Following on from my blog yestersday, I want to challenge an assumption the ATOC protestors make about people’s reasons for wanting to committ suicide. When people are deemed fit for work, they do not lose all their benefits but they are taken ESA and returned to Jobseekers Allowance, where I believe the different is £45.

Now we are asked to believe people who have no other mental distress are decided to end their lives because of £45 a week. While I can totally understand the additional stress this can bring until someone is able to find work, are we really saying people lives can be boiled down to this small amount? If this really the difference between happiness and despair?

Rather than supporting people to come to terms with the change in their lives, I believe the ATOS protests are encouraging and celebrating suicide to score points against the government in a way I find sickening. How can these ‘disabled people’ claim an united front when they are prepared to use the suffering of others for their political and financial gain?