Terrorisiert

It helps the pain.

Too much, just way too much: a copy of a 3100 word letter from my solicitor to the Learning Disability Partnership.

July 2008 - September 2012 - Cambridgeshire LDP still ain't got it together

Staring down the double-barrel of an ESA50, broken foot, broken brain.

Broken cutters

broken saws

Broken buckles

broken laws

Broken bodies

broken bones

Broken voices on broken phones

Take a deep breath

feel like you're chokin'

Everything is broken.

Frühstück

I think I'll need a stiff one.

Sur le sable, face à la mer

Se dresse là, un cimetière

Où les cyprès comme des lances

Sont les gardiens de son silence.

Sur le sable, des lits de fer

Sont plantés là, face à la mer

Mon ami, la mort t'a emmené

En son bateau pour l'éternité.

Si on allait au cimetière

Voir mon nom gravé sur la pierre,

Saluer les morts face à la mer,

Ivres de vie dans la lumiere.

Dans la chaleur, le silence

A l'heure où les cyprès se balancent

Les morts reposent au cimetière

Sous le sable, face à la mer.

100 (Silly) Voices -The Brandon Trust

Saturday morning arrives at about 7.30 am. I try to ignore the bottle of whisky that’s sitting by the kettle as I fumble to generate enough coffee to kick-start the day.

cheap drink, strong dope and tranquillizers

I don’t remember how it got there. I kinda guess it’s related to the “oh-my-god-life-is-so-shit-I-want-to-die” episode I had last night. As usual, cheap drink, strong dope and tranquillizers got me through.

streamed live on Teh Intawebz... 

Firing-up my geriatric computer to attack the headlines aus Die Zeit mit meine schlechte Deutsche, I notice on Twitter the Brandon Trust are having another “100 People: 100 Voices” Learning Disabilities Conference, and it is to be streamed live on Teh Intawebz... The flyer says “This is your opportunity to tell us what is important to you”.

Live from Teh Intawebz - Mr Personality

The Brandon Trust, originally a just residential care company, say about themselves in their Vision Statement

Brandon Trust sees a future where people with learning disabilities will exercise full citizenship with all its rights and responsibilities within UK society, where every person will be empowered and supported as necessary to safely live their life to its full potential.

Great White Hope and putative saint

And headlining the event is none other than the Disabled Community of Britain’s Great White Hope and putative saint, Bendy Girl.

the corpulent sight of Matt Britt

Hitting the video feed, I'm greeted with the corpulent sight of Matt Britt, one of the the Brandon Trust’s umm... “Employment and Support” advisers. (Little did I realise at this point, that this horror show was going to contain more than one Matt).

“Why haven’t you got a job?”

Looking distinctly Pooh Bear-ish in his spanking new blue Brandon Trust T Shirt, Matt I (as we will call him for ease of identification) outlines a future where asking the Brandon Trust for help and social care will get the response

Why haven’t you got a job?

I’m serious. (I’ve got the short-hand notes in case of High Court actions).

putting pressure on the disabled, their parents and carers

Matt speaks of putting pressure on the disabled, their parents and carers to change the current habit of asking

Do you want a job?

into

You will go pack incontinence pads at one of our ‘work-projects’, on a short-term temporary contract, wholly dependent on massive hidden government subsidies, mainly paid through cutting your benefits and support to as close to zero as humanly possible.

 he’s “enabled” many of his clients to join “Job Clubs”

He also speaks glowingly of how he’s “enabled” many of his clients to join “Job Clubs” where despite their numerous and serious disabilities, they will disappear from the disability statistics and glory in their new found status as fully enabled, supported and largely unemployable Job Seekers.

the blonde, poodle-haired, irredeemably chirpy PR guy

Next up is Matt II, Matt Boyle, the blonde, irredeemably chirpy, poodle-haired, PR guy from the Brandon Trust who is conducting an “interview” with one of their “local user forums”.

Live From Norwich... It's Gorgeous!

excruciating sub-Alan Partridge repartee

He begins with excruciating sub-Alan Partridge repartee

Your mum and dad brought you down!?

(Everything Matt II says comes with an exclamation and question mark.)

I need a bus pass

replies the less than enthusiastic interviewee. Matt II rapidly moves on to his next victim.

Any experiences you want to share about the buses!? You have something positive to share about the buses!?

A long painful silence follows.

Do you have a bus pass!?

No, I'm scared.

Another painful silence follows, although fortunately slightly shorter than before.

Do you have a bus pass!?

Hey! That's a great photo on there!

Matt II ploughs on, to no reply. Undaunted, he continues, addressing what seems entirely empty space, Hey! That's a great photo on there!

Another of the user panel erupts UrrghArrrghUrrrrrrrrgh!, at this point, I find myself joining the interlocutor in an unholy counterpoint...

Full Metal Jacket Matty continues

Any experiences you want to share about the buses!?, Full Metal Jacket Matty continues.

I get teased...

Desperately he turns, seemly at random, only to hit point-blank by

The bus stop is so far away, I have to get a taxi to it

I scream. Literally, I scream

I scream. Literally, I scream. I’m autistic you see. I have alexithymia. Difficulty expressing my thoughts and feelings so instead I just go UrrghArrrghUrrrrrrrrgh! and smash things up.

Frequently it’s the telephone. I’ve got through 4 in the last year. I always make a point of buying the cheap ones, knowing they’re not going to last long.

the endless stream of negativity

Matt II continues, the endless stream of negativity from the panellists can’t be ignored and he is begrudgingly dragged into engaging with their concerns... I leave the room at this point.

ignore the whining from the lonesome whisky bottle

It’s about 11.30 am and I can no longer ignore the whining from the lonesome whisky bottle. Despite this failure, I do manage to ignore the seductive susurration emanating from the tranquillizer cupboard. They can't be wasted on generalized existential angst. They're for life-or-death situations.

I return to the forum, dainty porcelain cup of whisky and a suspiciously large and stinky brown roll-up in hand.

Speaking in a particularly sexy low-cut maroon ensemble

Bendy Girl, Kaliya Franklin is powering up an improvised ramp onto the stage accompanied by rapturous applause. Speaking in a particularly sexy low-cut maroon ensemble, she appears to be accompanied by what looks like a G4S security guard in a blazer and tie. I try to ignore this fact. I don’t succeed.

silly-voice-o-meter hitting about 5.5

Kaliya gave a brief introduction, but almost certainly due to the psychic trauma of what followed, the recollection entirely escapes me, save for the flash-back of the silly-voice-o-meter hitting about 5.5 on a scale of 0 to 10,

one of the most grievous errors of judgement 

In what must surely rank as one of the most grievous errors of judgement since Bill Clinton did-not-have sexual relations with “That Woman”, Bendy Girl announces that we are going to have a “musical quiz”.

 a “musical quiz”

My spare bedroom, (which is about to attract a £13 a week reduction in my housing benefit), erupts to the sound of The Wheels of the Bus...

“The wheels of the bus, go round and round, go round and round...”

the ringing afterglow of this thermonuclear stupidity

In the ringing afterglow of this thermonuclear stupidity which at one point included Noddy (sorry but it's true), I was so distressed that for a moment, reality began to slip away. UrrghArrrghUrrrrrrrrgh! goes the scream of the slo-boi on and on, on and on...

Presumably feeling that her experience of physical disability equates with ours with mental disabilities, Bendy Girl goes on to say that we are partly to blame for the bullying and harassment we suffer... and that it is the sequela of expecting the worst of people... and we need to be more open with our attitudes...

UrrghArrrghUrrrrrrrrghArrrgh!

 "UrrghArrrghUrrrrrrrrgh!", I reply to the screen, "UrrghArrrghUrrrrrrrrghArrrgh!"

Several minutes later I regain my composure to hear her sign off and leave the stage with the Gandhi-esque phrase “Together we can change the world...” as once more my world is drowned in tinny music. This time it’s Queen

Buddy you're a young man hard man

Shoutin' in the street gonna take on the world some day

You got blood on yo' face

You big disgrace

Wavin' your banner all over the place

We will we will rock you

We will we will rock you

After lunch, (in my case 2 cups of whisky, 3 ‘roll-ups’ and a determined ignoring of the drug cupboard) the video feed resumes and introduces (for some reason) the Labour candidate for mayor of Bristol, Mervyn Rees, who doesn’t say (or do) anything.

Unlike the Labour Candidate - can speak.

And then, appears the magnificently camp Rt Hon. Peter Main, current Lord Mayor of Bristol, who says how pleased he was that the Brandon Trust users put employment top of their list of concerns... Leading to this conference, (seemingly mainly focussing on bus passes...).

I may have lost consciousness at this point

For some reason my mind wanders to Chomsky... I think I may have lost consciousness at this point...

Sometime later, I come-to, and realise once again I’m drowning in an tsunami of Schlager. This time it’s Abba‘s “Money Money Money”.

reality is about to be torn

The panic rises, an unstoppable red-hot column of lava - I make a grab for the pills, then inexplicably, the sense that reality is about to be torn into jagged, bloody pieces, recedes.

It all suddenly makes sense.

Money, Money, Money,
It must be funny,
In a rich man’s world.

Kaliya Franklin/Bendy Girl is an impressively brave woman. A fact that brooks no confutation.

own particular brand of neo-Liberal nastiness.

However the huge maturity, professionalism and realpolitik shown by her and the others in leading the campaign in defence of disabled peoples’ rights in the face of the government’s cuts, has led her right into the gaping maw of the Brandon Trust’s own particular brand of neo-Liberal nastiness.

drowned today in a sea of condescension and cheap music

The voices of the autistic and intellectually disabled people that the Brandon Trust and their “Official Ambassador” Kaliya Franklin, claim to represent, drowned today in a sea of condescension and cheap music.

We don’t need you to speak for us.
We can speak for ourselves.
But you’re not listening.

You got mud on your face
You big disgrace
Somebody better put you back in your place

We will we will rock you
We will we will rock you

An Accommodation Too Far

or

How I Broke the Social Model

The Social Model of Disability [1] as first proposed, suggests that disability is

... the disadvantage or restriction of activity caused by a contemporary social organisation which takes little or no account of people who have physical impairments ...

This can be translated into standard English to read, in its simplest form

people with physical impairments are mainly disabled by society’s failure provide enough wheelchairs

whereas the Oxford English Dictionary says succinctly

a physical or mental condition that limits a person’s movements, senses, or activities

A good example of the usefulness of the social model can be seen in the, fortunately now outdated, behaviour of special schools for the disabled [2]

... those disabled people who attended segregated schools may have gained lower academic qualifications than their non-disabled peers, simply because their ‘special’ school failed to provide a proper mainstream curriculum.

My mother caught polio

My mother caught polio when she was 15 years old. She spent more than a year in an iron lung before she recovered enough to breathe unaided.

She has ever since been in a wheelchair.

Mummy in the middle caught in her E&J Wheelchair at school

In about 1971 she was provided with a Mini 850, fitted with hand-controls and was able to take us three children to school in the morning and then go off to work as a telephonist for Griffin & George.

The company fortunately had a reception with big double doors her wheelchair could get through, and fortunately at the time, Society saw fit to provide her with a subsidised and adapted car.

A seriously disabled woman

A seriously disabled woman with State and an understanding employer’s help, was able, raise three children and hold down a job.

(If you’re wondering where my father was during this time, he was mainly on the run from the Army, in Florida with the leading actress from Bewitched).

So to reiterate, the Social Model proposes

that disability is a result of the barriers faced by people with impairments

The Skegness Butlins Sexy Legs competition

And that if one removes the barriers, by providing suitable “accomodations", for example adapting a motorcar to be driven with someone with no legs and providing wheelchair accessible workplaces, the person effectively ceases to be disabled (except of course, until they try to enter the Skegness Butlins Sexy Legs competition - but don’t mention that, it’s wrongthink that gets one expelled from the Crip Club).

As time went on, some non-mentally impaired people, decided that the mentally disabled deserved the same right to re-examine their “disabilities” in terms of a neo-Marxist model of societal oppression by a mentally privileged oligarchy. [3]

Created an idea they called Neurodiversity 

A little later, some actually mentally disabled people got in on the act and created an idea they called Neurodiversity [4] - and largely blamed the entirety of their impairments on the attitudes of “Neurotypicals”. [5]

OK, now lets try and apply this extension of the Social Model to me:

I have autism and I am described by Dr Zaman from the Specialist Learning Disability Service as having an

ASD [Autistic Spectrum Disorder] and major difficulty in social interaction...

... functioning is poor because of the developmental disorder and his lack of social skills, independent skills and communication difficulties...

Yeah, so far so good...

It was clear from the assessment that the behavioural symptoms, agitation and angry outbursts are associated with his ASD

OK, that’s a fair measure of my ‘disability’ - social interaction causes me major anxiety, I have very few social skills to call on when dealing with people, and I have trouble expressing myself, and often even talking is impossible.

Massacring passing country-folk

Consequently I often take out my frustration by screaming like a terrified animal, or smashing-up things, or if I’m having a really bad day, by firing up my chainsaw and massacring passing country-folk.

Drink cheap whisky, smoke strong dope

Actually, if I’m in a really bad mood, I drink cheap whisky, smoke strong dope and pop Lorazepam until I am unconscious and thus incapable of functional medievalism.

I know killing people is wrong, so I don’t go out on bad days.

“Where am I going?”

If I do go out on a Bad Day, the consequences for those around me are often not nice: the little old lady who brushes my arm as she terrifyingly sits next to me, is told to “fuck off”; the toddler opposite is petrified by the sight of the unkempt bus-stop looney rocking and a jabberin’ to himself as the sensory overload and anxiety propels his brain to an epileptiform ballet leaving him dribbling and distressed and asking the ever patient bus drivers “Where am I going?”

Stop oppressing me 

Listen up, people: give me my Wheelchair for the mind! Stop oppressing me with you lack of regard to my needs! Accomodated ME!

Don’t touch me, ever, even by accident. At best, I’ll swear at you, at worst, I’ll hit you.
Don’t take you kids out if they get upset by the sight of retards.
Don’t ever telephone me, ever. It scares the shit out of me and I won’t answer and it’ll take me hours to get over it.
Don’t knock on my door. FFS! Don’t ever, ever do that! It sends my blood pressure so high I see stars and I have to hide under the bed. (Unfortunately I am not exaggerating for theatrical effect).
Don’t ever expect me to reply to a tweet in less than a week. The last time you Tweeted me, desperate as I was for human contact, it scared me so much I couldn’t Tweet for days. And still haven’t managed to reply yet.
Don’t expect me to tell you that it’s a pretty dress when you look like a moose that’s had an accident in a curtain factory. I don’t do that socialising shit.

This list is not exhaustive, in fact, the briefing document for those care workers brave enough to visit me runs to about 3000 words...

Just going to have to accommodate me

And I’m sorry, you’re just going to have to accommodate me spitting in your face because you’ve accidentally invaded my personal space...

Are you feeling as uncomfortable as me about the atomic-powered, Golden Wheelchair the Social Model seems to propose?

Impalements from physical and mental illnesses

Over the years the Social Model has been refined into several sub-models including the biopsychosocial (BPS) model which attempts to view the impalements from physical and mental illnesses as having an exogenous source. [6]

The BPS model attracted the attention of American healthcare insurers, and one, UNUM has made it a central plank of their strategy in dealing with insurance claims from sick and disabled people. [7]

The idea is that the impact of an illness on a person isn’t just a result of the purely medical elements. Physical (e.g. disease, joint damage), psychological (e.g. disposition, anxiety) and social factors (e.g. work demands, family support) also play an important role.

An excuse to stop work and claim for expensive treatment

In practice it means that the company views all potential claims as being from malingerers attempting to use their terminal cancer as an excuse to stop work and claim for expensive treatment that isn’t likely to save them anyway. [8][9]

The tale of how the Social Model mutated and how UNUM influenced the work of the company tasked with the governments monumental welfare reforms, ATOS Healthcare has been well documented by others. [10]

Even in its most ethical and pure form the Social Model seems to leave me a little out in the cold, while the BPS model puts me at Ground Zero of the government’s determination to end this “something for nothing culture” of wheelchairs and adapted cars. [11]


[1] The Social Model of Disability. Grant Carson http://www.ukdpc.net/site/images/library/Social%20Model%20of%20Disability2.pdf
[2] http://www.ukdpc.net/site/images/library/Social%20Model%20of%20Disability2.pdf
[3] ‘Learning Difficulties’, the Social Model of Disability and Impairment: challenging epistemologies. Dan Goodley http://www.discourseunit.com/papers/du_members/goodley_papers/Goodley%202001%20D&S.pdf
[4] http://www.danda.org.uk/pages/neuro-diversity.php
[5] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neurotypical
[6] The clinical application of the biopsychosocial model. Engel GL http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7369396
[7] UNUM and BPS Model http://ask.unum.co.uk/blog/questions/frequently-asked-questions/
[8]"My Job Was to Terminate and Deny Claims," says Former Unum Claims Handler http://www.lawyersandsettlements.com/articles/first_unum/interview-unum-insurance-disability-claims-5-16710.html#.UET4HIoaOTI
[9] Suit Says Insurer Wrongly Denied Disability Claims http://articles.latimes.com/2004/apr/17/business/fi-unum17
[10] A tale of two models http://www.dpac.uk.net/2012/04/a-tale-of-two-models-disabled-people-vs-unum-atos-government-and-disability-charities-debbie-jolly/
[11] Even the dying will work http://the-newrepublic.blogspot.co.uk/2012/02/even-dying-will-work.html

Das Totschreiben -The Death Letter

Not a problem: I have sleeping tablets, whisky and charcoal.

My anxiety disorder has recently graduated to a stress disorder and the consequent breakdown of the boundaries between the present and past are preventing a more rational and reasoned approach to this development.

Ton Steine Scherben - Wir müssen hier aus (We Gotta Get Out of Here)

Wir sind geboren, um frei zu sein.

Wir sind zwei von Millionen, wir sind nicht allein.

Wir sind geboren, um frei zu sein,

Wir sind 60 Millionen, wir sind nicht allein.

We are born to be free.

We are two of millions, we are not alone.

We are born to be free

We are 60 million, we are not alone.

Even the Dying Will Work

Terminally ill cancer patients face

being forced to do unpaid work

Britain's Prime Minister David Cunteron.

Latest government plans to reduce the financial burden of the sick and disabled of Britain have been tonight revealed.

a mistake to have got caught-out

The news comes after Tesco's was forced to clarify its position on advertising unpaid, night-shift, shelf-stacking jobs, with the company explaining that given the public furore, it was obviously a mistake to have got caught-out.

Shareholders are said to be “ecstatic”

Britain's biggest supermarket company, that last year made a profit of more than £3 billions, said however, that it will continue to use the benefit claimants on account of them being cheap and desperate not to lose their benefits for fear of having their children taken into care.

This is a supportive measure

In response to the howls of outrage from disability and mental health charities, a government spokesman said “This is a supportive measure”.

The proposals come in the government's Welfare Reform Bill that it making its torturous way through parliament.

Further information from the original article here.

“No attempt at ethical or social seduction can eradicate from my heart a deep burning hatred for the Tory Party. So far as I am concerned they are lower than vermin.”

Nye Bevan

ATOS Killer Fish Strikes Again

ATOS doctor dealing with a patient

ATOS Healthcare the UK subsidiary of the cheese-eating surrender monkey Atos Origin have pulled out of a contract to provide family doctor services to an inner-city area of London.

Managers at the healthcare practice in east London were said to have grown tired of the endless telephone calls from sick people demanding help.

 impressed by the company's employee relations

Patients were often just told to “fuck off” and “go and get a fuckin' job you cancer-faking layabout”, but clinical lead of practice, Fahim Chowdhury, said he was impressed by the employee relations and the administrative and managerial support ATOS offered.

ATOS Suicide Attempt

...was to slice her own throat open...

ATOS Healthcare - Truly Scum of the Earth

Dear sirs/ladies,

I visited a client yesterday on a psychiatric ward.

She had been contacted by ATOS regarding a medical. Her response to this was to slice her own throat open in front of her family.

I work closely with some of the most extreme clients with severe psychiatric issues.

Is this a normal and acceptable

We would like to know, that when ATOS were informed 10 days ago by a forensic psychologist and CPN is why did ATOS firstly agree and cancel appointment, then couple days later send her another appointment, where on this occasion she suceeded in severly put her health at risk and ended up back into hospital, which she had only just been released from 24 hours prior.

Hyperbole, no more.

Is this a normal and acceptable standard and practice please, as currently I have several clients being put through this intrusive process without any investigation into clients wellbeing before insisting on attendances.

Under the EXCEPTIONAL CIRCUMSTANCES and Reg 29 ESA regulation 2009 it states catergorically: that anyone with heightened anxiety, fear and depression etc, must not be approached or informed of benefits being, stopped, reduced, suspended, if this would cause and exaserbation of client's psychiatric condition.

Story from Bufferzone, Cornwall's leading independent advocacy service

Arbeitsscheu Muß Sterben!

The Work-shy must Die!

(Freely) With you, you carry the lifetime cost of the genetically diseased.

The Commons today have dumped the Lords' futile attempts at softening the impact of the Welfare Reform Bill.

The sick and disabled of both Britain and the other poor and unfortunate Euro-nations, will now bare the major cost of the cancerous German style Hartz IV reform.

1933-07-26 - Arthur Gutt - Law on the Prevention of

Genetically Diseased Offspring (German)

Meanwhile the sick and disabled 

Meanwhile on the streets the activists and sick and disabled are finalising their suicide pacts, while Poundland gears up to have a 20,000 strong army of starving and easily biddable Chavs on £0 p/hr to lead Britain out of the worst economic and moral shitstorm since the 1930's.

far preferable to life as a Erbkranker, in the UK today

Fuck, death is far, far preferable to life as a Erbkranker, in the UK today. The warnings of the Rabbis have been ignored; after all one must never, ever equate anything with the Nazis.

Hearing the Voice of Moses - Rabbi Debbi Somers-Young / Kalyia Franklin 13th January 2012

In Nazi Germany, well before there were Jewish pogroms and camps, disabled and mentally ill German citizens were rounded up, and it was for them that camps were initially developed. And how were the rest of the population convinced this was ok? They were told that these people were an economic drain on the nation. 

Holocaust Memorial Day - Danni Neumann 25th January 2012

The Nazi campaign started by targeting not the Jews but disabled people. They where quietlygassed in the first experiments with Zyklon B, these people were comparativelylow in numbers, were less likely to be missed, could not speak up forthemselves, and had no-one to speak up for them.
Then after a large propaganda campaign that tapped intothe populations anger about the country economic state, the murder of millions begun long standing prejudice's like...

"they think the world owes them something",
"They are a drain on the country's limited resources",
"they do not work so they are worthless",
"It would be kinder not to mention cheaper to kill them, preferably at birth",

...Are stomach turning yet they are statements I hear from people and politicians every day. Maybe not put quite as frankly or bluntly as that but the underlining argument and sentiment is the same.

We have entered a new age

We have entered a new age today. Where those caught up in the polite realpolitik of Westminster suddenly realise, that no number of emails to right wing Tories will ever soften their hearts; no amount of sloganeering, nor 100 strong demonstrations of disabled people will get them the traction they strive for.

Kauft Nicht Bei Nazis (Don't Buy From Nazis) (German)

The truth is, nothing short of Direct Action can have any chance of impacting on this debate. People are dying. People are being driven to their deaths by bullies and by the fear of poverty and homelessness.

People are dying

The Government, Opposition and Media have set a firestorm and the crips and the sick and the unemployed are being knocked down like skittles in the hurricane force inrush of supporters.

The Government, Opposition and Media have set a firestorm

Iain Duncan Smith Dr. Walter Groß said recently in the 1930's

We recall the days of delirium, when millions of unemployed had been thrown on the street by a sick political and economic system, made superfluous.

A single person pried the tracks apart and derailed a train... ...and stole their money.

And what did the world of yesterday say? “He can’t help himself. He is a victim of circumstances. He has Beethoven’s hands and an artistic temperament. We need not put him on the gallows or in prison to protect us and our children.

One must NEVER equate anything with the Nazis. Ever. Period.

No, this poor Schlesinger is only sick because of his environment. Put him in a modern sanitarium, give him what he needs: radio, a library, a smoking salon, a language teacher, a pastor, a newspaper room, ...In a few years, this murderer... will leave as an ideal human being, so pure and innocent that one can put him in charge of a kindergarten.”

That’s what people thought in the past.

Today that seems a bad joke to us, a crazy fantasy, 

but a few years ago it was government policy in Germany...

Welcome to the end of the world as we know it

And indeed in the UK. Welcome to the end of the world as we know it. I'm not going out quietly. I suggest you join me on the streets and we'll die like men, women, crips, and chavs.

Atos Healthcare Sackings

Anthony Treasure formally
employed by Atos Healthcare.

Nurse Debbie Carr and admin worker Anthony Treasure are seeing life from the benefit scrounging scum perspective this evening, following their sacking from Atos Healthcare.

The pair were discovered on Facebook calling the sick and disabled “down and outs” and “parasitic wankers”.

The incidents were widely reported in the mainstream press and came shortly before the Government's de-benefitting boot-boys attempted to shut up a bunch of whining cripples by sending them threatening letters.


Source: DWP FoI Request Answer

ATOS vs CarerWatch - It Just Gets Worse!

Doughty British Grannies Prepare to

Slamdunk Cheese-eating ATOS Surrender Monkeys

It is looking increasingly like it is ATOS Healthcare that is going to find itself the victim of legal action as the true nature of their “case” against CarerWatch becomes clearer.

And ATOS says “Fuck You!”

ATOS are claiming the reason they nuked the CarerWatch forum was because of A SINGLE LINK in a post over FIVE MONTHS OLD. The target of that offending link is STILL ON TEH INTAWEBZ - and with no sign of ATOS having attempted to take it down. The offending link is back there <---- which leads here

OK, *speechless* Try to finish this later. In the meantime please read the update from CarerWatche's blog.

Michael Chewter from CarerWatch said

ATOS are a very dishonest organisation. They should have informed Carer Watch if they were genuinely concerned about any of the posts on its site... They have done the same thing with other carer and disability sites.

Even Dr Goldacre is getting in on the act

When you consider the way ATOS treat claimants it is hardly surprising that complaints are made about their behaviour.

As a member of the LRC and the Labour Party and a founder member of Carer Watch, I would like to ask MPs to take this matter up with the government, who employ ATOS.

CarerWatch received this reply from Atos, to their earlier letter:

Dear Frances,

Thank you for your email. The posting which we consider to be defamatory against Atos Healthcare and our employees is dated March 23rd, 8:51 pm.

As I said in my previous email, we fully support the right of people to express their opinions and would very much like to work with you to ensure your forum is reinstated as soon as possible...

CarerWatch replied:

Dear Caroline

Thank you for supplying the date and time of the post that concerns you.

We have finally traced it. We run a live discussion group and posts are normally only current for a few days. In this case the post is five months old. It did not create any interest at the time and has long since become inactive.

Having seen the post we are even more confused as to why you took this aggressive action against us. We were surprised to see that this post was not written by a member of CarerWatch but is merely a link to an article on another site.

We were also surprised when we followed the link to see that the original article is still visible on the site of origin.

We cannot understand why you would take this matter up with us when your dispute is with the authors of the linked article. We feel like collateral damage in this.

We would like to point out that we are running a private discussion group for members and we do not know how you saw this link on our site. But if you have some how been watching the posts in our group you will know that members post on an enormous breadth of topics and post links to a wide variety of other sites.


Members often post links to material on other sites precisely because they are vehemently opposed to the material.

We repeat – this is a discussion group and posts have to be read in the context of open discussion.

We are concerned that this type of extreme hyper vigilance of discussion groups could seriously damage free and open discussion.

You say that you embarked on this action to protect the reputation of your company. But you can call on unlimited resources to obtain legal advice and you should bear in mind that groups like us have no resources and cannot obtain legal advice. We think you should bear this in mind when making your actions proportionate and appropriate.

We are sure you, like us, wish to bring this situation to a speedy conclusion. As it was your action that resulted in our forum being taken down, we suggest the following. We will remove the post in question (without prejudice), and in turn you will make arrangements to have our forum reinstated, whilst also giving us a guarantee that should you have any concerns in future, you will bring them directly to us and not to the hosting company.

Considering the immense distress caused to our members, and the volume of unnecessary work created for us, we consider these to be extremely reasonable requests.

We await your reply.

Frances

ATOS Healthcare at War With Home Guard

This evening's update on ATOS Healthcare's blitzkrieg on Internet-based Useless Eaters:

CarerWatch are still waiting to hear back from ATOS's chief solicitor, James Loughrey, about which posts on their forum gave him an attack of the vapours.

Unkind commentators have suggested the reason for the extended delay is ATOS is desperately trying to find some kind of evidence from the now closed forum, to justify their actions - a task not made easier by their cyber-sleuth's failure to keep forensically sound copies of the offending items.

After Atos took the full force of ATOS's original attack. 

This is, I have to say, a précis of entirely unfounded speculation mined from a conversation between a journalist from a major international news company and an informed insider.

The news is already making its way to the mainstream with the Scottish Herald reporting the story - an almost unheard inclusion of hard-news, at a time when its pages are normally stuffed with reports from the opening of the Haggis Shooting Season.

ATOS's attempts to prevent anyone making fun of their logos has backfired spectacularly with dozens of new designs cropping up all over teh intawebs.

Even the really quite famous cartoonist Crippen, is getting in on the act:

Crippen's Tribute to the Black Triangle Group

The net result from ATOS's tsunami of letters to ISP's has been to weld the formally disparate group of activists into a coherent and effective collective, operating under the banner of the Nazi's badge for the arbeitsscheu, the Black Triangle.

Their websites and forums are now hosted in safe-haven countries and with the data backed-up by  supporters in the Ukraine and Russia. One leading campaigner commented “Nice one Loughrey, we owe you a pint”.

Solicitor Loughrey - Silly Billy

LATE BREAKING NEWS:

Anonymous, the worldwide group of computer vandals, gangsters and animatronic muppets have decided to include ATOS in their target list for their forthcoming #OpBritain campaign.

Oh Shit.

ATOS Macht Frei

Atos Healthcare are today magnanimously negotiating with the owners of the CarerWatch forum, with a view to formulating an arrangement that will silence criticism of their work for the DWP, on the forum, once and for all.

Other blogs, websites and forums are already cowed and refusing to do anything that may incur the wrath of ATOS's chief boot-boy, James Loughrey.

The ease at which the sick and disabled can be whipped into submission and compliance, by a multi-billion pound company is shocking.

“Oh, I'm sorry - I got a bit scared when the lawyer called and gave in”

What all campaigners need to realise that this is a battle for our lives:

  PEOPLE ARE DYING!

as a result of the work of ATOS and the DWP.

There is a very big difference between "libellous material" and a lawyer's claim of "libellous material". A lawyer claiming "false and malicious allegations" is substantively different to "false and malicious allegations".

This is the most shameless and callous examples of corporate bullying I've seen since the McLibel trial.

This is not a time for negotiation and capitulation:

This is a time to stand-up and be counted.

ATOS Healthcare - Some Tough Questions

ATOS Killa Fish stinking to high-heaven

ATOS's solicitors contacted the host of CarerWatch, an internet discussion group for sick and disabled people, claiming it contained libellous material.

The host removed the discussion group from the Web.

CarerWatch have said in their response to ATOS:

This is a private forum and only members are allowed to make/read posts.

Questions for ATOS's chief solicitor, James Loughrey

i. What led you to believe CarerWatch's forum contained libellous material?

ii. How did you gain access to this libellous material on the CarerWatch forum?

Atos's James Loughrey

iii. (reprising point i) What was your prima facie evidence or reasonable cause to enter this private discussion group?

iv. Why didn't you contact the managers of this forum to ask them to remove the offending material, rather than effect the closure of the whole forum?

v. What heed did you pay to the possible adverse consequences of members losing access to this forum?

vi What role are LBi London playing in this affair?

We look forward (without any expectation) to hearing from you at your earliest convienience.

ATOS Healthcare - Scum of the Earth

James Loughrey - Chief Solicitor and head of ATOS's Dept. of Killa Fish

The shocking tactics used by ATOS Healthcare to silence their sick and disabled critics are rapidly coming to light all over teh Intawebs.

In the last week, website after website after website have been closed after ISP's received letters from ATOS's chief legal-thug James Loughrey.

Another one bites the dust...

More worryingly, Loughrey is also with the aid of LBi , a digital support services company, targeting internet fora and discussion boards where the sick and disabled meet online for mutual support - including the notoriously moderate and respectable CarerWatch.

And another...

Rosemary, the owner of the CarerWatch forum was unfortunately overwhelmed with the realities of her life to get involved in the storm of anti-ATOS protest that has erupted over the weekend:

“On behalf of CW can I thank every1 for their support, here,DMs and via email. Off to hospital most of today so will be later b4 updating u x”

CareWatch's Francis published their response to ATOS on their website this morning:

“CarerWatch is an internet forum for sick and disabled people and their unpaid family carers. This is a private forum and only members are allowed to make/read posts.

We understand from the organisation that hosts our forum that they received a letter from your solicitors threatening to sue us for libel. The provider immediately closed our site down.

This video was made as a tribute and thank you to the authors of

the ATOS Register of Shame website - closed by the thug Loughrey

We have many members who are very fragile and the sudden disappearance of a support group has caused a lot of distress and fear. Some are ringing us in tears. We cannot get in contact with all of them though as we have lost their contact details through the closure.

All this distress could have been avoided if you had had the courtesy to contact us first and tell us what had been posted on our site that you considered libellous. Obviously if any post was possibly libellous we would have removed it and all this distress could have been avoided.

People... and websites...

We imagine this distress is unintended and hope you will work with us in looking at the problem and finding a solution.

Please note that this letter, and any reply received from yourselves, will be posted on our website. It is the only means left to us to reach some members and keep them updated.

It is vital we have our forum up and running again to reach those that are isolated.

On behalf of CarerWatch members”

Call a cunt, a cunt.

It's been a bad couple of weeks for ATOS - 12 of their doctors are to face action for misconduct by the General Medical Council and two of their employees are (claims ATOS) facing disciplinary action for describing the sick and disabled as "parasitic wankers" and "down and outs".

One notably effective online campaigner commented:

‎:( I have a huge fucking urge to troll ATOS again. We have storms tomorrow... I'm really fucking angry over this... To remove a lifeline such as the carer watch forums is sickening.... I'm on the fucking warpath now ATOS. Do you hear me?...

edited 22 aug 2011: no substantive changes

A Bloodly Good Hiding and a Kick in The Head

Celebrate our English culture as GMP get to grips with rioting, benefit scrounging scum on the streets of Manchester.

OK, we appear to be suffering #ironyFail.

This royal throne of kings, this scepter'd isle,

This earth of majesty, this seat of Mars,

This other Eden, demi-paradise,

This fortress built by Nature for herself

Against infection and the hand of war,

This happy breed of men, this little world,

This precious stone set in the silver sea,

Which serves it in the office of a wall,

Or as a moat defensive to a house,

Against the envy of less happier lands,

This blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this England,

This nurse, this teeming womb of royal kings,

Fear'd by their breed and famous by their earth.