Quick plug for some sites

In my last posting I thanked a couple of sites for plugging one of my articles but I forgot to include links to their sites so here they are:

The South Essex Stirrer: https://southessexstirrer.wordpress.com/2017/09/07/a-demolition-of-thurrock-councils-tenant-tax/ 

Your Thurrock:  http://www.yourthurrock.com/2017/09/07/blogpost-destroying-defence-thurrock-councils-service-charges/

Yes, I know that the links are to the mentions of my article but that doesn't mean to say that you can's explore their sites at the same time, does it?  Besides, they probably get more page views than me! 😛

Please support these sites and your local bloggers wherever you may live!

If you're interested in the Angela Eagle situation...

I rarely post links to other blogs but I do if they illuminate a current situation and with Angela Eagle finally poking her head out from the hole she dug for herself when she challenged Jeremy Corbyn to appear on last night's Question Time on BBC1, I think it's time to challenge her hypocricy when she called Nicola Sturgeon, First Minister of the Scottish Government, "opportunistic" with regards to her calls for a new Scottish independence referendum.  Eagle was conveniently forgetting that she was being opportunistic when she challenged Corbyn for the Labour leadership following a vile orchestrated attempted coup by the Blairites in the Parliamentary Labour Party.

So, I have decided to be opportunistic by posting this link that uncovers what is currently going on in Eagle's consituency.

https://labourmuse.wordpress.com/2017/02/27/wallasey-clp-facts/

Please feel free to comment below and to share this blog entry (or any of my other entries) as widely as you can.

A compilation of help and advice for people going through the PIP assessment process

I have had a great deal of information, advice and useful links sent my way because of the first video in this on-going tale of my PIP Assessment Hell.  As I don’t want this to all be about me, I want to share this information with viewers of my videos, some of whom may be going through the same ordeal.

This is not everything because I’ve had so many comments sent to me but as I find the information, advice and links I’ve been sent I will add them.  I will also be adding credit for the source of each piece I include on this listing as and when/if I get permission to use their names.

This list is not exhaustive and there may be more help available so if you find any links, have any advice or information, please add it as a comment to whichever video you are watching and I’ll add it to this listing.  (Please let me know if you wish me to use your name to credit you with your help if your screen name isn’t your name.)

If I have missed out any information that I have been sent, I sincerely apologise to those whose help has been erroneously omitted.  If your information, advice or useful link is missing, please contact me so I can add it.

Information

If you have anything not in this list, you can use that to tell them they are not qualified enough and walk back out again.

List of conditions judged suitable for assessment by neuro trained nurses/any health care profession:

Prolapsed intervertebral disc

Lumbar nerve root compression

Sciatica

Slipped disc

Lumbar spondylosis

Lumbar spondylolisthesis

Lumbar spondylolysis

Cauda equina syndrome

Spinal stenosis

Peripheral neuropathy

Neuropathy

Drop foot

Meralgia paraesthetica

Cervical spondylosis

Cervical nerve root compression

Cervicalgia

Nerve entrapment syndrome

Carpal tunnel syndrome

Trapped nerve

Paraesthesia

Tingling

Numbness

Brachial plexus injury

Polyneuropathy

Dizziness

Vertigo

Essential Tremor

VWF

Alzheimer’s

List of conditions judged by the DWP and Atos Healthcare as suitable only for assessment by doctors:

Stroke

Head injury with neuro sequelae

Brain haemorrhage

Sub Arachnoid Haemorrhage

Brain tumour

Acoustic Neuroma

Multiple Sclerosis

Motor Neurone Disease

Parkinson’s disease

TIAs

Bulbar Palsy

Myasthenia Gravis

Muscular Dystrophy

Guillain-Barre Syndrome

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis

Syringomyelia

Neurofibromatosis

Spina bifida

Polio

Fits (secondary to brain tumour)

Learning difficulties (with physical problems)

Nystagmus

Myelitis

Bells Palsy

Trigeminal Neuralgia

Paraplegia

Quadriplegia

Huntington’s Chorea

Huntington’s Disease

(List provided by John Greene)

Useful Links

https://www.mind.org.uk/media/1972550/mind_applying-for-pip_singles4-final.pdf

https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/Global/Migrated_Documents/adviceguide/pip-9-table-of-activities-descriptors-and-points.pdf

(Links provided by Simone Illger)

http://dabd.org.uk/our-services/welfare-benefits/welfare-benefits-advice

https://lookaside.fbsbx.com/file/The%20Personal%20Independence%20Payment%20%28PIP%29%20toolkit%20-%20GOV.UK.html?token=AWxcGuRs2j4Nc4eRsONKphfihUq3m8Ox3t-5Bmuv8zxhmQala9YVIPNbHyR2f5VmynGzpcqXbHMDAwRmqCJh-uggZiAlT5oKgEgwGlsEpTWHt0B0Xjd03N_VpaCVY8Vt09-IF1_h9IZwRCxMbgRusrJcvSTg__hGAhfC4LDXzHr-Jw

(Links provided by Adrian Wait)

https://www.facebook.com/TONYSADVOCACY/?hc_location=ufi

(Link provided)

http://together-uk.org/

(Link provided by Pete Logan)

https://www.facebook.com/changes.northstaffs/?hc_location=ufi

(Link provided by Steve Jones)

http://www.benefitsandwork.co.uk/

(Link provided by Rachel Carthy)

Advice

1. Benefits and Work is a company that helps benefit claimants get the ones they are entitled to, helping to prepare their case and giving them all the info they need. There are booklets on various aspects of benefit claims. It is not free, but seems reasonable to my mind. Their Email is campaign@benefitsandwork.co.uk.
2. Also, although The Citizens Advice Bureau (in phone book, or look online) in your area may be very busy, it's worth trying them for help. They have an online help database but you need face to face support I think. They have phone helplines and local offices
3. There is also DPAC, Disabled People Against the Cuts, I don't know if they are only campaigners or if they can advise individual people. Find them online.
4. You should have a support worker through your GP, I'd think. If you do, that person could go with you to the appointment, and maybe also help you prepare all the documents you need. You can ask your doctor.
5. There are lawyers who specialise in appeals against DWP decisions, some work through the C.A.B., free, others in welfare centres or commercially. You may get a half hour free from a socially responsible lawyer apart from that, to give you advice.
6. Your local MP might get you support or advise you.
7. Do you belong to a Church? There can be a very supportive community in a Church, who could help. Your Vicar or Priest would be in the phone book. I wish I could promise results. But know there are caring people around if you are lucky enough to find them.

(Provided by Patricia Stephanie Lowe who would like it made clear that she is not a professional benefits advisor)

Some Information From A Former PIP Assessor (contains advice from a former PIP assessor)

https://samedifference1.com/2016/10/28/some-information-from-a-former-pip-assessor/

When you have been to your assessment contact DWP and ask for a copy of the notes that the health professional took down.

(Provided by Catherine Heal)

This information is the product of the out-pouring of genuine compassion and generosity that I am happy to spread around to those who need it.  Stay strong.  Don't let the bastards get you down!

Wednesday 7th May 2014

Just barely got myself energised enough to climb out of my duvet on the sofa and come to the computer to do some stuff.

I’ve got a Governor’s meeting at the adult college tonight but I don’t really feel up to going.  Unfortunately, I’ve already missed two meetings lately so I can’t in all good conscience miss any more.  The ideas I proposed for the new Governor Mentorship scheme are on the agenda which makes it even more important that I’m there so I will have to simply do what I must to drag myself there.  I also can’t send my apologies with the excuse of “I’m not really up to attending because of the state of my mental health” on the very day of the meeting because that would be rude, even if it is true.

It also shows potential employers that, although my mental health may be poor at the moment, I’m still prepared to drag my fat ass out of the flat to do what needs to be done.  This is an important statement to make seeing as how I am presently looking for work having been kicked off the benefit I was claiming despite being in a worse shape than when I first claimed it and left with no income whatsoever.

I posted my first movie review on my other blog yesterday.  It’s been a long time since I set it up and I felt the urge to write something that wasn’t mental health, politics or yet another diary entry.  I doubt it’ll get many views but at least I can post the links on my social networking sites and hope that people will see that I’m not all doom and gloom or piss and vinegar.  It would be nice if it got me a job as a reviewer although the review doesn’t go into the sort of minute detail that some do.  All I want to do is give people a flavour of what a film is like and a reason for them to check it out for themselves.  I’m not after doing some deep critical analysis, just a good old-fashioned recommendation.

I may not be reviewing new movies but that is because there are very few new movies that aren’t already hyped up to the eyeballs or are any good.  I just want to go through my collection of DVDs picking out the ones that are fascinating, original or just plain good and try to enthuse other movie buffs to watch them.  It’s a vain hope but I’ve got to do something to pass the time while I’m waiting to get a job or die (whichever comes first), haven’t I?

The review I mentioned can be found here: 

http://abyssalvault.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/somewhere-in-time-1980.html