Yes, surprisingly, MS has been cured for a third of us!
Surely we should be dancing and/or shuffling/stumbling in the street?
Well, no. MS is, and always has been, incurable. Degenerative. Progressive.
So far. Who knows what the future holds? And I pray for a cure.
Until then, we get on with our lives. Or so I thought.
We bring up our kids, we go to work, we engage in society. We may have to fight the odd unfair dismissal from work tribunal, but we still pick ourselves up and continue on. We live lives that slowly encroach upon what is ‘normal’ for our age-group. We give up stuff. We manage.
For me, one of the advantages of DLA was that I was able to access higher rates of Housing Benefit and Working Tax Credit. If I lose PIP, I will lose those also.
DLA basically pays for me to go to work. As it stands, I am already living well below the poverty line. To lose DLA will effectively render me homeless, as no-one can live on minus £75 a month, after the standard bills have been paid.
I’ve heard stories, from friends of friends, of people who don’t work as it’s not worth it. Yet we don’t all have work-place pensions or critical illness cover. For me, as long as I can, I will always choose work over the alternative. I don’t care if I earn the same or less than staying at home – work is banter, it’s real world and it’s choosing to live, as long as am I able to.
I have until Christmas Eve (lol) to send my PIP forms back, and then I think I will have a decision within 12-16 weeks.
Not a long time to plan for any alternative?