A poem - But You Don't Look Sick!?

But You Don’t Look Sick!?

I look normal to you, so you think I’m a fraud

Because I can’t work and just sit at home bored

I don’t have a limb missing, or use a wheelchair

So to you I’m a kidder, but that’s not being fair

You are nice to my face, but to others are spurious

Dare you find out the facts? After all, you are curious

Speaking in forked tongues, gossiping and surmising

Live a day in my body – you’ll find it surprising

The twists and turns your body makes, of which you're unaware

Are the ones that hurt my body so much I can’t bear

The steps you take freely or when you run for a bus

Is impossible for me, or for people like us

You mock the fact that I walk with a stick

“He doesn’t need it, he’s young.  He must think we’re thick!”

To cope with the constant pain and fatigue I feel every day

Makes your ignorant views hurtful in so many ways

Living off the State because I am unable to work

He’s a sponger, a cheat, you say with a smirk

Searing cramps, depression and agonising pain wracks me 24/7  

Are you sure you want life like mine? The one you refer to as “heaven”?

Flare ups where I can’t move for whole days on end

When life seems so desperate, theres no one can help me – not my family or friends

Just remember - when you are at work, or having fun doing whatever you do

I’m in bed crying my heart out wishing I was you

Stuart MacAllister, fibromyalgia sufferer & “benefit scrounger”

First Post

Welcome to my new blog.

I am starting this blog as a cathartic exercise to help me through my daily battle with Fibromyalgia, chronic pain, dependence on prescription medication and the frustration I feel by being trapped in a crippled, pain-wracked body that has decimated my life.

What I am:

• I like to think I am a kind, intelligent and tolerant person.  
• I am on benefits through no fault of my own and want the Government to recognise that people who suffer with chronic pain conditions have a voice that deserves to be heard.
• I want to work and am in favour of reforming welfare, but in a responsible and ethical manner.
• The current austerity measures are too draconian and are not working, so I am in favour of building our economy via investment rather than cutting services and benefits of those in genuine need.
• The DWP, ATOS & the "work programme providers" are colluding in a conspiracy to cheat, deny and block genuinely disabled and chronically ill people from getting the continued assistance the Welfare State gives them.  I have first hand experience of the lies, falsehoods and blatant disregard they have for people in need and the fact they continue to get away with destroying peoples lives is nothing short of a national disgrace.
• I believe things on a personal, local and national level can get better and that our Society is "big", but "big" includes everyone and should not be divisive or elitist.

What I am not:

• I'm NOT a scrounger.
• I'm not a second class citizen.
• I'm not racist, ignorant, bigoted or "anti-rich".
• I'm not an anarchist.
• I'm not without feelings.
• I'm not useless......even though I feel that I am sometimes.

I would love it if you followed my blog and if anyone can help me with presenting facts and not half-truths or urban myths I would really like to hear from you.