Because of this DENW will be supporting project work in Lancashire to improve these outcomes. .

The aim of the campaign is to raise public awareness of the symptoms of bowel cancer and to encourage those with persistent symptoms to see their GP promptly. Although the great majority of those presenting with symptoms will not have bowel cancer, some will – and by catching the cancer earlier, it should be more treatable.

The national campaign started earlier this year (check it out via the link below) but DENW will be promoting awareness for the next few months and offering help and advice for those who need more information before apporaching their GP. 

The campaign is designed to:

• give simple information about bowel cancer symptoms
• provide a clear call to action to see the GP
• give a reassuring message that earlier diagnosis improves the chances of successful treatment.

The campaign is aimed at people over the age of 55, particulalry those vulnerable and or living on low incomes.

Be Clear on Cancer

(See pats previous post)

They were shocked because they thought we wouldn’t speak up, but they were wrong: activists across the board have united in challenging them on this disastrous attack on disability benefits.

For far too long, the government thought they could do what they liked to us. Now we are speaking up as one, the government is closing the debate down by extraordinary measures, so that we still feel unheard. If the government closes debate down, we believe we could all use Pat’s Petition to make sure we open it up again. It is a petition that will hopefully lead to a Peoples Debate.

So far, the petition has reached over 28,000 signatures to be number 15 out of over 11,000 petitions on the government e-petition site. It did that in its first three months. We know it can get to 100,000 if we continue working together. That gives us the opportunity for debate.

Being an electronic petition, this means every one putting the link to Pat’s Petition  in newsletters, on websites, in mail outs, social media sites – every where you can. Ask people to sign themselves, and also to ask friends and family and people on their networks to sign. Please encourage everyone to be proactive in this – if each of the current signatories got just 4 other people to sign, the target would be reached.

In the age of social media – we can do this.

Pat’s Petition is for all of us. For every one who is angry about the way the government is treating disabled people and their families.

Support Pat’s Petition and take the debate right back to Westminster where they have to hear us.

If you can help raise awareness further please do contact me at  - patspetition@gmail.com 

The list of supporters is growing and includes –

Disabled People Against the Cuts, Greater; Manchester Coalition of Disabled People; Disability Equality (NW); SWAN – Social Work Action Network ; NAVCA

From 2013, PIP will replace DLA for people of working age (between 16 and 64 years of age).

The initial proposals for the PIP assessment criteria were published in May 2011 to provide an opportunity for disabled people and their organisations to comment and help to shape the development process. Between May and August the DWP says it met with around 60 disabled people and their organisations as well as receiving 173 written submissions from both organisations and individuals as part of an informal consultation. In addition, a testing exercise across the UK between May and September was carried out using the proposed assessment involving about 1000 volunteers across the UK.

Proposed PIP assessment changes

As a result of this feedback and engagement, among the key proposed PIP assessment changes are:

• to ensure that the assessment adequately takes account of where the presence of another person is needed, the criteria now refer to supervision from another person where this is required to enable an individual to carry out an activity safely (similar to the DLA approach);
• while PIP activity descriptors continue to be considered in light of whether they apply for the “majority of the time” (the majority of days), to ensure that the impact of a fluctuating conditiom is accurately captured, where two or more descriptors in an activity apply on less than 50% of days individually but reach this threshold when combined, the descriptor which applies for the greatest proportion of time will apply;

• to ensure a broader assessment of ability to make everyday decisions, the previous “Planning and buying food and drink activity” has been replaced with the new activity ”Making financial decisions” – one of DA’s suggestions which we’re pleased to see included;

• the previous “Communicating with others” activity has been split into two new activities: “Communicating” and “Engaging socially” with the former focusing on expressive and receptive communication and accessing written information while the latter assess ability to interact with others in a contextually and appropriate manner, understand body language and establish relationships;

Down load Disability Alliance's longer review of the new PIP changes via the link below (together with lots of useful other useful stuff!).  The debate and discussion about teh new PIP benefit if still far from over.

Disability Alliance Update Dec 2011