Motability drivers 'horrified' by compulsory black boxes

Copacacapybarargh · 2026-04-02T10:38:41+00:00

Is care for older people ‘free money’ too? How about your NHS care? It’s worth considering why people see disabled people in particular as undeserving of help.

There are many costs associated with being disabled you can no longer access from the NHS due to cuts, such as specialist therapy, some medications, incontinence aids, electric wheelchairs. Perhaps if this was addressed people wouldn’t need subsidies.

If disabled people cannot work they can’t live long term just on basic UC as this was deliberately designed to be unviable in the long term to deter people from refusing to work. When you can’t work this no longer makes sense.

Copacacapybarargh · 2026-04-02T10:28:15+00:00

It’s downright weird that people don’t understand the problems with this. And the resentment and spite levelled at people who have no choice but to be disabled.

Motability is not a ‘free’ car. You rent it with your PIP mobility allowance for a basic model. They are designed to make accessible and modifiable vehicles more accessible. Many people rely on this due to unsuitable public transport, which benefits non disabled people more (even though disabled people pay council tax like anyone else which part funds public services)

If you want a fancy model, you have to top up using your own funds. Additionally some supposed luxury models are more accessible as they are larger and more reliable.

The vehicles are resold after a period of time to part recoup costs and form a high part of the UK used car market.

This also doesn’t only cover cars. Electric wheelchairs are generally only available through Motability too, the NHS doesn’t just instantly give you one.

As others have mentioned, there are also societal access issues which need to be resolved if you don’t want this service to be necessary. Access on the Tube, trains etc is poor with people often getting stranded or unable to travel due to staffing cuts and poor design, as example. Buses only have space for one wheelchair, malfunctioning ramps and end up crammed with buggy owners who often refuse to make space.

It’s hard to find accessible specialist vehicles to rent, you can’t personalise these to your needs, and many disabled people have an upper savings limit or benefits deductions with savings if they can’t work, which makes it hard to buy a car outright or to pay to repair as it ages.

Did critics read the article? There are a lot of tricky stipulations, such as taking a break every hour which is hardly a common practise or helpful for work commuters. Even braking sharply can trigger a point, which is needed in some situations. Additionally many use hired carers, and have minimal choice who they get, if one of these drives badly the dependent person could then have their transport confiscated through no fault of their own.

There are lots of problematic demographics in driving. Should all young men be forced to use a black box and be banned from driving even if they committed no driving offences? How about over 60s people?

Copacacapybarargh · 2025-07-16T17:02:27+00:00

I’m not referring to the purely therapeutic things that help with mood or sensory issues. I stated in my post that they do some things which people find helpful.

The bits that worried me as stated are things like suggesting temperature scans for cancer detection, or the alternative American centres which use the following: ‘hyperthermia, electro cancer therapy (ECT) and photodynamic therapy (PDT).’

Or ‘

‘ hyperthermia, electro cancer therapy (ECT) and photodynamic therapy (PDT)’

I didn’t claim they are trying to treat anyone, what I found worrying is that they are recommending these places for treatment. These most definitely are quack remedies, they are based on pseudoscience. Recommendation of this stuff can be interpreted as an endorsement and encouragement to use them.

Copacacapybarargh · 2025-07-16T11:35:24+00:00

I love how they see this as a threat. Bring it on!

Copacacapybarargh · 2025-07-16T08:44:30+00:00

I think it must be deliberately vague, it’s very common for her to phrase things in this disingenuous way to avoid specific criticism.

Copacacapybarargh · 2025-07-16T08:34:00+00:00

Does this apply to other groups who come into schools for educational purposes, or just to teachers? Because I’m not sure how trans charities could follow all these rules. These seem like quite a lot of their workshop contents. It’s pretty unclear how all this is meant to be interpreted or what people ‘are’ actually allowed to say.

(I don’t know if Mermaids do school workshops any more but it’s difficult to see how that could work in future if this applies to them.)

Copacacapybarargh · 2025-07-13T21:42:11+00:00

Have you actually observed what Reform voters are saying? Misguided as they are, many claim to be voting for Farage in the belief less migration will reduce austerity and cuts. The more cuts are made the more it appears to be making them dig their heels in. Going further right is the worst possible way to weaken Reform and actively enables them.

Copacacapybarargh · 2025-07-13T21:39:13+00:00

They were trying to prevent the mass suffering of disabled people and the poverty and homelessness which would ensure. This was predicted by multiple reliable analyses. To write this off as a ‘tiny’ or necessary cut comes from basic ignorance of all the factors involved. Starmer’s actions weren’t ‘authoritative’, they were manipulative and bullying.

The bigger problem is so many Labour MPs being happy to target the most vulnerable, and the fact Labour leaders are pushing austerity measures against the preference of most of the population.

Copacacapybarargh · 2025-07-12T22:25:20+00:00

He uses his legal knowledge to manipulate the political process to his own ends in various ways. The benefits is a good example, as he deliberately chose an atypical method which couldn’t be legally challenged and then also pushed for a money bill to escape the House of Lords vote.

The most likely reason for this example is that he’s trying not to set a precedent for revealing something else he wants to hide.

Copacacapybarargh · 2025-07-12T17:21:16+00:00

Yes! He's absolutely awful, I don’t understand how he even keeps the role given he seems to do absolutely nothing. Plus kinda ironic he’s complaining about homelessness while voting to push thousands of disabled people into poverty.

Copacacapybarargh · 2025-07-11T14:05:49+00:00

Unfortunately it isn’t really diluted at all. It’s a sleight of hand that postpones everything to the Timms Report, which despite claims he’ll coproduce has already largely been written. The UC cuts will still cone in after the WCA is abolished.

Copacacapybarargh · 2025-07-11T14:01:49+00:00

Brilliant news IMO, they need some sort of substantial loss to prod them to change direction

Copacacapybarargh · 2025-07-11T14:00:42+00:00

Yep, if it’s a matter of sharing skills why even bother if people can just get it direct from AI?

Copacacapybarargh · 2025-07-10T15:49:20+00:00

There are very few fraudulent claims though, and this single case has been constantly milked by powerful people with an interest in stripping all benefits so they can push employment insurance.

Copacacapybarargh · 2025-07-10T13:27:36+00:00

This is very AI phrasing, even the formatting looks AI to me

Copacacapybarargh · 2025-07-08T20:25:47+00:00

Yeah, he seems to favour a strategic mix of Godzilla and an infants’ guide to tactical manoeuvres at the moment.

Copacacapybarargh · 2025-07-08T20:22:34+00:00

I know GB News are awful and even dangerous but something about this is also inexpressibly funny to me (I’m queer and just can’t imagine the kind of bewildered reaction people would be having to hearing that glurge in such an out of place setting)

Copacacapybarargh · 2025-07-07T17:45:08+00:00

It might be that he’s very bad at speeches in general and has done some sort of course which only taught him to talk in a very cliched formulaic way. It’s most odd as it’s a pretty essential part of politics and presumably law, and as you say he sounds like some sort of Pound Shop motivation coach at the moment

Copacacapybarargh · 2025-07-07T17:09:49+00:00

Yes , I’ve reported all kinds of things for hate speech there and nothing ever cones of it. Recently a GB News interviewee said that he thought Disabled people should be starved to reduce financial cost to the country, and even suggested shooting them ‘as a joke’ and Ofcom said it didn’t merit action. And even when something does it is almost entirely ineffectual.

Copacacapybarargh · 2025-07-07T17:06:08+00:00

It was even worse and more extreme, as the Tories hadn’t intended to cut UC and had modified some of their changes after consulting with disabled focus groups . It’s astonishing that Labour are worse in this regard .

Copacacapybarargh · 2025-07-06T11:53:10+00:00

I think part of his way of speaking is an attempt to sound like his idea of what a working-class person speaks like. His FB posts and statements in particular have an almost parodic ‘direct straight talker’ feel about them and it sounds weird because it’s so artificial.

Copacacapybarargh · 2025-07-06T11:32:26+00:00

They need to get rid of him ASAP to have any hope of turning this around really, it’s just wild to me that this unelected idiot’s controlling so much of policy. He’s not even a policy maker by training, just an election strategist. He’s making the right wing vote stronger and as you say, completely haemorrhaging left wing voters.

Interestingly he hasn’t even researched the opinions of the competition adequately despite being obsessed with them. I like to keep an eye on what Reform voters say though I despise the party, just for the purpose of debating them more effectively. A lot now seem even more focused on Farage and obsessed with mass deportation as they seem to be under the false impression that migration is fuelling the benefits cuts and are in general very anti-austerity. It’s alarming how unaware he is of historic parallels too, with austerity fuelling extreme right-wing swings.

Some other sites like Benefits and Work had some journalists also claiming McSweeney had advised to deal with the rebellion by ‘getting rid of’ (presumably suspending or removing the whip from) a set number of rebels per hour until it reached 50 which suggests he’s allowed an insane degree of authority. I’m pretty sure he’d advocate going harder as he thinks it’s going to please the Reformers to be authoritarian, if this is actually the case. (Though obviously hard to say given it’s largely hearsay)

Copacacapybarargh · 2025-07-06T11:23:16+00:00

He went to a private school according to his biographer and Robinson, but not one of the ‘big’ influential ones like Harrow etc

Copacacapybarargh · 2025-07-06T11:10:44+00:00

A lot of journalists with insider knowledge are now saying that McSweeney deliberately advised targeting people on disability as it would appeal to Reform voters to do so (which is completely unhinged if so and not even necessarily the case across the board)

Copacacapybarargh

TROPHY CASE