In UK, the people have recently elected a new government and the Conservative/Lib-Dem coalition party have promised to review benefits to help those most in need.

Hopefully, that covers pensioners and families with children with disabilities.

One of the main topics on the BBC news yesterday, was the financial difficulty often faced by families with a disabled child.

It appears in UK, the average annual income of a family with a disabled child is £15,000. Many are struggling to make ends meet, and the way the government’s consumer pricing index is worked out means these families benefits are disproportionately affected.  The economic downturn and recession hits them hardest.

There are apparently 730,000 disabled childen in UK, and their families are  vulnerable.

Not only is it often a mental and physical strain, but a financial one too.

Many parents struggle to care for their child and hold down a job, even a part-time one.  In a survey of 1000 families, 23% admitted to cutting back on heating, one in seven didn’t  eat properly and half those interviewed had to borrow money to pay their bills.

In order to understand  the dilemma, you have to realise the day to day expenses for disabled children are often greater because of their special requirements.  Therapies, transport, equipment, medication, and dietary needs are all expensive.  Specialist child care is often more expensive too. 

Depending on the child’s requirements, you can’t just ask a relation, friend or neighbour to  look after your child whilst you go to work.

There are benefits available, but many families only learn about them by speaking to others in a similar situation, or by word of mouth.  When a child receives a diagnosis it’s usually via the health service.  It’s not their to know about benefits.  That’s a totally different department .

As a result the information isn’t readily available and even when you do find out about it, the forms are incredibly complicated to fill in.  Those people who need the help the most are the ones least able to face them.  Even if they find the time to wade through the pages of paperwork, they’re too tired and stressed to fully understand the gobbledegook.

I can tell you from experience, it’s not an easy process, and judging from what I saw yesterday, the process has become worse over the years.

One man on the BBC news program had a son with autism – just like me.  He produced the forms he had to fill in to get the appropriate help for his young son.  It consisted of one hundred pages!

The gentleman said he felt the government were wasting a lot of money with beurocracy, rather than actual help.  Every autistic child is unique and requires different things so the forms were misleading and complicated. 
 
He said, after successfully completing his forms, his family were contacted by several different agencies for review and assessment meetings.  These he said, were a waste of resources, when all  he really wanted was some speech therapy and  respite.  Both would have helped far more than chatting to some stranger.

I must admit I’ve been lucky over the years with the support I’ve received for my son, but when he was diagnosed with autism, the condition was very rare.  It’s now exploded to the point where now one in every one hundred children has some form of autism spectrum disorder.

Their parents need help!

Interestingly, I received this e-mail today  about pensioners and it does make you wonder where the British government’s priorities lie, especially if, as I believe it’s their vaccine policy, which created the autism epidemic in the first place.

I’m not alone in this view, and  I urge everyone to read Callous Disregard – Autism and Vaccines – The Truth Behind A Tragedy  by Andrew J. Wakefield

Yes, he is the doctor who was recently discredited and struck off by the General Medical Council, but if you read the TRUE story, you’ll understand the politics of vaccines in the UK and USA, and realise the link between governments and the pharmaceutical companies.
 
Their  profits rely on vaccine uptake, and they can’t afford any inconvenient observations pointing out the dangers of synergistic and culmulative effects of multiple vaccines.   Dr. Wakefield has been made a scapegoat, just like William McBride was nearly fifty years ago.

If the name means nothing to you, he was the man who described the first victims of Thalidomide and observed if nothing was done, children would continue to be born without limbs.

The pharmaceutical companies didn’t like him either, and he was struck off the Australian Medical Register.
 
Share holder profits are a very powerful motivator!

Anyway,please read  Callous Disregard – Autism and Vaccines – The Truth Behind A Tragedy  and make your own mind up.  You can read my books too if you like.  They tell you all about my son and my personal story about why I believe Jodi has autism.  You can find out more at http://www.JeanShaw.com

Anyway, here’s that e-mail I discussed earlier.   Remember I didn’t write it, but am just passing it on.
 
It’s not actually about families with disabilities, but pensioners, who are also often in financial difficulties.  They too go without food, heating and anything else not considered “essential” just so they can keep a roof over their heads. It’s such a shame when you consider most of them have paid their taxes and contributed to the growth of the country for between 40 and 60 years.

This e-mail highlights the unfairness of current benefits in UK

Pensioners v ILLEGAL Immigrants

 
Let me see if I understand all this …
 
If you cross the North Korean border illegally you get 12 years hard labor.
If you  cross the Iranian border illegally you’re detained indefinitely.
If you cross the Afghan border illegally, you get shot.
If you cross the Saudi Arabian border illegally you’ll be jailed.
If you cross the Chinese border illegally you may never be heard from again.
If you cross the Venezuelan border illegally you’ll be branded a spy and your fate will be sealed.
If you cross the Cuban border illegally you’ll be thrown into political prison to rot.

If you cross the British border illegally you get a job, a drivers license, pension card, welfare, credit cards, subsidised rent or a loan to buy a house, free education and free health care!

Are you aware of the following?

The British Government provides the following financial assistance: -

Benefits for  BRITISH AGED PENSIONER 

Weekly allowance –  £100
Weekly Spouse allowance –  £25
Additional weekly hardship allowance - £0 
TOTAL YEARLY BENEFIT £6,000 

Benefits for  ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS / REFUGEES LIVING IN BRITAIN

Weekly allowance –  £250
Weekly Spouse allowance –  £225
Additional weekly hardship allowance - £100   
TOTAL YEARLY BENEFIT- £29,900

Makes you think, doesn’t it?

Jean Shaw