100 (Silly) Voices -The Brandon Trust

Saturday morning arrives at about 7.30 am. I try to ignore the bottle of whisky that’s sitting by the kettle as I fumble to generate enough coffee to kick-start the day.

cheap drink, strong dope and tranquillizers

I don’t remember how it got there. I kinda guess it’s related to the “oh-my-god-life-is-so-shit-I-want-to-die” episode I had last night. As usual, cheap drink, strong dope and tranquillizers got me through.

streamed live on Teh Intawebz... 

Firing-up my geriatric computer to attack the headlines aus Die Zeit mit meine schlechte Deutsche, I notice on Twitter the Brandon Trust are having another “100 People: 100 Voices” Learning Disabilities Conference, and it is to be streamed live on Teh Intawebz... The flyer says “This is your opportunity to tell us what is important to you”.

Live from Teh Intawebz - Mr Personality

The Brandon Trust, originally a just residential care company, say about themselves in their Vision Statement

Brandon Trust sees a future where people with learning disabilities will exercise full citizenship with all its rights and responsibilities within UK society, where every person will be empowered and supported as necessary to safely live their life to its full potential.

Great White Hope and putative saint

And headlining the event is none other than the Disabled Community of Britain’s Great White Hope and putative saint, Bendy Girl.

the corpulent sight of Matt Britt

Hitting the video feed, I'm greeted with the corpulent sight of Matt Britt, one of the the Brandon Trust’s umm... “Employment and Support” advisers. (Little did I realise at this point, that this horror show was going to contain more than one Matt).

“Why haven’t you got a job?”

Looking distinctly Pooh Bear-ish in his spanking new blue Brandon Trust T Shirt, Matt I (as we will call him for ease of identification) outlines a future where asking the Brandon Trust for help and social care will get the response

Why haven’t you got a job?

I’m serious. (I’ve got the short-hand notes in case of High Court actions).

putting pressure on the disabled, their parents and carers

Matt speaks of putting pressure on the disabled, their parents and carers to change the current habit of asking

Do you want a job?

into

You will go pack incontinence pads at one of our ‘work-projects’, on a short-term temporary contract, wholly dependent on massive hidden government subsidies, mainly paid through cutting your benefits and support to as close to zero as humanly possible.

 he’s “enabled” many of his clients to join “Job Clubs”

He also speaks glowingly of how he’s “enabled” many of his clients to join “Job Clubs” where despite their numerous and serious disabilities, they will disappear from the disability statistics and glory in their new found status as fully enabled, supported and largely unemployable Job Seekers.

the blonde, poodle-haired, irredeemably chirpy PR guy

Next up is Matt II, Matt Boyle, the blonde, irredeemably chirpy, poodle-haired, PR guy from the Brandon Trust who is conducting an “interview” with one of their “local user forums”.

Live From Norwich... It's Gorgeous!

excruciating sub-Alan Partridge repartee

He begins with excruciating sub-Alan Partridge repartee

Your mum and dad brought you down!?

(Everything Matt II says comes with an exclamation and question mark.)

I need a bus pass

replies the less than enthusiastic interviewee. Matt II rapidly moves on to his next victim.

Any experiences you want to share about the buses!? You have something positive to share about the buses!?

A long painful silence follows.

Do you have a bus pass!?

No, I'm scared.

Another painful silence follows, although fortunately slightly shorter than before.

Do you have a bus pass!?

Hey! That's a great photo on there!

Matt II ploughs on, to no reply. Undaunted, he continues, addressing what seems entirely empty space, Hey! That's a great photo on there!

Another of the user panel erupts UrrghArrrghUrrrrrrrrgh!, at this point, I find myself joining the interlocutor in an unholy counterpoint...

Full Metal Jacket Matty continues

Any experiences you want to share about the buses!?, Full Metal Jacket Matty continues.

I get teased...

Desperately he turns, seemly at random, only to hit point-blank by

The bus stop is so far away, I have to get a taxi to it

I scream. Literally, I scream

I scream. Literally, I scream. I’m autistic you see. I have alexithymia. Difficulty expressing my thoughts and feelings so instead I just go UrrghArrrghUrrrrrrrrgh! and smash things up.

Frequently it’s the telephone. I’ve got through 4 in the last year. I always make a point of buying the cheap ones, knowing they’re not going to last long.

the endless stream of negativity

Matt II continues, the endless stream of negativity from the panellists can’t be ignored and he is begrudgingly dragged into engaging with their concerns... I leave the room at this point.

ignore the whining from the lonesome whisky bottle

It’s about 11.30 am and I can no longer ignore the whining from the lonesome whisky bottle. Despite this failure, I do manage to ignore the seductive susurration emanating from the tranquillizer cupboard. They can't be wasted on generalized existential angst. They're for life-or-death situations.

I return to the forum, dainty porcelain cup of whisky and a suspiciously large and stinky brown roll-up in hand.

Speaking in a particularly sexy low-cut maroon ensemble

Bendy Girl, Kaliya Franklin is powering up an improvised ramp onto the stage accompanied by rapturous applause. Speaking in a particularly sexy low-cut maroon ensemble, she appears to be accompanied by what looks like a G4S security guard in a blazer and tie. I try to ignore this fact. I don’t succeed.

silly-voice-o-meter hitting about 5.5

Kaliya gave a brief introduction, but almost certainly due to the psychic trauma of what followed, the recollection entirely escapes me, save for the flash-back of the silly-voice-o-meter hitting about 5.5 on a scale of 0 to 10,

one of the most grievous errors of judgement 

In what must surely rank as one of the most grievous errors of judgement since Bill Clinton did-not-have sexual relations with “That Woman”, Bendy Girl announces that we are going to have a “musical quiz”.

 a “musical quiz”

My spare bedroom, (which is about to attract a £13 a week reduction in my housing benefit), erupts to the sound of The Wheels of the Bus...

“The wheels of the bus, go round and round, go round and round...”

the ringing afterglow of this thermonuclear stupidity

In the ringing afterglow of this thermonuclear stupidity which at one point included Noddy (sorry but it's true), I was so distressed that for a moment, reality began to slip away. UrrghArrrghUrrrrrrrrgh! goes the scream of the slo-boi on and on, on and on...

Presumably feeling that her experience of physical disability equates with ours with mental disabilities, Bendy Girl goes on to say that we are partly to blame for the bullying and harassment we suffer... and that it is the sequela of expecting the worst of people... and we need to be more open with our attitudes...

UrrghArrrghUrrrrrrrrghArrrgh!

 "UrrghArrrghUrrrrrrrrgh!", I reply to the screen, "UrrghArrrghUrrrrrrrrghArrrgh!"

Several minutes later I regain my composure to hear her sign off and leave the stage with the Gandhi-esque phrase “Together we can change the world...” as once more my world is drowned in tinny music. This time it’s Queen

Buddy you're a young man hard man

Shoutin' in the street gonna take on the world some day

You got blood on yo' face

You big disgrace

Wavin' your banner all over the place

We will we will rock you

We will we will rock you

After lunch, (in my case 2 cups of whisky, 3 ‘roll-ups’ and a determined ignoring of the drug cupboard) the video feed resumes and introduces (for some reason) the Labour candidate for mayor of Bristol, Mervyn Rees, who doesn’t say (or do) anything.

Unlike the Labour Candidate - can speak.

And then, appears the magnificently camp Rt Hon. Peter Main, current Lord Mayor of Bristol, who says how pleased he was that the Brandon Trust users put employment top of their list of concerns... Leading to this conference, (seemingly mainly focussing on bus passes...).

I may have lost consciousness at this point

For some reason my mind wanders to Chomsky... I think I may have lost consciousness at this point...

Sometime later, I come-to, and realise once again I’m drowning in an tsunami of Schlager. This time it’s Abba‘s “Money Money Money”.

reality is about to be torn

The panic rises, an unstoppable red-hot column of lava - I make a grab for the pills, then inexplicably, the sense that reality is about to be torn into jagged, bloody pieces, recedes.

It all suddenly makes sense.

Money, Money, Money,
It must be funny,
In a rich man’s world.

Kaliya Franklin/Bendy Girl is an impressively brave woman. A fact that brooks no confutation.

own particular brand of neo-Liberal nastiness.

However the huge maturity, professionalism and realpolitik shown by her and the others in leading the campaign in defence of disabled peoples’ rights in the face of the government’s cuts, has led her right into the gaping maw of the Brandon Trust’s own particular brand of neo-Liberal nastiness.

drowned today in a sea of condescension and cheap music

The voices of the autistic and intellectually disabled people that the Brandon Trust and their “Official Ambassador” Kaliya Franklin, claim to represent, drowned today in a sea of condescension and cheap music.

We don’t need you to speak for us.
We can speak for ourselves.
But you’re not listening.

You got mud on your face
You big disgrace
Somebody better put you back in your place

We will we will rock you
We will we will rock you

Atos Healthcare Sackings

Anthony Treasure formally
employed by Atos Healthcare.

Nurse Debbie Carr and admin worker Anthony Treasure are seeing life from the benefit scrounging scum perspective this evening, following their sacking from Atos Healthcare.

The pair were discovered on Facebook calling the sick and disabled “down and outs” and “parasitic wankers”.

The incidents were widely reported in the mainstream press and came shortly before the Government's de-benefitting boot-boys attempted to shut up a bunch of whining cripples by sending them threatening letters.


Source: DWP FoI Request Answer

ATOS vs CarerWatch - It Just Gets Worse!

Doughty British Grannies Prepare to

Slamdunk Cheese-eating ATOS Surrender Monkeys

It is looking increasingly like it is ATOS Healthcare that is going to find itself the victim of legal action as the true nature of their “case” against CarerWatch becomes clearer.

And ATOS says “Fuck You!”

ATOS are claiming the reason they nuked the CarerWatch forum was because of A SINGLE LINK in a post over FIVE MONTHS OLD. The target of that offending link is STILL ON TEH INTAWEBZ - and with no sign of ATOS having attempted to take it down. The offending link is back there <---- which leads here

OK, *speechless* Try to finish this later. In the meantime please read the update from CarerWatche's blog.

Michael Chewter from CarerWatch said

ATOS are a very dishonest organisation. They should have informed Carer Watch if they were genuinely concerned about any of the posts on its site... They have done the same thing with other carer and disability sites.

Even Dr Goldacre is getting in on the act

When you consider the way ATOS treat claimants it is hardly surprising that complaints are made about their behaviour.

As a member of the LRC and the Labour Party and a founder member of Carer Watch, I would like to ask MPs to take this matter up with the government, who employ ATOS.

CarerWatch received this reply from Atos, to their earlier letter:

Dear Frances,

Thank you for your email. The posting which we consider to be defamatory against Atos Healthcare and our employees is dated March 23rd, 8:51 pm.

As I said in my previous email, we fully support the right of people to express their opinions and would very much like to work with you to ensure your forum is reinstated as soon as possible...

CarerWatch replied:

Dear Caroline

Thank you for supplying the date and time of the post that concerns you.

We have finally traced it. We run a live discussion group and posts are normally only current for a few days. In this case the post is five months old. It did not create any interest at the time and has long since become inactive.

Having seen the post we are even more confused as to why you took this aggressive action against us. We were surprised to see that this post was not written by a member of CarerWatch but is merely a link to an article on another site.

We were also surprised when we followed the link to see that the original article is still visible on the site of origin.

We cannot understand why you would take this matter up with us when your dispute is with the authors of the linked article. We feel like collateral damage in this.

We would like to point out that we are running a private discussion group for members and we do not know how you saw this link on our site. But if you have some how been watching the posts in our group you will know that members post on an enormous breadth of topics and post links to a wide variety of other sites.


Members often post links to material on other sites precisely because they are vehemently opposed to the material.

We repeat – this is a discussion group and posts have to be read in the context of open discussion.

We are concerned that this type of extreme hyper vigilance of discussion groups could seriously damage free and open discussion.

You say that you embarked on this action to protect the reputation of your company. But you can call on unlimited resources to obtain legal advice and you should bear in mind that groups like us have no resources and cannot obtain legal advice. We think you should bear this in mind when making your actions proportionate and appropriate.

We are sure you, like us, wish to bring this situation to a speedy conclusion. As it was your action that resulted in our forum being taken down, we suggest the following. We will remove the post in question (without prejudice), and in turn you will make arrangements to have our forum reinstated, whilst also giving us a guarantee that should you have any concerns in future, you will bring them directly to us and not to the hosting company.

Considering the immense distress caused to our members, and the volume of unnecessary work created for us, we consider these to be extremely reasonable requests.

We await your reply.

Frances

ATOS Macht Frei

Atos Healthcare are today magnanimously negotiating with the owners of the CarerWatch forum, with a view to formulating an arrangement that will silence criticism of their work for the DWP, on the forum, once and for all.

Other blogs, websites and forums are already cowed and refusing to do anything that may incur the wrath of ATOS's chief boot-boy, James Loughrey.

The ease at which the sick and disabled can be whipped into submission and compliance, by a multi-billion pound company is shocking.

“Oh, I'm sorry - I got a bit scared when the lawyer called and gave in”

What all campaigners need to realise that this is a battle for our lives:

  PEOPLE ARE DYING!

as a result of the work of ATOS and the DWP.

There is a very big difference between "libellous material" and a lawyer's claim of "libellous material". A lawyer claiming "false and malicious allegations" is substantively different to "false and malicious allegations".

This is the most shameless and callous examples of corporate bullying I've seen since the McLibel trial.

This is not a time for negotiation and capitulation:

This is a time to stand-up and be counted.

ATOS Healthcare - Scum of the Earth

James Loughrey - Chief Solicitor and head of ATOS's Dept. of Killa Fish

The shocking tactics used by ATOS Healthcare to silence their sick and disabled critics are rapidly coming to light all over teh Intawebs.

In the last week, website after website after website have been closed after ISP's received letters from ATOS's chief legal-thug James Loughrey.

Another one bites the dust...

More worryingly, Loughrey is also with the aid of LBi , a digital support services company, targeting internet fora and discussion boards where the sick and disabled meet online for mutual support - including the notoriously moderate and respectable CarerWatch.

And another...

Rosemary, the owner of the CarerWatch forum was unfortunately overwhelmed with the realities of her life to get involved in the storm of anti-ATOS protest that has erupted over the weekend:

“On behalf of CW can I thank every1 for their support, here,DMs and via email. Off to hospital most of today so will be later b4 updating u x”

CareWatch's Francis published their response to ATOS on their website this morning:

“CarerWatch is an internet forum for sick and disabled people and their unpaid family carers. This is a private forum and only members are allowed to make/read posts.

We understand from the organisation that hosts our forum that they received a letter from your solicitors threatening to sue us for libel. The provider immediately closed our site down.

This video was made as a tribute and thank you to the authors of

the ATOS Register of Shame website - closed by the thug Loughrey

We have many members who are very fragile and the sudden disappearance of a support group has caused a lot of distress and fear. Some are ringing us in tears. We cannot get in contact with all of them though as we have lost their contact details through the closure.

All this distress could have been avoided if you had had the courtesy to contact us first and tell us what had been posted on our site that you considered libellous. Obviously if any post was possibly libellous we would have removed it and all this distress could have been avoided.

People... and websites...

We imagine this distress is unintended and hope you will work with us in looking at the problem and finding a solution.

Please note that this letter, and any reply received from yourselves, will be posted on our website. It is the only means left to us to reach some members and keep them updated.

It is vital we have our forum up and running again to reach those that are isolated.

On behalf of CarerWatch members”

Call a cunt, a cunt.

It's been a bad couple of weeks for ATOS - 12 of their doctors are to face action for misconduct by the General Medical Council and two of their employees are (claims ATOS) facing disciplinary action for describing the sick and disabled as "parasitic wankers" and "down and outs".

One notably effective online campaigner commented:

‎:( I have a huge fucking urge to troll ATOS again. We have storms tomorrow... I'm really fucking angry over this... To remove a lifeline such as the carer watch forums is sickening.... I'm on the fucking warpath now ATOS. Do you hear me?...

edited 22 aug 2011: no substantive changes

A Bloodly Good Hiding and a Kick in The Head

Celebrate our English culture as GMP get to grips with rioting, benefit scrounging scum on the streets of Manchester.

OK, we appear to be suffering #ironyFail.

This royal throne of kings, this scepter'd isle,

This earth of majesty, this seat of Mars,

This other Eden, demi-paradise,

This fortress built by Nature for herself

Against infection and the hand of war,

This happy breed of men, this little world,

This precious stone set in the silver sea,

Which serves it in the office of a wall,

Or as a moat defensive to a house,

Against the envy of less happier lands,

This blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this England,

This nurse, this teeming womb of royal kings,

Fear'd by their breed and famous by their earth.