2005-06-23

UK Sufferers! Let's Stand Up For Our Rights!

This is definitely something you should be aware of if you live in the UK.

Here's a summary:

As a ME/CFS/PVFS sufferer, it's not uncommon that you have to go to 'appeal' in order to be awarded Disability Living Allowance (DLA). This is because the DWP (the government body that issues benefits) apparently uses ME/CFS guidelines that do not describe our illness satisfactorily enough.

But it gets worse.

According to the ME Asssociation, the DWP have just rewritten their ME/CFS guidelines. These newly proposed ME/CFS guidelines were apparently written by two psychiatrists (!) and according to the ME Association "are only going to make matters worse".

The guidelines don't even acknowledge that ME/CFS is a neurological illness, and not a psychological one!

Trying to get DLA when you have ME/CFS is difficult enough as it is. Now it's going to be even harder!

But there is something we can do - but we need to do it fast.

MPs are going to have a meeting on 6th July, where (among other things) the DWP's proposed guidelines for ME/CFS will be discussed. And apparently, the ME Association will be there.

What we need to do is write to our local MPs and urge them to attend this meeting and to represent us as ME/CFS sufferers.

I know - I took one look at this and thought - 'I've got to write a letter?'...

Knowing what a chore it is when feeling so terrible, I figured that everyone else would probably feel the same way - reluctant! So, Mandy and I have drafted a letter template for everyone to use.

You can copy and paste it into an email from here (scroll down to the bottom):

Or you can download it as a word document here...

And to find who your local MP is, click here...

And to find out your local MP's contact details click here...

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