Hello Wiggles,
I was hoping other members would respond to your post, as I, too, would be interested in seeing what other people have said in response to the consultation document. Tuliptrees did post a number of answers a while ago, when Chris first shared the link to the responses form, but we've all been rather shy since!
I completed the online form a while ago, but it took me over three hours to type in my answers, even though I had prepared my responses in advance. The problem with the form is you can't save what you've already entered and return to it, so it all has to be done in one go. However, I imagine you could complete a page at a time and submit each one separately (though the whole form would have to be submitted each time, including the pages left blank, if you see what I mean). After all, the important thing is to have your say and there's not much time left now, although I suppose you could still e-mail your views or send them in a letter to your MP.
I used the template blank form from the B & W website to help draft/record my answers - thank you, B & W - and also found the document containing B & W's own responses to the questions very helpful when I needed guidance. Both are available from links in a news item headed "Replace PIP with a catalogue" etc. dated 30th April in the "News" section of the website.
I considered my answers very carefully, but I didn't like the way the form is constructed and, by the time I reached the end, I began to think it had been drawn up towards the end of the evening at some particularly well-oiled Downing Street party. However, I did take it seriously because I feel it's important we try to convey the difficulties faced, on a daily basis, by those with disabilities, which is something whoever contributed towards drafting this form clearly cannot understand. Catalogue shopping may be something some people with disabilities can do, in the comfort of their own home, but it really won't help those who need continuing, long-term care at any level.
Since you asked for examples, this is my reply to Question 19, which asks you to explain your response to Question 18, the horrible "multiple choice" question.
This is a dreadful question and impossible to answer objectively; therefore, I have been forced to answer it from my own point of view, but I feel very uncomfortable in doing so because I am well aware that what is most important to me will be quite different from the priorities of someone with different problems. It is this "one size fits all" approach which is the cause of the unfairness inherent in PIP. What is most important for a person with one type of disability will not be the same as for another. People with disabilities are not all the same and should not be forced to compete for the extra resources and help they need. In a country which considers itself to be civilised - the sixth richest in the world, no less - no-one, but NO-ONE, whether sick and disabled or hale and hearty, rich or poor, should have to make such choices on the basis of cost. This long and complicated list of so-called choices a disabled person might need to make is the best reason there is for leaving PIP as it is - a financial contribution which can be used at the individual's discretion for their own individual needs.
Sadly, I'm a bit embarrassed to say this was not the only question which I found impossible to answer objectively and without reference to my own - admittedly hopelessly left-wing - political stance. I wish I could have adopted B & W's more measured approach and answered more succinctly, but it's hard to be dispassionate when you feel you've been left to cope with a loved-one's lifelong difficulties, upon which the State is eager to pass judgment, while offering little practical help. The previous Government always sought to justify its actions by pretending it was aiming to make savings on behalf of that mythical being, "the taxpayer", as if there were only one, so I also felt compelled to point out that people with disabilities are taxpayers too - thanks to the introduction of V.A.T. long ago we are all taxpayers, even those who cannot work and have no capital wealth - and many also have the capacity to vote.
Since the election, I'm hoping that a more sympathetic Government will be looking at the responses to the questionnaire.
Sorry about the rant. (Well, maybe not so very sorry - after all, you did ask!)
Best wishes,
Wendy Woo
