"Lying, thieving bastards" 2013

[Asa]

I didn't see this BBC article mentioned elsewhere. It's not ME/CFS specific, but describes the culture that people with disabilities/impairments must contend with. (Please note though that the article was published over two years ago.)

On paper, Linda Smith's job with an Aberdeen company was straightforward - she was meant to be helping the long-term unemployed - many of them disabled - to find jobs and move off benefits.

The reality, she said, was a corporate culture that saw staff in training sessions referring to those same people as LTBs - code for "lying, thieving bastards".

"That is how they are referred to," she said of the clients of Triage, which is a key player in the government's ambitious plan to pay private companies to move people from benefit into work...

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-21196616

 

[eafw]

The rise in the use of sanctions over the last few years is related to this, the way the government has been going after the unemployed and disabled. Nasty and punitive just for the sake of it (and the ££ of course)

There's been a recent enquiry which shines a light on some of it:

www.theguardian.com/society/2015/mar/24/benefit-sanctions-trivial-breaches-and-administrative-errors

http://data.parliament.uk/writtenev...y-beyond-the-oakley-review/written/16465.html