Disability News Service: "Civil servant sparks fresh concerns over ideological basis of jobs strategy" [BPS discussed]

Andy

Andy

Retired committee member
Also mentions ME and GET.
The civil servant who leads the government’s work and health unit has sparked fresh concerns that the new disability employment strategy could be heavily influenced by the discredited “biopsychosocial” (BPS) model of disability.

Tabitha Jay told a meeting of the all-party parliamentary group for disability (APPGD) yesterday (Wednesday) that the social model of disability underpinned the strategy, which has an aim of seeing one million more disabled people in work over the next 10 years.

But she also appeared to suggest that the BPS model was “running in parallel” to the social model within the strategy.

The BPS model places blame for being unemployed on the individual disabled person and their supposed negative attitudes towards working, whereas the social model explains that it is the barriers in society – and not people’s impairments – which disabled people.

Jay was only speaking at the event because the minister for disabled people, Sarah Newton, had withdrawn at short notice after originally promising to answer questions about the strategy.

Ellen Clifford, campaigns and policy manager for Inclusion London, had asked the civil servants about the disparity between the government’s claims that it believed in the social model and the new strategy, which appeared to be underpinned by the BPS model.

Clifford (pictured, right, at another event) told Jay and Karen Jochelson, who heads the Office for Disability Issues, that the question of which model underpinned the strategy was “fundamental to its impact and effectiveness”.
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https://www.disabilitynewsservice.c...erns-over-ideological-basis-of-jobs-strategy/
 
Louie41 said:
Looks to me as if this could be a pretty big deal in the UK. Is it?
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Yeah it will be :eek::(:(:(

They have previously not pressured people who are in the Support Group of Employment support allowance - these are those the gov't deem unable to do any kind of work related activity due to illness/disability. But the plans referred to in the article are ones to mandate that even those people (who are usually very ill) must attend 'work focused interviews' to discuss how they might get ready to rejoin the workforce. They use someone who has only one arm & who would like to be in work & is perfectly healthy as their template (excuse) - They choose to forget that people who are disabled are often disabled due to illness rather than amputation/vision loss/paralysis etc & so no kind of reasonable adjustment can make them well enough to work - but they prefer the narrative that bedbound people dont want to get up & merely need to be given assistance to see that they really can, it's merely their negative thoughts that are holding them back. .....
"So... you are too ill & weak & in pain & dizzy that you are unable to stand up & you say you have to crawl the 3mtrs across the room to get from bed to toilet? so you can crawl then? - Well then if you would just think about the posiibilities... you could get a job cleaning chewing gum off the pavement with your teeth & tongue - see you just need to think positively about what you CAN do rather than what you cant!"

Not like im enraged & outraged by their barbarism or anything.:mad:

ETA Oh, @Louie41 sorry i cross posted with Andy & he has interpreted your post slightly differntly, apologies if i misinterpreted your meaning of 'a big deal'- i was thinking you meant that the Gov't's stratagy/policy was a big deal, rather than the news article itself.
 
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But when asked whether the government was also committed to the BPS model, she said that that question would need to be answered by the Department for Work and Pensions’ (DWP) press office.

DWP’s press office had not clarified that point by noon today (Thursday).
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I'll be very interested to hear what they have to say. Except of course they'll use a 1000 words to say sweet FA.
 
Maybe I misunderstood the article. I thought that the civil servant was openly pointing out that the bps theories were running along with the social theories sub rosa, thus basically outing and criticizing the plans on this basis.
 
Louie41 said:
Maybe I misunderstood the article. I thought that the civil servant was openly pointing out that the bps theories were running along with the social theories sub rosa, thus basically outing and criticizing the plans on this basis.
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I don't think she was criticising them. They've often mentioned in the past the role the biopsychosocial model has played in changing how they treat people on disability benefits... not many people care though. A lot of people in the Establishment think that this is all a jolly good idea.
 
JemPD said:
Yeah it will be :eek::(:(:(

They have previously not pressured people who are in the Support Group of Employment support allowance - these are those the gov't deem unable to do any kind of work related activity due to illness/disability. But the plans referred to in the article are ones to mandate that even those people (who are usually very ill) must attend 'work focused interviews' to discuss how they might get ready to rejoin the workforce. They use someone who has only one arm & who would like to be in work & is perfectly healthy as their template (excuse) - They choose to forget that people who are disabled are often disabled due to illness rather than amputation/vision loss/paralysis etc & so no kind of reasonable adjustment can make them well enough to work - but they prefer the narrative that bedbound people dont want to get up & merely need to be given assistance to see that they really can, it's merely their negative thoughts that are holding them back. .....
"So... you are too ill & weak & in pain & dizzy that you are unable to stand up & you say you have to crawl the 3mtrs across the room to get from bed to toilet? so you can crawl then? - Well then if you would just think about the posiibilities... you could get a job cleaning chewing gum off the pavement with your teeth & tongue - see you just need to think positively about what you CAN do rather than what you cant!"

Not like im enraged & outraged by their barbarism or anything.:mad:

ETA Oh, @Louie41 sorry i cross posted with Andy & he has interpreted your post slightly differntly, apologies if i misinterpreted your meaning of 'a big deal'- i was thinking you meant that the Gov't's stratagy/policy was a big deal, rather than the news article itself.
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To illustrate the farce - there was a post on the "supporters of Dr Myhill" 's Facebook page last year where someone had been assessed as being " fit to work" for 12 mins / hr. They posted a picture of the assessment.
Who is going to employ anyone ( let alone someone with a disability) for 12 mins / hr?
 
Amw66 said:
To illustrate the farce - there was a post on the "supporters of Dr Myhill" 's Facebook page last year where someone had been assessed as being " fit to work" for 12 mins / hr. They posted a picture of the assessment.
Who is going to employ anyone ( let alone someone with a disability) for 12 mins / hr?
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That is ridiculous. I hadn't seen that. I don't suppose you happen to have the link saved?
 
JemPD said:
They choose to forget that people who are disabled are often disabled due to illness rather than amputation/vision loss/paralysis etc & so no kind of reasonable adjustment can make them well enough to work
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I have for some time been of the view that this lies behind all the public funding for the Paralympics. Propaganda to mould the public perspective against the ill. See what you can do if you only make the effort.
 
Louie41 said:
Looks to me as if this could be a pretty big deal in the UK. Is it?
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it has been a long battle against the uk gov.

the used the bps on us pwme and nobody listened so now they are using it on others in disability benefits

many mental health have sucided and others too. grass roots orgs are fighting for the numbers and details held by gov on those who have died after being found fit for work.

dwp will not respond. though john pring is niche outlet it does have influence and you can listen to artices not just read them. which for us is cool.

sometimes the daily mirror and guardian follow his lead on stories.

we are very lucky to have such a journalist fighting for disability rights
 
This sounds like the type of letter that illustrates the point:

fit-for-work-bollocks.jpg


source: https://speyejoe2.wordpress.com/2017/08/25/fit-for-work-oh-do-feck-off/
 
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