The stigma of benefits

[Vermilion]

This has been bumbling around my head for a while so here it goes.. .

I'm currently claiming ESA and PIP and I'm really finding the shame hard to deal with. Part of it is how the DWP and it's minions make us feel, the way we get interrogated and made to feel like scroungers but I guess that's their jobs right?

What I'm really struggling with is the perceptions of people around me and the negative publicity in the media. So many people will say things like people are faking MH because they can't be bothered or the whole  people are pussies these days etc. We all know the crap people come up with. The problem for me is that because I don't want people to find out that I'm on benefits I hide from people, I'm often afraid to go outside in the garden because I don't want people to see me. This isn't helping me because I struggle with the public normally but this is making it worse. Honestly, I already despise myself for claiming and this is adding fuel.

Anyone else know how to deal with it? Or can understand it?

[Tucan]

I do feel a stigma for being on benefits, but people do have more sympathy for genuine cases like ours. Sometimes we need reminding of that.

[sniper]

I often sit here during the day when people are at work, and think that whomever can hear or see me, don't see the issues I face on a daily basis. I then feel that all the things I do during the day to distract is just enjoying leisure time, to other people. Yes, I am on PC, watch TV, play video games and listen to music, but in all of that there is a level of distraction. I feel that if I didn't do these things, I would be constantly trying to kill myself. I hope some of that made sense.

My sis has always pointed out hat the family are at WORK each day and I'm at home doing nothing. So, how can I possibly be tired or achy or have headaches from stress?!

If I don't see the stigma from elsewhere I certainly get it from family; and they know(ish) what's wrong with me!

[Vermilion]

I don't understand why I'm so tired if I don't work but constantly distracting is difficult. It's also hard work to keep on top of the daily jobs when you can barely find the courage to get out of bed to pee never mind do anything else. Sometimes I feel guilty for enjoying something when everyone else is working and I'm sitting in the garden. In a way I can understand people feeling pissed off.

Do people have sympathy for genuine cases? I'm not too sure that they even believe that MH is a genuine illness. Many see it as laziness, finding excuses, being a special snowflake or the whole 'millennials don't know what hard times are' and all that crap. It's so hard to convince ourselves otherwise when we already hate ourselves y'know?