Feeling persecuted and paranoid about being on benefits

Hi Gemfire93,

I am sorry to hear about how you feel about being on benefits. I can see you have had a lot of responses, I hope some of these help you feel validated.

If anyone on this post needs support with their benefits I have linked the www.citizensadvice.org.uk/. Most areas will have a local Citizens advice branch who you can contact for further support. 

Thank you for reaching out,

Olivia Mod

Yes, Gemfire93, with Labour attacking PIP - it is more complicated but it is very much communicated poorly and plays into the hands of the Tories they are trying to reach out to for their next election - and RFK Jr in the states going after Medicaid, and ASD in particular, it is hard not to. 

Blaming the other is antisocial but it effective politics, all it takes is a sociopathic disregard for their fellow humans and no character to galvanize a base against a perceived enemies, the Jew, the Muslim, the Catholic, the shirker, the POC, etc etc. We are uniformly and lazily dehumanised, Lebensunwertes Leben, life unworthy of life, a threat of psychological infection from the egos of these would-be Übermensch, supermen who see themselves as masters of their own destiny.  No systemic disadvantages (ahistory), no nature (anti science), no nurture (atomised society in Thatcher's "No such thing" as society quote) just control. 

The idea of cosmic evolution throwing up diversity in infinite combinations in a system not designed to cater to it creates misfortune and need and provision don't meet and that idea scares them so rather than adapt society to react to the confusing mass of different outcomes for individuals, those effected by it, they instead have decided their humanity must be dismissed so they don't need to think their control isn't more than a luck and circumstance.

Going after disability, it's a pretext to eugenics.  Hell, (Johann Friedrich Karl) Asperger[s] - yeah, the pre-spectrum disorder was named after him, look up Aktion T4 - is named after a Nazi eugenicist so you know ASD has been a political football for the right for at least 80+ years. 

Movies, literature, the Fantom of the Opera's disfigurement, the Hunchback of Notre Dame, name a Bond film and you can find a bad guy marked out by a disability or disfigurement,  difference has been lazy shorthand for villain forever and politics is down stream for culture, atrocity from politics.

“It was miraculous. It was almost no trick at all, he saw, to turn vice into virtue and slander into truth, impotence into abstinence, arrogance into humility, plunder into philanthropy, thievery into honor, blasphemy into wisdom, brutality into patriotism, and sadism into justice. Anybody could do it; it required no brains at all. It merely required no character.”
― Joseph Heller, Catch-22

They see punishing the disables as justice, either for being dishonest or as a consequence of God, teh magical deity that protects and prefers them, punishing the-- us.

They published benefits numbers in easily accessible easy to understand publicly available docs for years.  It isn't a big problem. The numbers don't show problematic overpayment or fraud and they explicitly did measure both.  I have contemporaneous PDFs form the .gov site,  if I can share them here, I will. 

They picked us because noise and light and routine and people issues mean we are less likely to protest visibly and it is a good way to play to the base that drifts rigthwards Badenoch and Farage ready to accept any excuse to not aske whytheir lives are hard and instead get given permission to hate a vulnerable minority.

Labour are being mispresented but they aren't stupid, they know they could do this better, if they executed the current tax system better, eliminated tax evasion and avoidance this likely isn't even a hole in the budget that needs filled.  This is a disguised grab for some Reform voters.  Leader who follow the political winds to win elections rather than win arguments and reveal the lies of austerity and the job number v unemployment  figures without stressing word processors, robotic arms in manufacturing leads to downsizing the workforce and outsourcing to LLMs and exploitable labour markets else where is why jobs are down and therefore so is tax revenue.

More cash for people who don't need it from people who can't participate in capital because we are excluded. Disgusting.  Thought it was supposed to us that had a problem with Theory of Mind.

First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a socialist.

Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me. -Martin Niemöller (1892–1984), United States Holocaust Museum

You are not alone Gemfire93 (sorry for a bit of a monologue)

Thank you all for the responses I have taken on board what you have all said and has reassured me that I am somewhat valid. 

Thank you. We'll keep on trucking! Life is full of challenges but we have to keep going no matter what x 

Thank you. It is hard. Each day at a time. I hope the thread creator can aswell!

You don't need to tell most people you are on benefits so it is none of their business and how would some random person on a bus know. So this may be mostly about how you think of yourself. You can ignore the news stories. While benefits are rising faster than the country can pay for them there are reasons for this and it means they need to be targeted better.

As long as you have been honest in all the applications you are genuinely entitled to them and should not feel bad.

The bigger issue is how you can feel better about yourself. Normally this is by having a purpose and doing or creating things. It does not have to be work or paid for. 

Yes, whenever I lost my Mum the depression kicked into my life. Sorry to hear that, Rocko.

Hope, and pray, that the Thread creator gets through.

The Government Borrows, big time, while Central Banks print out money; willy-nilly. That's why everything's so expensive, here.

Just remember that the way forward isn't work. It's Entrepreneurship.

Let me know when you figure this magic solution out - my last two jobs didn’t last more than 2/3 months each. I’ve never settled.

sorry to hear you lost your Mum - there are good people around. It’s not always easy to identify the small things that help, but when you do hold onto them x

I feel like this sometimes. I wish i could be "normal" like everyone else. I wish i didn't have social issues and i could be happy and outgoing like others too. If i could get a cure for this i would, if they said tomorrow we have found a cure for autism and all we need is your benefits, i'd do it in a heart beat. 

I lost my mum recently and she was always trying to help me get the support i need. I'm on my own now (well i got my dad but she was a rock for me and we helped each other out) I am not looking forward to the future. 

I suppose it's hard for us all though, i am not meaning to make this about me, but i know how benefits can make me feel at times. The stuff on tv/news don't help either. 

You're not alone! But at least you are getting the help you are entitled too. Hopefully things get better. 

In order to survive,  just claim all the benefits you're entitled to.

I feel no shame, I get sacked from every job because I don't fit in and don't know how to socialise.  So I need the state benefits.

I think it’s extremely difficult for some autistic people just by their nature to not beat themselves up almost as a default symptom or the disorder itself but it’s important to remember that it’s not something you can control, there’s nothing wrong with who you are as a person. Work to be honest isn’t a natural way of living and given the tendency for autistic people to know what they want and don’t want it can clash with one’s ideals for life, I know it does mine. Have you thought about working from home? That could be quite beneficial if you managed to achieve it 

I used to, but now I don't, there are other ways in which I can contribute to society. Maybe you've not recieved the help you need, as so many of us haven't? Don't let that stop you from being the best person you can be, one of the things I've noticed about many of the people who complain about people being on benefits, is that they're idea of justice and what is right, is indulgence for themselves and punishment for everybody else. Another thing about those who whinge about people on benefits, is that often forget that a huge number of people in receipt of benefits are in work, successive governments have been to afraid to make business pay a proper wage, have been to adraid to tackle the lack of afordable housing. Dont le tthe failling of successive governments make you feel bad and don't take to much notice of the press either, we're good for a kicking on a slow news day, or when a government or minister wants to be seen to be doing something that they won't do anything about. Be angry at the lack of services for people with ND not with yourself for being failed by the system.