(Ellesmere Port and Neston)
(Lab):...I should like to discuss the barriers that
people with invisible conditions face in their everyday life,
beginning with getting back to work. I recently spoke in a
Westminster Hall debate on another invisible
condition, arthritis. An estimated 16,000 people in my
constituency live with back pain. Another 4,000 and 8,000 people
respectively are estimated to live with hip and knee conditions.
Those are just some of the estimated 17.8 million people who live
with arthritis or related conditions across
the country. About half of them live with pain every day. That is
a staggering number of people coping in their everyday lives,
while people around them are blissfully unaware of their
suffering. Just because we cannot see their pain does not mean
that it should be ignored or written off as just how it is.
As with fibromyalgia, the problems that people with arthritic
conditions face are exacerbated by the fact that they can
fluctuate in severity, leaving them unsure how well they will be
able to cope from day to day. That can make it difficult to hold
down a regular job, but that should not be used as cover for
discrimination. Many people with arthritis want to work and can do so if
the right support is in place. Such help is available through the
Access to Work scheme, but that is not working as well as it
should, as various arthritis charities have said. They are
also calling for the Government to commission research on the
meaning of “reasonable adjustments”, and for support to be put in
place to help people who challenge employers who do not act on
Access to Work recommendations. Employers, as we know, are
obliged to make reasonable adjustments but, if someone is in work
and not a member of a trade union, who will argue the case for
them?
...What about those with invisible conditions who are not well
enough to work? We have talked about this issue many times, but
my constituents’ experience of work capability assessments has
not been good. Many decisions are overturned at tribunal and it
seems to me that the system does not learn from its mistakes. A
constituent of mine with two conditions I have already
mentioned, arthritis and fibromyalgia, was assessed
five times in eight years. At each assessment she was found fit
to work. On each occasion she appealed and on each occasion she
won the appeal. How can the process be wrong so many times? How
can that waste of public money on five separate occasions be
justified when the final decision has been the same every time?
What does that say about the Government’s approach to people with
long-term conditions? How many times does someone actually have
to prove that they are not fit to work before it is accepted?
(Lanark and Hamilton East)
(SNP):...Recently, in this place, I have been making the
case that invisible conditions such as fibromyalgia
and arthritis do not receive the
recognition, the attention or the levels of support that they
deserve. The Minister is probably tired of hearing the same
voices arguing the case, but I think that Government Departments
could do more to recognise not just fibromyalgia
and arthritis but all the illnesses,
diseases and symptoms that are not currently recognised within
the departmental framework...
...I have highlighted that issue time and again during
Westminster Hall debates in relation to ME,
fibromyalgia, arthritis and other lesser-known
illnesses. The hon. Member for Ellesmere Port and Neston (Justin
Madders) gave his own personal account, speaking passionately, on
behalf of his wife, about fibromyalgia...
Mrs (Washington and Sunderland
West) (Lab):...As we have heard, in the last census, one
in five people in the UK reported having a disability or limiting
long-term health condition. The vast majority of disabled people
have hidden impairments not immediately obvious to
others—neurodiversity, Crohn’s disease, colitis,
dementia, arthritis, or mental distress and energy
impairment conditions such as myalgic encephalomyelitis, or ME,
and chronic fatigue syndrome, to name but a few...
...The Access to Work scheme could play
a vital part in ensuring that employers provide valuable
reasonable adjustments in the workplace for people with invisible
disabilities. However, a survey conducted by Versus arthritis found that just 59% of
respondents with conditions such as fibromyalgia and only 41% of
employers are aware of the scheme. What steps can the Minister
take to ensure that employers are aware of the scheme and to
encourage take-up?
To read the whole debate, CLICK
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