Act Now - to fight for your independence

One for all and all for one…Thank you over 1000 People have already emailed their MP

When I listened to Esther McVey make her commons statement with increasing horror my first thought was – Do I have the strength to fight this!

I’m tired, ill and facing another bleak winter in the sure knowledge that I will be bed bound again very soon – Just like every winter.  That knowledge hangs like a black cloud over our house, my husband gently reminds me when I make plans for January – we like to pretend I will be well enough, knowing full well the chances of me making it to the bathroom unaided become the highlight of my day.

BUT – like you I can’t simply lie back on my pillows and hope someone else will fight for me. That’s not fair because I’m asking other sick and disabled people to do it for me.

There are two massive scary things in the new PIP (Personal Independence Payment) proposals

2 people have written about the 20 metre moving around criteria better than I ever could:

Read them here

 Jane Young Well over 100,000 to lose Motability

Spoonydoc  PIP - A mobile disaster

Secondly the reliably, repeatedly, safely and timely emphasis has not gone into the regulations – which means they are not legally binding and if anyone had to appeal its could not be used as a point of law to show the decision was not fairly made.

The DWP have said it’s inherent and will be in the guidance, but well we know how easy it is to change policy.

The PIP proposals and criteria have to be agreed by parliament – it’s likely to happen in January – so we don’t have much time.

 If you havent read the governments ideas for Personal Independence Payment - that will replace DLA you can read it here PIP Thresholds and asessment criteria

So what can WE do?

We can show our MPs just how short a distance 20 metres is – I bet Esther Mcvey and her DWP cronies are relying on MP’s and the general public not having a clue how short that distance really is and far from promoting independence it will take it away.

Send your MP an E-card before Friday

Make sure the image is embedded in the email - not an attachment - it will have more imact and many MPs wont open attachments

Here’s how

Use one of these images: (right click and press save as )

Or

with the wording -  

Please make my Christmas and do 2 things in January

Don’t vote to take my independence away – Insist the DWP go back to using the threshold criteria:
Cannot walk more than 50 Metres
Can walk 50 metres but no more than 200 Metres
Can walk more than 200 Metres 
*or to use DWP speak stand and move"

Vote to embed the Reliably, Repeatedly, Safely and Timely into the regulations so I’m not left stranded by the whims of future policy

If you have a few spoons and want to make it personal follow these simple instructions to show your MP local places they should know well to highlight just how appallingly bad the 20 metre criteria is

I’m not techy at all if I can do it so can you J

Step 1 – use google map to look up places in your local area

• Your MP’s constituency office
• Distance from your house to your car
• Distance from your house to the nearest bus stop, shop, GPs, Work etc

We need to show our MPs that having a very short distance means we won’t even make it out of our houses to be independent let alone get to important places.

Step 2 – use this link and follow the instructions http://support.google.com/maps/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=1628031

Step 3 – Once you have found your house on the map change the google map view to satellite and zoom in til you have a clear picture like this one – make sure you start your measurement from inside your house.

I spend most of my day in the conservatory – which is why I started from the white bit J  - I have blocked out my road but you don’t have to as your MP needs to know you live there in order to reply.

this is what 20 Metres looks like from my house..20.06M to be exact

As you can see – If I reached my car even taking into account of the repeatedly, reliably, safely and timely policy I would FAIL the 20 metre Criteria and therefore would NOT be entitled to enhanced PIP = no access to the Motability Scheme

 Step 4 when you have got the image – press the Print screen button on your keyboard – its is usually on top row of your keyboard says PrtSc

Step 5 open the paint tool and press paste – the image will be there – I cropped the image – save it as a Jpeg and then you can add it to a email

You have both options – of course you could also

Take a photo from your front door and tell your MP 20M wont allow you to have an independent life and to please insist the DWP go back to using the threshold criteria
Cannot walk more than 50 Metres
Can walk more than 50 metres but not more than 200 Metres
Can walk more than 200 metres
*or to use DWP speak "Stand and Move"

Make it personal and the ask is for them to not Vote to take away our independence

We have 3 Days til the MPs break up for Christmas – ACT NOW please don’t just leave it thinking someone else will act for you

You can find your MP here http://findyourmp.parliament.uk/

Thank you 

Thanks to Debbie Sayers and other spoonies for the image ideas and creating them