Thread by @Nic_Corr

2nd post I’ve seen in 24hrs on this topic.
People who think Labour’s reference to “working PEOPLE” instead of “working class” is not deliberate- think again. Rachel Reeves said it herself, in 2015!
What about sick/disabled? What indeed? #Labour #Vulnerable #Benefits

https://twitter.com/suejonessays/status/1575271227786203136

This lady, who has spoken to @Keir_Starmer on the issue, recognises the issue. There are many people who CANNOT work due to illness or disability, yet we are disparaged along with those who CHOOSE not to work. It is grossly unfair & cruel.

https://twitter.com/ellenlmorrison/status/1574823076210118671

I receive PIP &, as I have a small ill health pension, the severe disability premium part of ESA. I do not receive council tax benefits or help with NHS costs. Frankly, I would 💯 prefer to work; I miss not being able to work; I never chose to get sick!

I worked hard to qualify as a teacher; loved teaching & was good at it! Ironically, my love of the job & my dedication to it were contributing factors to why I am now too sick to work! I caught Swine Flu at work - my boss allowed 2 pupils to attend school despite them having a

confirmed diagnosis of the virus. It was a special school & both pupils had autism & severe learning difficulties. Their parents had called the head because they were struggling to cope at home with a sick child who needed structure! He relented & allowed both boys to return

despite being infectious! Several staff became infected! For me, the initial infection was mild. However, like what people call long Covid, it was to have longer term complications for me. I never recovered. At first I kept getting, what I thought, was one bug after another.

Within a couple of months, I had my 1st bout of bronchitis- I kept working throughout! Pushing through! I had 3 separate bouts of bronchitis within 6 months, resulting in adult onset asthma. At one point, my face & neck glands were so swollen, my GP initially thought I had mumps!

And this was relentless, yet I still pushed myself & kept working! 14 months after I got Swine Flu, 22nd December 2010, I collapsed at home for the 1st time. I regained consciousness soon after, but was confused and terrified. At that time I was living alone. Despite resting

I was wiped out - not tired, but literally unable to hold my own head fatigued. Somehow I managed to spend Christmas Day with my family but returned home on Boxing Day feeling worse. I collapsed again several times in the next few weeks; became highly sensitive to sound, light &

temperature (hot & cold). I was unable to sit upright and took to crawling on all fours to go to the loo / fetch food & water from the kitchen! I was unable to return to work after the Christmas holidays. My GP arranged a string of blood tests & I remained terrified at what might

be ‘wrong’. I wasn’t diagnosed until several months later - I have ME (ME/CFS). I did try to return to work a few more times - each time, I would end up way worse than before! In 2013 my consultant told me that it was probably BECAUSE I kept pushing myself to work that my ME was,

at that time, Moderate-Severe, & I was unlikely to recover or improve. I was already in a wheelchair by this point! Still in my 30’s! Life changed, career gone!
My ME remained stable for the next few years. In 2015 I was diagnosed with a rare subtype of Non Hodgkin’s lymphoma-

a form of blood cancer. I was successfully treated with a strong cocktail of chemotherapy drugs & radiotherapy. I’ve been in remission since August 2016. By 2017 my ME took a nosedive and I was bedridden for 8 months straight! At that point I just wanted to die, I’d had enough!

I have a good GP & my Mam is a rock (I moved in with her in 2011 as I was unsafe on my own & unable to care for myself). I have improved a bit, but am still mostly bedridden. I have occasional good days where I can go downstairs for a couple of hours, rarer still days where I

brave leaving the house. I try to steal snippets of life where I can, but the price is huge! Sitting upright for 3 hours will usually ensure I can’t leave my bed for the next 5-7 days. Going out for an hour or so will usually put me in bed, with severe pain & massively increased

symptoms for at least a month! I need a tooth extracted (chemo wrecks your teeth) but even if I could get an appointment, the travel, light, noise & energy used will put me in bed with worsened symptoms for at least 3 months!
I don’t tell you all of this for sympathy but as a

warning! Since Covid there are 1000’s of people who have become as sick & disabled as I am. These people will, like me, be physically unable to work - many of them still quite young, will never be well enough to work again! Not all will have the safety net of an occupational

pension, as I do & am grateful for! NEITHER main political party want anything to do with people on state benefits- which, from my experience, are just another layer of hell & torture to apply for - & a huge % will have to appeal wrongful DWP decisions!
So when politicians make

a big thing of talking down those who are claiming welfare benefits, they are talking about people like me! Who are probably more seriously ill BECAUSE they tried with every last ounce of energy to stay in work! Trust me, nobody would ever want to reduce their lives to living in

a darkened bedroom; having to limit contact with others (conversations & even tweeting cause increased symptoms & pain); with no prospect of recovering EVER! It is terrifying that our very lives depend upon the willingness of politicians who despise us, to ensure we have a means

of income to provide housing, energy, food & clothing! @UKLabour used to care, but have made it clear that they also HATE #sick #disabled people! @Keir_Starmer harps on about his wife being a nurse so he should know, does know, that people are not to blame for being sick!

We are truly living in the most bizarre, terrifying times most of us have ever experienced.
#Labour #Sick #Disabled #EnergyCrisis #CostOfLivingCrisis #MECFS #MyalgicEncephalomyelitis #LongCovid #Starmer #DWP

Thought I’d share a couple of the poems I’ve wrote about #MECFS #MyalgicEncephalomyelitis