often think I will have no choice but to kill myself and feel like doing it anyway becuase I can't stand the constant stress of waiting for the phone to ring or the brown envelope to arrive... day in day out. The constant media hatred campaign such as we have seen in all the papers today from Chris Grayling is enough to push anyone over the edge. MIND must confont him over all these totally incorrect stories he plants. Many more people will have read those articles in the papers over the weekend and today than will have watched Dispatches or Panorama. I am scared to go out.for fear of abuse and attacks as being a fake. My life is limited enough at it is by my illness and barely worth living as it is. All this is enough to push anyone over the edge.
Thanks to channel 4 and Panorma and the blogger here for trying to get the facts out. It offers some hope.But MIND you cannot just run a helpline and listen to people who are distressed by this you have a duty to act as well. -
Back in 2009 after suffering with serve depression which developed into self harming, the company I worked for, for 11 years dismissed me on the grounds that I was unfit to carry out my duties. This led to my breakdown which had it not been for the police tracking me to a lay-by, by tracking my phone I don't think o would be here today. Was assessed by Atos and scored 0 and after appealing this decision told I had to reclaim Jobseekers. I enroled on an I T course and it was only through the support of my tutors that I was able to finish the course. Sadly in April this year the course came to an end I had to go back to the jobcenter and was given an unrealistic goal of having to applie for at least 16 jobs per week. I was told a few weeks after reclaiming JSA that dispite searching for work on my computer from the moment I got out of bed and spend anything up to 5 hrs a day searching and signing up to at least 10 job sites as well as putting my CV onto Facebook I faced a sanction This started my anxiety levels to rise again and after my last attack in the Jobcenter itself was told by my advisor to switch to ESA. I am really worried that when I go for my assesment I'm going to be bounced back to the jobcenter and I am going to be caught in a vicous circle. And on top of all this I face being made homeless due to being only 33 and being told that I am to receive Shared accommodation rate of housing benefit which doesn't even cover the rates of what little shared accommodation there is in my hone town or neighbouring towns. I just don't know how much more I can take.
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After last nights undercover documentaries what did I learn.
1. From the horses mouth I heard that however they dress up their denial, the government and ATOS do have targets for individual assessors.
2. From the horses mouth I heard there is no accountability for individual assement outcomes as long as they don't put more than 12% of patients into the support group. (if this is not a target what is?)
3. From the horses mouth I heard that if you can press a button you fail the WCA.
4. From the horses mouth I heard the assessors job is toxic, assessors acknowledged the test was flawed, they acknowledged they find people fit for work when they didn't want to but the computer tick sheet said no.
5. From the horses mouth I heard that years of experienced medical evidence from NHS professionals is discarded as a routine matter in favour of the targeted tick sheet.(remember there is no accountability or reasons given when this is done).
In general It confirmed to me what most of us already knew. Namely, there is no account taken of the impact a condition/illness has on any given individual even when the affects are obvious. There is no account taken of individual human support needs or what impact a negative decision would have on any given individual or their condition. I felt the program exposed an exercise in how to cleanse society of most sick/disabled people by the promise of a better life if we just trust them and conform to the regime.
We need protecting from these people. Mind what are you going to do Now!?
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I won't be able to go through this. If my benefits stop then I will be in poverty. I spend most time alone because of my illness (people dont want to know) Even when I rang samaritans I was just met with silence, well I get that all the time, just me and my thoughts telling me I'm a failure becasue I just cant get a job. I feel like going out and doing something just to remind myself and others that I am still alive, sick of silence, sick of rejection.
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@Mind Reader, Mind was involved in both programmes- we advised both behind the scenes, and Paul Farmer was due to be interviewed for Dispatches but sadly they switched the focus of the programme more towards physical disability, because they had such strong undercover footage on that issue. In Panorama we set up Mark to be on the programme and again provided behind the scenes advice. Mind is also referenced in both programmes, in terms of Paul's decision to resign from the Harrington review panel.
Regarding the work Mind has been doing in this area, we have been campaigning around welfare since 2008 and we know, from speaking to people on a daily basis, the devastating impact this is having on people's lives.
You can find our about our campaigns work at http://www.mind.org.uk/campaigns_and_issues/policy_and_issues/making_benefits_fairer-welfare_reform/benefits_welfare-key_is, and there was also the Daily Stigma work at http://www.mind.org.uk/campaigns_and_issues/policy_and_issues/making_benefits_fairer-welfare_reform/the_daily_stigma
In terms of what's coming up, it's worth reading Senior Policy and Campaigns Officer Tom Pollard's blog on 'Where next for welfare http://www.mind.org.uk/blog/6853_welfare_where_to_from_here and we also have some news coming up later this week around working to improve the WCA, so watch this space!
Take care, Vicki from Mind
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I'm currently awaiting a guaranteed zero points as my main problems are depression, and that doesn't fit any tickboxes and it doesn't make any limbs disappear, even if it does prevent them working some days.
The sad thing about mental illness is it's got few visual symptoms, and once people are trained into the way of thinking that anyone on welfare is thieving lazy scum by the papers and politicians, it's easy to take that line on anyone able to walk.
I just hope in some way those two shows got good viewing figures, however, I fear many people will, like a Mail reader offered a free copy of the Guardian, will read what it's about decide it doesn't fit their world view and ignore it.
Still, if it turns a few people around, stops a few more people demonising us, makes a few more people wake up and realise what Grayling and his cronies are doing to the sick, weak and poor of this country, it'll have been worth everything.
What I'd like to ask Grayling is, if they want to support disabled and mentally ill people in getting back to work, why is it so hard to even get into the 'work related activity group'?
Or perhaps it's all about saving £30 a week by pushing the unemployable onto JSA, behind 3 million recently unemployed people ready and able to work.
I don't expect the support group and I dont want to be written off, but I DO need some support if I'm going to return to the workplace, and just shoving me on JSA and demanding I apply for 16 jobs a week isn't it. Neither is forcing me to either work in Poundland for free or lose everything.
I'm just cynically pleased in some way that they've been stupid enough to go for the pensioners too, that's their only major voting group they've shunned next time around, lets just hope SOMEONE can offer an alternative to 4 more years of persecution for being unprofitably unwell.
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It is my opinion that Grayling is guilty of what would otherwise be called war crimes. He is a deliberately mendacious irresponsible career minded incompetent that should immediately be removed from office, as indeed should the entire government, along with their failed WCA.
The only thing that troubles me more: where is the opposition? It's clear the Libdems don't care. What does the Labour party have to say? Where are the unions?
People should be up in arms about all this (i watched both documentaries last week), but instead we'd all rather cheer on a sports festival.
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It is my opinion that Grayling is guilty of what would otherwise be called war crimes. He is a deliberately mendacious irresponsible career minded incompetent that should immediately be removed from office, as indeed should the entire government, along with their failed WCA.
The only thing that troubles me more: where is the opposition? It's clear the Libdems don't care. What does the Labour party have to say? Where are the unions?
People should be up in arms about all this (i watched both documentaries last week), but instead we'd all rather cheer on a sports festival.
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mm well i had my atos assessment in January this year 2012 and i scored zero points i suffered severe back pain from a fall i cant walk far before i feel pain so bad i have to sit down on the floor or lean forward onto a wall or chair apparently i was fine in my back no problems i take efexor xl 150mg this is a normal amount apparently i also take propananlol 160 mg again a normal daily amount apparently this wont affect my ability to work iam constantly on edge i don't ever go out alone i always always have someone with me i get down with severe depression i suffer sweating panic attacks etc yet she stated i looked fine even though i was drenched in sweat and asked for a tissue to wipe my face i i have never worked due to my anxiety i left school at 15 because i couldn't cope traveling alone to and from there and the panic was becoming unreal yet she has worded it like i am a lier that i could work in 3 month yeah right also i self harm i cut my arms she has stated there scratches i have no social life no friends yet atos make me feel even worse than i already do now its not a chose to sit here i cant go out now i have to sit in front of 3 so called experts who decide if the will put me into support group or too work i cant even go out to the shop alone how can i work i feel like killing myself right now but no one would care and don't tell me to phone Samaritans its not working i talk to my GP he say's atos should ask him for evidence its horrendous i just want to be normal like everyone else i hate living like this why wont anyone believe me that i have genuine social anxiety that i don't scrounge i have no money for cloths my dad pays net for me i am 31 years old and i have social anxiety and other problems yet atos says im fine to work so whos going to hire me when i cant leave the house alone and have tons of infections time off due to panicing and being physically sick i just know i fail this tribuneral and i dont know what ill do ill then
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Hi Lizz - thank you for sharing your story with us, I'm very sorry to hear about the result of your assessment. Too many people are being judged as fit for work when they're clearly very unwell. I can see how frightened you must be right now, and understand why you'd be feeling suicidal.
You mentioned that calling the Samaritans won't help. You're right that talking to them won't take away the problem, but it might give you some relief to talk to someone about how desperate you're feeling. Perhaps just keep their number to hand - 08457 90 90 90. You might also want to join the Elephant community on Facebook, it's a really supportive place where anyone who's struggling with their mental health can talk frankly about the things they're coping with - http://www.facebook.com/mindelephant
I wonder also whether it might be worth looking into getting an advocate to help you access support and fight your corner. It sounds like you've had a great deal to cope with and could benefit from some extra support. Our infoline team can tell you how to find one - 0300 123 3393 / info@mind.org.uk.
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Eve@Mind replied on 12 Aug 2012 at 13:04
Hi Lizz - thank you for sharing your story with us, I'm very sorry to hear about the result of your assessment. Too many people are being judged as fit for work when they're clearly very unwell. I can see how frightened you must be right now, and understand why you'd be feeling suicidal.'Too many people are being judged as fit for work when they're clearly very unwell'!
Eve, Do you realise how paternalistic and patronising this sounds and probably is? You make it sound like the system is basically workable with the right kind of tweaking. 'Being JUDGED fit for work', like its some kind of judicial oversight that if the true facts were taken account of the decision would be reversed? You miss the whole point of what people are trying to say to you. POOR LIZZ SHOULD NEVER HAVE BEEN SUBJECTED TO THIS KIND OF ASSAULT AT ALL! And if that is what mind belives, WHY WON'T YOU SAY IT!???
When are mind going to come out and state the obvious. ATOS/Government are not interested in facts or the truth. It is not mere oversight or misunderstanding that people like Lizz are put through this suicidal mess. IT IS DUE TO DIRECT POLICY AND THEY DON'T CARE!
Why don't mind stop being part of the problem? It makes me so depressed and angry your attitude of, well were stuck with what we've got so we'll just have to work with it. We'll keep lobbying government cause if they knew the facts they wouldn't be doing this to people with mental health problems.
ATOS/government have a deliberate policy to the rest of us facing our trial and judgment. Why are you even trying to work with them?
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