THE story of a former marine who lost his benefits despite having a false leg is just one of a number that have shocked politicians.
Daily Record Editorial 28 Sep 2012
AARON Moon was left horribly maimed while serving his country in Afghanistan.
He lost a leg, suffered multiple broken bones and was forced to leave the job he loved working as a Royal Marine attached to Arbroath-based 45 Commando.
Still a young man, and with his life seriously blighted, he arrived back in Britain. His only hope was that the country he had sacrificed so much for would look after him.
He had good cause for optimism. After all, the much talked about military covenant makes it clear that soldiers will be properly looked after if they are badly injured on duty.
But what happened next is almost beyond belief.
The Government’s scandal-hit benefit checkers Atos pulled him in for a “fit for work” assessment.
During the test, a nurse asked him to point to his right foot. He told them he didn’t have one.
They asked him to wiggle the toes on his right foot. He told them he didn’t have any.
This indignity was only the start of his ordeal.
Four days later, he was told his disability living allowance was being stopped as he was fit for work.
When he asked how this could be, benefits chiefs told him his false leg was as good as a real one so his allowance was being halted.
That any disabled person in Britain in the 21st century should be put through such indignity is a disgrace.
That it should happen to a man who has sacrificed his future for the good of this country is a national scandal.
The Daily Record has been highlighting the inhumanity of Atos tests for the last two weeks.
Now former Labour minister Liam Byrne, speaking in Glasgow yesterday, has become the latest to join our call for a review of the way these tests are run.
If this Con-Dem Government had any humanity, they would beat a retreat and go back to the drawing board.
3 Responses
This is no way to treat our service personnel, or anyone else for that matter. What will the forces still fighting in Afghanistan think of this inhuman way to treat them?
Not only is this scandalous, it’s a pitiful way to treat people, especially someone who has put their life on the line for this country. What on earth are the Condems doing to let Atos carry out these totally flawed assessments? Nothing, nothing at all and Duncan-Smith, himself ex-forces, has no sympathy whatsoever.
Until proper assessments are carried out by the NHS doctors (who know what they are talking about), people will continue be denied what is rightfully theirs.
The whole affair is a shameful disgrace.
What has the fact that he was ‘serving our Country’ got to do with anything? That’s the dangers of the job he decided to do, it should not add or take away any weight to his disability benefit claim. Having said that, he now has a false leg and whilst this will stop him from undertaking various roles n life, there are plenty of jobs where this would not be a hindrance. Stop making something out of nothing.
Evil Demonic and Diabolical is this Example of Someone who Fights for
” Queen and Country ” only to have ” Queen and Country ” Not be Prepared to
give Him some Support in View of his Injury
There is No Way I would Enlist to Serve in the Armed Forces of the United Kingdom under this Present Regime when this is the Thanks that they Get for putting their
Lives at Risk
The MPs are the Scroungers Not the Poor and Vulnerable of the Land
A National Disgrace of Infamy this is