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Momentary Lapse Of Reason

A project log for Obsidian

Hacking MorningStar

morningstarMorning.Star 09/13/2019 at 12:269 Comments

I may have upset Hench a little.

I dont usually lose my temper with him, despite our differences of opinion, but after the tabloid I chose to bust this story open declined to even contact me [Hello, The Sun. Really helpful of you, thanks] I was already a little truculent.

I'd left him a message, and feeling particularly pensive I bought a bottle of rum to calm my nerves and completely forgot all about that. I only had a glass, it wasnt like I was drunk when he called me back to update me on his progress. He told me proudly of having put out an advert, which had 64 responses to it, all negative.

That pissed me off though. Nobody answers an advert to say they arent interested in the contract on offer. They ignore it. Unless of course they have good reason not to, in which case they will complain. Well if they had complained about me or Bea in some way as part of their refusal Hench would have gleefully heaped it upon me, so obviously his advert did nothing but rile the care sector who are underfunded, understaffed and overworked and already refusing to assist Social Services at a national level. I'm requesting that the advert and the responses to it be made available; as her care manager I should have been copied in as a matter of course.

I also remonstrated with him about the neglect leading to Bea being injured and then treated more than once in care, and he denied all knowledge - which explains why DoLs are so ambivalent. They have been lied to, and have two conflicting stories, one from a Social Services manager, and one from an irate advocate with an unbelievable story that probably counters the manager's diametrically. What the DoLs Practitioner SHOULD do in this situation is apply to the Court of Protection for a ruling based on an assessment of the situation, but thats not possible until Keri has a recognised advocate in the form of a deputy, and they wont recognise me formally as in authority.

I may have called Hench fucking useless - and to be fair he had a right to defend himself - but he blamed the carers that his organisation are responsible for, so they all got called fucking useless too. Then he tried his usual tack of blaming the economy, and the government got called fucking useless as well. I think he knew he wasnt on a winning streak, because he then switched to email.

* https://hackaday.io/project/29260-obsidian/log/168245-madder-than-mad-jack-mcmad

For the non-musical [ Hench is in fact an accomplished musician ] I should explain.

6-8 refers to a time signature in musical notation. Most modern music is based on 4-4, a system where the timing is divisible by two's which makes it easy to dance to. 3-4 is pretty specialised and is heard mostly in Waltzes, and 6-8 is rarer still and most often found in Jazz... And nobody can dance to that nonsense lol.

I think he liked the cussing better, because presently this appeared.

Which put a stop to the emails until this morning, when I could call Disability Living Allowance who are a pain in the arse to get hold of.

Yes folks, thats what an apology for being fucking useless looks like. He hasnt done a single thing that me, him, his manager and the housing agents agreed on so they'd get their money. I'm keeping my end of that bargain, and the agents backed up so rapidly there was a disturbance in local space-time.

That explains then, why the District Council kept my tenancy open for 5 weeks after I signed the new lease and continued to raid my bank account for it, and you guys think I'm a Time Traveller. XD

However, speaking to DLA when I finally got through was most revealing.

Which all basically boils down to

a) Bea is entitled to full Housing Benefit just through having the High Rate Care component, however she is also entitled to High Rate Mobility by the DoLs assessment of her behaviour and capacity that requires her liberty to be monitored.

b) I am also entitled to my own DLA award because my capacity is impacted by Bea's disability, which prevents me from working, and I should have been made aware of this by Social Services.

c) ADC are lying through their teeth, and have incriminated themselves and the housing agency by misinforming them of the regulations off the record.

d) Social Services have incriminated themselves by keeping Bea at a care home without consultation or authorisation, and misappropriating funds to hide it.

Discussions

Dr. Cockroach wrote 09/15/2019 at 09:13 point

Now I see why you posted the words to the song "Hurt". Point well taken my friend.

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Morning.Star wrote 09/13/2019 at 12:50 point

After a bit of research it appears that I should be entitled to another couple of hundred quid a month, and Bea another 50 quid - ish.

Because payments to carers impacted by their responsibilities are irregular there isnt a defined mechanism to handle the award - I cannot be defined as disabled myself, but I can be defined as incapacitated.

That means I'd receive the same benefit as Bea does - however, just the Care Component, and not the Mobility Component that she gets now. That too would be upgraded and nearly double my income.

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Dr. Cockroach wrote 09/13/2019 at 12:47 point

Wow, you get that information in just a call or two that others should have been doing all along. Yes, they are all less than useless....

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Morning.Star wrote 09/13/2019 at 13:00 point

Never in all my life dude.

I knew they were rotten. I had no idea just how rotten.

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Morning.Star wrote 09/14/2019 at 11:23 point

Hahah, indeed. :-D Not an expression I've heard before but a good one.

If only those tenets worked on them. They understand the logic that if it were done right they wouldnt need to exist, perfectly well...

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Dr. Cockroach wrote 09/14/2019 at 12:30 point

I guess the same for the saying over here " Never sniff a gift fish in the mouth" Might not be that good of a gift ;-)

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Morning.Star wrote 09/14/2019 at 14:28 point

<Sigh>

You're both right of course, but I'm left with that, the unsettling knowledge I'm a minority of one. The system doesnt deal with minorities, and doesnt recognise individuals other than the mouthpiece at the top. I say, mouth.

With the amount of crap coming out of ours I'd say they're holding it wrong. XD

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Dr. Cockroach wrote 09/14/2019 at 15:01 point

But you and Bea are part of a vast majority called human AND just as important as any one else. Their crime is treating you both as less...

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Morning.Star wrote 09/14/2019 at 19:01 point

My argument that we are all equals on this planet tastes bad in my mouth my friend. I no more want to be more or less than human but I have evidence of both.

Cant be both tho. Makes my head hurt to ponder on it; I know its wrong.

I'll survive this, again, as I always have. And thats what worries me - you know my MO, if it doesnt kill me stone dead it becomes part of my armoury. And after all this, like Gibson's supermen, I'm already mostly upgrades, superstructure, but there's a soul lost in here somewhere.

I stub my toes on it sometimes, hurts like hell but I dont cry anymore. I havent cried for myself in years, I've forgotten how I think. I dont even howl when I'm shit-face drunk, and I sit for hours staring at the walls when I'm sober and I know thats abnormal behaviour.

Psychiatry informs me its normal behaviour for me, and under the circumstances. They are mental scars something like PTSD, and the few chemicals they have to treat those symptoms have side effects neither they nor I wish to impose when it wont solve the problem. Besides, the doctors are now very nervous and understand that medicating me to accept these conditions even with my consent is abusive.

And as far as Bea's concerned getting a government agency to authorise depriving her of her liberty without consulting her [or me] is even worse.

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