Disability News Service: "Civil servant sparks fresh concerns over ideological basis of jobs strategy" [BPS discussed]

Also mentions ME and GET.

https://www.disabilitynewsservice.c...erns-over-ideological-basis-of-jobs-strategy/

 

Looks to me as if this could be a pretty big deal in the UK. Is it?

 

About halfway through the long article:

 

I'm not sure that it's a big deal as such, the Disability News Service is a niche news outlet, but it's at least a welcome sign that the BPS model is coming under increasing scrutiny, and not just from us militant ME patients.

 

Yeah it will be

They have previously not pressured people who are in the Support Group of Employment support allowance - these are those the gov't deem unable to do any kind of work related activity due to illness/disability. But the plans referred to in the article are ones to mandate that even those people (who are usually very ill) must attend 'work focused interviews' to discuss how they might get ready to rejoin the workforce. They use someone who has only one arm & who would like to be in work & is perfectly healthy as their template (excuse) - They choose to forget that people who are disabled are often disabled due to illness rather than amputation/vision loss/paralysis etc & so no kind of reasonable adjustment can make them well enough to work - but they prefer the narrative that bedbound people dont want to get up & merely need to be given assistance to see that they really can, it's merely their negative thoughts that are holding them back. .....
"So... you are too ill & weak & in pain & dizzy that you are unable to stand up & you say you have to crawl the 3mtrs across the room to get from bed to toilet? so you can crawl then? - Well then if you would just think about the posiibilities... you could get a job cleaning chewing gum off the pavement with your teeth & tongue - see you just need to think positively about what you CAN do rather than what you cant!"

Not like im enraged & outraged by their barbarism or anything.

ETA Oh, @Louie41 sorry i cross posted with Andy & he has interpreted your post slightly differntly, apologies if i misinterpreted your meaning of 'a big deal'- i was thinking you meant that the Gov't's stratagy/policy was a big deal, rather than the news article itself.

 

indeed

 

I'll be very interested to hear what they have to say. Except of course they'll use a 1000 words to say sweet FA.

 

Big deal as in a sign of more problems for people living with disabilities and health problems that stop them working? Yeah.

Big deal as in something that the mainstream media will be concerned about? I suspect not.

 

Maybe I misunderstood the article. I thought that the civil servant was openly pointing out that the bps theories were running along with the social theories sub rosa, thus basically outing and criticizing the plans on this basis.

 

I don't think she was criticising them. They've often mentioned in the past the role the biopsychosocial model has played in changing how they treat people on disability benefits... not many people care though. A lot of people in the Establishment think that this is all a jolly good idea.

 

Well, then, !

 

One of the best summations of the BPS attitude towards this situation is

Illness as ‘Deviance’, Work as Glittering Salvation and the ‘Psyching-up’ of the Medical Model:Strategies for Getting The Sick ‘Back To Work’.

https://www.academia.edu/1264898/Il...Strategies_for_Getting_The_Sick_Back_To_Work_

The title explains the assumptions quite well for those who cannot read it all.

 

To illustrate the farce - there was a post on the "supporters of Dr Myhill" 's Facebook page last year where someone had been assessed as being " fit to work" for 12 mins / hr. They posted a picture of the assessment.
Who is going to employ anyone ( let alone someone with a disability) for 12 mins / hr?

 

That is ridiculous. I hadn't seen that. I don't suppose you happen to have the link saved?

 

I have for some time been of the view that this lies behind all the public funding for the Paralympics. Propaganda to mould the public perspective against the ill. See what you can do if you only make the effort.

 

No, but will see if i can find it

 

Thanks. I know that things like that can be a pain though, so please don't get sucked in to a fruitless search on my behalf!

 

I remember it from when it was current, could have sworn it was on disability news but I did a "quick" hunt on there earlier, going back 3 years, and couldn't find it

 

it has been a long battle against the uk gov.

the used the bps on us pwme and nobody listened so now they are using it on others in disability benefits

many mental health have sucided and others too. grass roots orgs are fighting for the numbers and details held by gov on those who have died after being found fit for work.

dwp will not respond. though john pring is niche outlet it does have influence and you can listen to artices not just read them. which for us is cool.

sometimes the daily mirror and guardian follow his lead on stories.

we are very lucky to have such a journalist fighting for disability rights

 

This sounds like the type of letter that illustrates the point:



source: https://speyejoe2.wordpress.com/2017/08/25/fit-for-work-oh-do-feck-off/