Attention Deficit?

If not necessarily to the extent of Peter Hitchens, I used to be open to scepticism about Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. But I have now seen it up close, and I know that it is very real indeed. Unchecked by Laura Kuenssberg, Helen Whately asserted this morning that you could have a Motability vehicle for ADHD. You cannot. You may have ADHD as well. But you are not eligible for Motability unless your conditions affect your mobility. Whately was lying. Not mistaken. Lying. As, by omission, was Kuenssberg.

There is a case for Motability to buy only vehicles that had been manufactured in the United Kingdom, but show me a PIP claimant who had been bought a BMW or a Mercedes on Motability. And how many more times? PIP is an in-work benefit. You do not get it for having a specific condition, but for how your conditions affect your life. You most certainly cannot self-certify onto it. By giving money to people who spend it, PIP stimulates our consumer economy, as sickness and disability benefits in general do, as the triple lock does, and as the lifting of the two-child benefit cap will, all while declaring the social and cultural value of the direct beneficiaries.

You may have constipation, or tennis elbow, or whatever, while also on Motability, and that would be listed among your conditions on the paperwork. But nothing like that could be grounds for the award. The cost of leasing your vehicle is deducted from your PIP, costing the State not one penny piece more than you would in any case have received. If you did put that towards a "premium" car, then you yourself would have to pay the difference. For a vehicle that you still would not own. Without Motability, far fewer physically disabled people would be able to work. Motability buys, and then owns, one in five new cars purchased in this country, which also translates into a lot of people's jobs. Some of those people are on PIP. Since PIP is an in-work benefit.