‘I don’t want to live on benefits, I want to work’
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c5y9mm333p2o
Posted by honesto_pinion
‘I don’t want to live on benefits, I want to work’
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c5y9mm333p2o
Posted by honesto_pinion
23 Comments
> she has so far applied for more than 40 jobs without success.
While it’s unfortunate, this is not unusual or newsworthy.
I have a friend in the same boat. He wants to work but his disabilities mean nowhere will hire him (though they won’t say it explicitly). He’s now resorted to doing self-employed stuff like craft fairs, clothes alterations, and art commissions but it’s not enough to get by on without benefits.
This is precisely what’s caused the uproar. There’s countless people on disability “benefits” that would love to work, but they can’t find anything! And it’s all very well the government saying shit like “we’re doing this to support people to get into the workplace”, but that doesn’t mean prospective employers have to take them on. Sure there’s discrimination laws in place, but they can give any reason they want to avoid employing someone. I genuinely thought, the popularity of wfh during the last few years would give the perfect opportunity for more people to find employment, but they pulled that rug out from under us as soon as they were able to.
And before anyone jumps on me, no, I’m not disabled, and yes I am employed
Unfortunately there aren’t enough jobs for people. Especially unskilled one’s. And most employers are going to see disabled people as an extra hassle to employ. It’s really sad. My autistic daughter is in college and has just started volunteering. This may be a good route to go to contribute, keep yourself busy. Although if it’s to get a bigger income etc then it’s not. The only thing you can do then is to study and get a career where you can potentially work from home or get needed skills where employers will employ you regardless.
One thing I don’t understand about our welfare strategy, is why directly pay people who are out of work instead of using that same money to create public sector jobs for those who are unemployed or disabled? Even just adding more people to staff the HMRC phone line would be a great start. It gives people out of work more dignity, fills a gap on the CV, and provides a service to the public.
Surely this is why they should be going back to WFH jobs?
I don’t mean to be rude or anything but with the best will in the world she isn’t doing manual labour. She will be in a desk based job.
If she could work from home then she will be able to work under the same conditions as anyone else. She doesn’t need to travel with accessibility issues. The employer doesn’t need to have ramps or facilities to accommodate her.
I sympathise. I’m in a similar position (more disabled than her though), but with lots of qualifications and not on UC. I’ve tried relentlessly for the last 10 years to get any kind of work, and I’ve only been sporadically successful. Mostly expected to volunteer, which sometimes I do, but it would be nice to be valued for my skills and experience like anyone else.
A lot of normal people would scream bloody-murder if they faced the discrimination that disabled people face when inside the recruitment process. They say we shouldn’t feel entitled to a job, and I understand that. But many non-disabled people do expect a job. That looks like entitlement to me.
Nothing will change though. These private companies can and will discriminate against disabled people and will continue to do so while making it look meritocratic on paper.
I wonder why we don’t require employers to provide evidence they’re actively hiring?
If you go to the job center you have to prove you’re actively applying, perhaps the same rule should apply to employers with adverts?
When I left education I applied for well over 200 jobs before I got my first job. All the replies I got back (from those that did) stated I had no experience. Well no shit, that’s why I’m applying for your basic job that requires no education.
It seems that this is still the case and that people like her will find it even more difficult with her circumstances.
I’ve applied to about 500 jobs in the last 6 months…
Why do we insist on pretending disability doesn’t make us sick? More power to Kailee but this is a generalisation that will harm hundreds of thousands of disabled people who are actually disabled by their bodies. Some of us cannot work because of our disabilities and it’s not fair to pretend we could work if society changed its mindset.
If the BBC is meant to be impartial, where is the piece interviewing the family getting benefits while working cash in hand?
Im I have a first-class degree all I can get is 15 hours a week in a betting shop
I’ve applied (in total) to about 200 jobs this year alone. I heard back from maybe 20 of them. And I have legs too. It’s like this for everyone.
Why are UK people gaslighting disabled people into work?
What’s next? Demand people on hospital beds to search for jobs?? Shove people out of their graves for zombie menial jobs??
I applied to one job a week, put in a lot of effort and time for each application and got what I consider a real career job. I think the job center need to place more emphasis on this thought process. But I stayed away from there, thankfully had the funds to tie me over until I was in employment again.
40 job applications a day easy and she’s done a grand total of 40
Nice. Shows that the changes are working in the sense that people who can work but didnt have to are finally looking for jobs.
40 is not a lot to be ignored by that early on in your career.
I applied for 400 jobs last year and got 20 interviews. It took me 4 hours a day, 4 days a week and 4 months
The future is people living with a basic UBI, communist like, everybody poor.
T minus soon – wait until entry level AI properly kicks in.. with the pressure most businesses are in I’d give it 24 – 36 months.
I do 3 varied volunteer roles and an OU degree to try to show I am capable and get paid work. It hasn’t worked.
Employers generally do not want to employ disabled people. That is not disabled folks fault.
Disability confident scheme isnt worth the paper its written on.
I have applied for multiple roles under that scheme that I am more than capable of doing and not got an interview (for anyone that isnt aware, this scheme is meant to guarantee you an interview if you have the relevant skills and experience, which I did). I helped investigate murders and rapes for 5 years mate, I think I can cope with your general office admin and calenders.