It appears Neil Crowther didn't like the fact that I called him a "patronising dickhead". lets try to explain things to him as Twitter is a useless medium for holding a conversation or debate.
The background is that the Labour Party Disability Task Force Report that was released and the fact that it effectively was 78 pages of garbled bullshit. Oh, and as usual it failed to include anything about carers. Carers are an integral party of things that relate to disability benefits. Not that you would notice as almost everyone from Labour to the WOW Petition Group to the Spartacus Group failed to mention carers till they were reminded.
The 'task force' was set up by Anne McGuire - hated by most disabled people and carers when she was Minister for Disabled People, and Liam Byrne - equally hated when Minister for Care Services when Labour were in power. Both Blairites who totally ignored everything disabled people and carers wanted.
So why "patronising"? Apparently according to Neil Carers UK 'have done many things to better the lives of carers'. Strange that because a look at that charity's forum shows the same things being asked for now as was being asked for as long as their forum has been running.
Has Carers Allowance improved significantly? No.
Are respite breaks easily accessed? No
Are carers the main priority of this vile charity? No
As a carer for about 20 years now I can tell Neil nothing has changed for the better. Hell even the present governments 'extra room for a stay over carer scheme' isn't being properly implemented by councils.
Lets move on to the fact that an employee of this charity can make false reports to police forces, have a restraining order against them for harassing a woman and to have taken part in an internet stalking campaign and STILL be working for Carers UK and perhaps Neil can get a little bit of an idea of why many carers do not trust Carers UK. Then we have the case of Lesley Gross Someone that actually stood up for carers but was chased out of the charity by lies and smears. And Neil wonders why I hate this self-interested money grubbing charity.
And thanks Neil, thanks for thinking carers are such simpering idiots that they are charity cases that need a charity to speak for them. We don't, got that clear?
Why "dick head"? Where do I start? A report he helped formulate comes out, written by a bunch of people who have no mandate to speak for disabled people. Ignores the fact that carers are part of what is going on in the lives of disabled people. When asked about it says "what would you like put into the report"? It's already out there, would it be changed if people wanted to add to it? "No" So what is the bloody point of asking the question!
On being told that the only disability spokesperson who replied to disabled people was UKIP's Star Etheridge, Neil replied- sucking up disillusionment from all quarters. Lots of positive policies for carers & disabled people alike http://www.ukip.org/issues
Which totally ignored what I had said. Disabled people and carers should be the only people who make up these 'task forces' as we know full well the results of past, present and- no doubt, future governments impacts on OUR lives.
The Standing Commission on Carers is an excellent example. There has never been a single carer involved in that "Commission". Loads of charity workers or titled nonentities, but one actual 24/7 carer? Nope.
He obviously thinks anyone who doesn't bow down to these "disability experts" are simpletons who have no right to an opinion on what is blighting their lives. Well Mr Crowther, until you have lived the life of a disabled person or carer through the shit-storm that Labour started and the ConDems have taken on then you don't have a right to speak for us. You know nothing of our lives and neither do 90% of the task force. "NOTHING ABOUT US WITHOUT US" Well this report was done "without us".
The report was 78 dull, boring ramblings of a task force with no mandate, just a few people threw together by two politicians who totally ignored disabled people and carers.
The report should have said "DLA worked mostly. It had little fraud (approximately 0.3%) so if Labour get elected the PIP descriptors should be scrapped and replace with the old DLA ones. It wasn't an "out of date benefit" and that message should be made clear to the public.
But that's too easy, people like Neil, Massie, Byrne, McGuire (thanks for starting the Remploy closures Anne), Liz Sayce (who betrayed those who worked at Remploy) to ignore what we grunts want and decide on our behalf, THAT is why I called Neil Crowther a dickhead and did so openly. You have contradicted yourself by saying "nothing about us without us" because you had no input from anyone but the task force.
As for Kaliya Franklin being part of it? Pfft, she has little to no support at all from disabled people. Another person who thinks she knows what is best, and she doesn't.
Saturday, 26 April 2014
Friday, 7 March 2014
All Things Shite And Screwtiful
Interesting Twitter row with the sheeple that make up the WOW petition group.
They ran some petition that got just over 100,000 names on it (many likely to be aliases to help bump up the numbers as they were struggling to get their target) which amounts to barely 1% of people registered to be claiming DLA, PIP and Carers Allowance- I've excluded the people on ESA to lessen their embarrassment.
The Labour Party use it to get debates going in Westminster for something that will affect all disabled people and carers.
When told that the WOW group have no right to speak for all disabled people and carers they say they aren't doing that!
The WOW petition group claim they are a democratic group and if people had issues with what they were doing they should have spoken out earlier.
Great idea, except the WOW petition group, like the Spartacus group actually block any comments that oppose what they are doing.
Democracy in action eh? Everyone can have an opinion as long as it agrees with theirs.
I never actually thought I would every agree with Simon Stevens (Mr Atos) but as he clearly doesn't like the WOW or Spartacus groups then in this case I do, for differing reasons though.
I spotted Sue Marsh's Twitter feed where she was asking if the researcher for channel 5's Big Benefits Debate were going to cover her travel and hotel costs for her to appear on the show. That's sort of odd because as she states in her blog she was in London on that day anyway-
As it happened, I also had a hospital appointment in London yesterday at 3pm. As only us sick people can really know, that is traumatic enough in itself. It takes 3 hours for Dave to drive me to central London and 3 hours to get home. Ordinarily, that alone would exhaust me for days after the actual event but instead, yesterday, I chose to wait 6 HOURS for the Big Benefits Row to start. By 8pm, every one of my loved-ones know not to phone me or expect intelligent reponses. Waiting up to do a show that starts at 9pm is significant in my world.
could this be the reason she was dropped? Did the programme makers find out that she was trying to get money from them under false pretences?
She has stated recently that she won't do anything now unless she gets paid for it, was this one attempt to line her own pockets too many?
Then when you look at the WOW petition's web site there is a donation button, so how much has been raised and where has it gone?
WOW is one of the least transparent campaigning groups around and Labour are happy to work with them?
Having finally gotten Labour to talk to me regarding carers issues thanks to a friend on Facebook, and being offered the chance to speak or meet Kate Green I turned it down. I've no intention of having anything to do with the WOW or Spartacus groups and if that means not getting the chance to put carers concerns to Labour then so be it.
Seems like there will never be unity between different online disabled people and carer communities, the problems run way too
They ran some petition that got just over 100,000 names on it (many likely to be aliases to help bump up the numbers as they were struggling to get their target) which amounts to barely 1% of people registered to be claiming DLA, PIP and Carers Allowance- I've excluded the people on ESA to lessen their embarrassment.
The Labour Party use it to get debates going in Westminster for something that will affect all disabled people and carers.
When told that the WOW group have no right to speak for all disabled people and carers they say they aren't doing that!
The WOW petition group claim they are a democratic group and if people had issues with what they were doing they should have spoken out earlier.
Great idea, except the WOW petition group, like the Spartacus group actually block any comments that oppose what they are doing.
Democracy in action eh? Everyone can have an opinion as long as it agrees with theirs.
I never actually thought I would every agree with Simon Stevens (Mr Atos) but as he clearly doesn't like the WOW or Spartacus groups then in this case I do, for differing reasons though.
I spotted Sue Marsh's Twitter feed where she was asking if the researcher for channel 5's Big Benefits Debate were going to cover her travel and hotel costs for her to appear on the show. That's sort of odd because as she states in her blog she was in London on that day anyway-
As it happened, I also had a hospital appointment in London yesterday at 3pm. As only us sick people can really know, that is traumatic enough in itself. It takes 3 hours for Dave to drive me to central London and 3 hours to get home. Ordinarily, that alone would exhaust me for days after the actual event but instead, yesterday, I chose to wait 6 HOURS for the Big Benefits Row to start. By 8pm, every one of my loved-ones know not to phone me or expect intelligent reponses. Waiting up to do a show that starts at 9pm is significant in my world.
could this be the reason she was dropped? Did the programme makers find out that she was trying to get money from them under false pretences?
She has stated recently that she won't do anything now unless she gets paid for it, was this one attempt to line her own pockets too many?
Then when you look at the WOW petition's web site there is a donation button, so how much has been raised and where has it gone?
WOW is one of the least transparent campaigning groups around and Labour are happy to work with them?
Having finally gotten Labour to talk to me regarding carers issues thanks to a friend on Facebook, and being offered the chance to speak or meet Kate Green I turned it down. I've no intention of having anything to do with the WOW or Spartacus groups and if that means not getting the chance to put carers concerns to Labour then so be it.
Seems like there will never be unity between different online disabled people and carer communities, the problems run way too
Thursday, 20 February 2014
Don't Make Our Job Harder
People realise and acknowledge that the government and media make the lives of disabled people difficult and miserable but what they don't take into consideration that it makes our role as carers equally stressful.
Our role tends to be a firewall, standing between a vicious ideologically driven coalition, the media, and people who have fallen for the anti-disabled propaganda tactics used by all of them.
The Huffington Post is the latest "newspaper" to allow disabled people bashing, but they have included a neat twist on things. Their disability basher is Simon Stevens. He is know to many online campaigners for his vile attacks on people who defend the government's cuts to disability benefits. If you show him proof that someone has taken their own life because of cuts to disability benefits he calls them "Nazis" or "murderers".
He also defends Atos, who almost everyone knows is a government driven disability denying organisation, but he would defend them because he has or is working for them as can be seen here.
I asked the Huffington Post for a right of reply to some of the more disturbing and offensive piece he has done for them. But like the Daily Mail, the Sun etc it seems like the HF only allows people to reply if it suits their 'agenda'.
The Huffington Post defends Simon Stevens right to attack disabled people with impunity.
There is no balance except for when the dull and boring Owen Jones chips in to speak up for people on benefits. But that's the thing, Jones isn't disabled or a carer to my knowledge, so why the hell should he be speaking for us? Carers and disabled people can speak for themselves, it's just that the media aren't listening to anyone that doesn't fit into their neat little boxes.
Huffington Post still won't allow a right of reply to someone that thinks he is the only disabled person worthy of disability benefits and that everyone else is workshy or a scrounger.
Why anyone takes that online rag seriously while it maintains the governments stereotypes is laughable. It has failed disabled people and carers in the same way the government has.
So stop making carers jobs harder by piling the shit Simon Stevens shovels onto the people we care for
Our role tends to be a firewall, standing between a vicious ideologically driven coalition, the media, and people who have fallen for the anti-disabled propaganda tactics used by all of them.
The Huffington Post is the latest "newspaper" to allow disabled people bashing, but they have included a neat twist on things. Their disability basher is Simon Stevens. He is know to many online campaigners for his vile attacks on people who defend the government's cuts to disability benefits. If you show him proof that someone has taken their own life because of cuts to disability benefits he calls them "Nazis" or "murderers".
He also defends Atos, who almost everyone knows is a government driven disability denying organisation, but he would defend them because he has or is working for them as can be seen here.
I asked the Huffington Post for a right of reply to some of the more disturbing and offensive piece he has done for them. But like the Daily Mail, the Sun etc it seems like the HF only allows people to reply if it suits their 'agenda'.
The Huffington Post defends Simon Stevens right to attack disabled people with impunity.
There is no balance except for when the dull and boring Owen Jones chips in to speak up for people on benefits. But that's the thing, Jones isn't disabled or a carer to my knowledge, so why the hell should he be speaking for us? Carers and disabled people can speak for themselves, it's just that the media aren't listening to anyone that doesn't fit into their neat little boxes.
Huffington Post still won't allow a right of reply to someone that thinks he is the only disabled person worthy of disability benefits and that everyone else is workshy or a scrounger.
Why anyone takes that online rag seriously while it maintains the governments stereotypes is laughable. It has failed disabled people and carers in the same way the government has.
So stop making carers jobs harder by piling the shit Simon Stevens shovels onto the people we care for
Monday, 17 February 2014
UK Carers Update
Well the website is back up at our old URL (ukcarers.net) and contrary to what some people are saying I have never "been away".
Even though I having further health problems I have been had interesting contact with Labours Liz Kendal's office, which showed that Labour are still not able or willing to stand up for disabled people and carers. It would have been good if they understood the overlapping benefit rule when it came to Carers Allowance and the state pension, but it seems not.
The Lib Dems Norman Lamb was another of the main parties that won't work in the interests of carers. His siding with the Conservatives over the scrapping of DLA in favour of the cost cutting exercise that is PIP appear to indicate he is more interested in keeping his position rather than defending disabled people and carers.
The Tory response was to be expected.
UKIP surprised me though. They have a disability spokesperson that is disabled, replies to emails herself and takes on-board what people say. She also fights hard on disability issues. I have been very impressed by her even though I told her there is no chance I will be voting at the next election.
There have been other things like reminding various campaigning groups that carers exist, because the likes of the WOW petitions and Spartacus groups didn't mention carers till they were reminded about carers. So much for 'together we are stronger'.
There have been countless reports to the Press Complaints Commission about Daily Mail articles. Freedom of Information Act Requests that showed hardly any people managed to access the governments 'extra room for a stay over carer' payment.
This group http://www.dwpexamination.org/ showed promise when it first started, but it's similar to what UK Carers was doing years ago to be honest.
So yes, I am stepping up what I am doing, I certainly haven't been hiding or lazy, it's just that the game has changed, forums aren't 'productive' anymore, social media has been useful but things change so quickly you have to react as quick as possible.
So that's the start of a new phase. There are still fighters out there which is good to see, but the same old boring people are still trying to do the same old boring things, perhaps- like Carers UK's Gavin McGregor - they will land up with a restraining order on them?
Even though I having further health problems I have been had interesting contact with Labours Liz Kendal's office, which showed that Labour are still not able or willing to stand up for disabled people and carers. It would have been good if they understood the overlapping benefit rule when it came to Carers Allowance and the state pension, but it seems not.
The Lib Dems Norman Lamb was another of the main parties that won't work in the interests of carers. His siding with the Conservatives over the scrapping of DLA in favour of the cost cutting exercise that is PIP appear to indicate he is more interested in keeping his position rather than defending disabled people and carers.
The Tory response was to be expected.
UKIP surprised me though. They have a disability spokesperson that is disabled, replies to emails herself and takes on-board what people say. She also fights hard on disability issues. I have been very impressed by her even though I told her there is no chance I will be voting at the next election.
There have been other things like reminding various campaigning groups that carers exist, because the likes of the WOW petitions and Spartacus groups didn't mention carers till they were reminded about carers. So much for 'together we are stronger'.
There have been countless reports to the Press Complaints Commission about Daily Mail articles. Freedom of Information Act Requests that showed hardly any people managed to access the governments 'extra room for a stay over carer' payment.
This group http://www.dwpexamination.org/ showed promise when it first started, but it's similar to what UK Carers was doing years ago to be honest.
So yes, I am stepping up what I am doing, I certainly haven't been hiding or lazy, it's just that the game has changed, forums aren't 'productive' anymore, social media has been useful but things change so quickly you have to react as quick as possible.
So that's the start of a new phase. There are still fighters out there which is good to see, but the same old boring people are still trying to do the same old boring things, perhaps- like Carers UK's Gavin McGregor - they will land up with a restraining order on them?
Friday, 1 May 2009
Protest Summing Up
Well the Carers Poverty Protest duly came and went.
- The loads of MP's that were forecast became around half a dozen,
- The thousands of Carers that were due to turn up was around a couple of hundred,
- The online petition probably contained a few hundred aliases/fake names made up by the vice chairman (his usual way or operating)
Was it a failure? Not at all. It was an absolute success, it showed Carers didn't want to support a group that intimidated/ harassed/ sent the police to the homes of Carers that stated they disagreed with the forging of the signature of Carole Cochrane (chief exec of the Princess Royal Trust for Carers)/ made false allegations of benefit fraud and owned at least 2 hate sites that many MANY Carers stated they thought were a disgrace.
It was a success for the honest decent Carers out there who have ensured that this group are hardly ever answered on Carers support forums when they post,
it was a success for those Carers that took the time to email their MP's and tell them that they did not want representing by this group,
it was a success for those Carers that emailed their local Carer groups telling them that this group were a blight on the good name of 'Carer'.
My thanks go to those that worked their butts off making sure that this disgusting group of liars and bullies were ignored by the vast majority of MP's and Carers centres.
Well done Carers everywhere for showing that integrity and honesty can work in their favour
Saturday, 17 January 2009
Well the protest draws near and 2 national charities seem intent on allowing the dwindling band that is the Carers Poverty Protest Group (with the self-admitted forger in tow) to put Carers at risk from the former director of Carers UK (not former trustee as he has stated)
It was expected that the self-elected committee would protect and defend this person out of desperation in trying to show a 'united front' when in reality this unscrupulous disgraceful band have become shunned by the majority of online Carers, even their own membership has stopped posting out of the shame of being associated with this group. It has got to such a ridiculous state of affairs that this group are now allowing spammers and aliases made up by their vice chairman to populate their membership!
I for one would never support this group or tell any other Carer that they should go along with it, they are a danger to other Carers, the hate site http://www.okcarers.tk/ which is run by the Carer Poverty Protest Group's vice chairman (and constantly defended by the rest of their disgraceful committee members, Annie Wiltcher, Tony Dennis, some trainee lawyer that can't even define forgery a home wrecker and wreckee to name but a few of these unelected
group) is viewed as such a scumbag site that the owner had to close it to anyone that might be interested in their protest.
In short, should any Carer think this group is fighting with honesty and integrity and for the good of Carers then think again OR join the hate site and read the bullshit it's owner- the vice chairman of the protest group posts. Oh, and I have also received a threat of 10 more years of internet stalking from this person, yup, great group and well worth avoiding if you want to avoid being stalked, harassed and abused online.
On a lighter note, please pay this site a visit http://chill4us.myminicity.com/
Also please take the time to visit honest Carers sites
http://www.carersforum.co.uk/forum/index.php
http://www.chill4us.com/news/index.php
If you need help with DLA then visit here http://www.dlahelpgroup.com/index.php
Monday, 5 January 2009
The Protest Draws Near
Well that's the holidays out of the way so now we can get back to some proper work.
Right, now the Carers Poverty Protest Groups little 'charity-led' event draws closer and their latest newsletter has been posted HERE Now I would personally say to ANY Carer to avoid this group like the plague. Why? It's well-known that one of their self-appointed committee members has committed forgery as can be seen here
He admitted he had done this on his hate site (what is now a closed forum). Since doing this he has also issued a death threat on to a gentleman on a national charity forum. He has attacked other Carers also.
I have been stalked by this person for over 3 years now. He has been warned by the police about his behaviour but still carries on.
Right, now the Carers Poverty Protest Groups little 'charity-led' event draws closer and their latest newsletter has been posted HERE Now I would personally say to ANY Carer to avoid this group like the plague. Why? It's well-known that one of their self-appointed committee members has committed forgery as can be seen here
He admitted he had done this on his hate site (what is now a closed forum). Since doing this he has also issued a death threat on to a gentleman on a national charity forum. He has attacked other Carers also.
I have been stalked by this person for over 3 years now. He has been warned by the police about his behaviour but still carries on.
As 'stalkers' go this is a pretty nasty one and yet some group what knows his past and present antics are defending him and even have the temerity to place him in a position where he will have contact with vulnerable Carers that don't know exactly how this person behaves!
This is not a trustworthy group. It claimed to set out to unify the online Carer groups. It has caused greater divisions. There are abusive phone calls being made to Carers, forgery, identity theft, threats of actual violence, marriage wrecking, how can the media take Carers seriously when this sort of thing is being done AND defended? Is some cases actually encouraged.
I urge any and every Carer to avoid this group as they will put Carers at risk. I myself have had obscene material posted to my home by a member of this group. I will of course be following closely whoever this group contacts and following up letting them know what this group are really like. I have already let some Carers organisations know about them, they have removed any mention of them from their newsletters and advised the Carers that have expressed an interest to be extremely cautious of them.
I'd go a lot further and tell them to avoid the Carers Protest Group completely because they are a danger to all decent Carers online and offline.
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