Someone is hitting back at the bad press and About time too!

Hurrah for MIND and <The Daily STIGMA!>

http://issuu.com/mindcharity/docs/single_pp_daily_stigma?mode=window&backgroundColor=%23222222

 It’s about time someone did something about the press and their demonising of mental health claimants. I have to say this works for me; it gives facts and figures, the claimants side of the argument on what the benefits system is becoming and it’s just graphic enough to make an impact.

<I suffer with paranoia and because of all the stuff in the media I constantly feel I’m being watched and made out to be a benefit cheat>?

Exactly! And the government wonders why, when the media headlines run riot and it does nothing to counter them the positive message they’re trying to get across is not happening.

http://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/commons-select/work-and-pensions-committee/news/ib-reassessment-substantive/

At least according to this report they are taking steps now to counter the problems but it’s very late and not very obvious.

<Since the Employment and Support Allowance started in 2008, over 90,000 people who appealed their ruling of fit for work have been found to be too ill to work –enough to fill Wembley Stadium. A government committee has estimated that the cost of these appeals to the taxpayer could be as much as $50M a Year, which is more than double the amount of money lost to Incapacity Benefit fraud over the same period>

Great well done the government for saving us money! Guess getting people back on the employment register was your real motive.

<In a poll of over 300 people with mental health problems how are on Incapacity Benefit were asked about how reassessment for the new ESA and the news coverage of welfare reform had affected them. Almost nine out of ten people polled said they felt anxious and three-quarters said this had made their mental health worse.>

Ummm seems like it’s adversely affecting peoples’ health too. Not really giving them the support they need to get back to work either is it.

Well done MIND for coming up with something to catch the eye at the party conferences since no amount of discussion seems to have had any effect.

My only worry now is that it’s being billed as a spoof newspaper and people may just bin it and not read it.

So it’s not actually a newspaper so what, it is news, it is not made up and has been thoroughly researched so why SPOOF? Couldn’t they have thought of a better way to advertise it?