Mum to show art by son who starved after benefits slashed

[AGXStarseed]

(Not written by me)

Pride: Jill Gant with some of her son Mark Wood’s artwork

NEWLY discovered artwork by a man who starved to death after his benefits were wrongly cut is to go on public display from tomorrow.

The works by Mark Wood were uncovered by his mother as she went through the task of clearing his house.

As she went through his belongings, Jill Gant discovered her son’s full collection of paintings, cartoons, writings and musical compositions.

She is now putting some of the work on show at Oxford Town Hall, St Aldate’s, in an exhibition entitled The Spirit of Nature, which opens tomorrow.

Mrs Gant, 76, said she wanted to achieve her son’s goal of raising awareness of global threats to the natural environment.

She said: “His driving force was nature: he loved animals, wildlife, the landscape, and had a brilliant imagination.”

Mr Wood, who had Aspergers syndrome and cognitive behavioural problems, starved to death in August 2013 after his benefits were cut to just £40 a week.

Despite his debilitating social anxiety, a Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) contractor assessed that the 44-year-old from Bampton was fit to work.

The DWP has since admitted it was wrong.

Mrs Gant, who lost her husband the same year as her son, said Mr Wood’s sensitivity to the plight of the natural world made him like a “canary in the mine”.

He moved out of London in 2002, she said, because he could no longer stand the pollution there.

The one animal he could not abide, Mrs Gant said, was other people.

“Although he was very intellectually able, he wasn’t able to manage his own life.

“The main problem was he had extreme social embarrassment. It was almost as if he had a skin missing, he was always aware of other people looking at him.”

Unable to function in the outside world, Mr Wood created his own, painting landscapes from other worlds, and writing fantasy stories about humanity finding other planets to live on when the Earth’s natural resources run out.

Mrs Gant said her son had inadvertently sabotaged his last benefits assessment meeting, by downplaying just how bad his condition was. He was left with just £40 a week to live on, and a crushing fear of the outside world.

When he died from malnutrition, he weighed just over five stone.

Mrs Gant and Mr Wood’s sister Cathie have since campaigned to make the benefits system fairer for those with mental health problems.

Mrs Gant added: “His artwork is continuing to make an impact for good in the world.”

The free exhibition will be open from 10am to 4.30pm from tomorrow to Saturday, July 18.

Postcards and some artwork are available for sale from the gallery shop and from ecoartistmarkwood.org.uk, with proceeds going to mental health charity Mind.


SOURCE: Mum to show art by son who starved after benefits slashed (From The Oxford Times)

 

[AsheSkyler]

If they wanted to cut his benefits so bad, they would've been better off setting him up a meeting with a publisher or a good marketer so that he could have his own income to make up the difference. He obviously had the skill and drive to create his own materials that could have earned him a bit.

 

[Spiller]

The benefits system in the UK suffers from that familiar, uncaring senario of one department not talking to another, plus the overriding government directive of getting everyone possible back to work - whether they can actually work or not!
There is, ostensibly, an allowance in the system such that a person claiming incapacity/disability may work 16 hours per week and/or earn £100 on top of their benefits, but doing so brings them under the scrutiny of the DWP, who may then decide that, if you can work a few hours, you can do a full weeks work.
I've met a number of people too scared to lose what support they have to even try to work or volunteer - I'm about to place myself in this situation soon.. and I've previously been in the position of having minimal benefits, with a child and feeding him while starving myself - I basically feel I'm in a very precarious position while on benefits!

 

[Lealea]

Such a sad story.
And I totally agree with you spiller about the benefits system, unfortunately a lot of people do abuse the benefits system so I think maybe a better way of it working would be to offer more help to people (where applicable) or at least point them in the right direction so they can try and better their lives and then possibly they might be fit to work in the future. Personally I have never claimed benefits for my aspergers and I would love to have a job. At this moment in time though I don't think I can mentally cope and so I am getting therapy to try and help socially and when someone asks me what I do it is embarrassing when I have never worked a day in my life.

To be honest the whole way that money and the government works in this day and age is beyond me. When someone is working a full time job at 40+ hours a week and still needs to claim benefits such as working tax credits surly proves they are not financially better off. But I won't get into that to much.

This guys mum is doing a lovely thing and if if wasn't for the mental health charity M.I.N.D that she is giving the proceeds to I might not have managed to get my diagnosis.

 

[Ste11aeres]

The benefits system in the UK suffers from that familiar, uncaring senario of one department not talking to another, plus the overriding government directive of getting everyone possible back to work - whether they can actually work or not!
There is, ostensibly, an allowance in the system such that a person claiming incapacity/disability may work 16 hours per week and/or earn £100 on top of their benefits, but doing so brings them under the scrutiny of the DWP, who may then decide that, if you can work a few hours, you can do a full weeks work.
I've met a number of people too scared to lose what support they have to even try to work or volunteer - I'm about to place myself in this situation soon.. and I've previously been in the position of having minimal benefits, with a child and feeding him while starving myself - I basically feel I'm in a very precarious position while on benefits!

The weird thing is, the UK and Europe in general is held up by some in the United States as some sort of model of a place that takes care of those citizens who are struggling, they say "look how much more caring they are towards their citizens than we are here". But is that really the case? The situation varies from state to state in the USA, but here in California, they make it pretty easy to survive as a poor person, including as a poor person who is working. Become rich? No. Survive? Certainly. I should know, because I am one of those working low-income persons.

Mrs Gant said her son had inadvertently sabotaged his last benefits assessment meeting, by downplaying just how bad his condition was. He was left with just £40 a week to live on, and a crushing fear of the outside world.

Another article explained that he didn't even tell his family about not having money. The problem is that the people who most need advocacy are often the ones worst suited to be their own self-advocates. Those who most need to explain how much they interiorly struggle are the ones whose interiors don't allow them to make such an explanation.

 

[Judge]

The weird thing is, the UK and Europe in general is held up by some in the United States as some sort of model of a place that takes care of those citizens who are struggling, they say "look how much more caring they are towards their citizens than we are here". But is that really the case? The situation varies from state to state in the USA, but here in California, they make it pretty easy to survive as a poor person, including as a poor person who is working. Become rich? No. Survive? Certainly. I should know, because I am one of those working low-income persons.

That's because such views are often seen with a nebulous ideological perspective rather than to consider economic or demographic differences. California has about half the population of Great Britain, yet around 80% of its gross domestic product. And California's tax revenue is trending upward, not downward. California is in moderate/fragile economic recovery.

Sophisticated social welfare systems are only as good as their respective government's fiscal ability and political will to actually fund them. If the revenue isn't there, even the most impassioned ideological perspective of a democratic majority won't matter.

 

[ChrisC1983]

the US has a severe lack of.. well.. everything.. in the welfare system as well. my father has been on disability for over 15 years, i'm on it (hate it) and my fathers recent girlfriend worked her way up to an administrative capacity (basically she makes sure everybody else does their job correctly... within the terrible almost useless rules established)
to not make this too long..... each branch also has a total lack of communication. once a year my father will get a letter where he fills out a basic form (standard info, name/address/ect) and needs a copy of what he gets per month from disability, and foodstamps... they're 2 separate buildings that have no way to access eachother computers, yet i can throw a rock from 1 building and hit the other
about 13yrs ago (he just got section 8 a few years ago.. so yes, it took that long) he was in this type of housing lottery program (forgot what it was called). basically, they taught you how to manage money and everything so you could get a house.. then you were offered a home (1 specific one that the program had acquired) and at the end of the program they literally pulled your name out of a paper in a hat with everybody elses names. my father was drawn 2nd.. the 1st person had missed many classes and was not even there for the drawing..... everybody who was there was probably madder than my father was about the whole thing because he had went to all of them and was there for the drawing. we later came to see the house full with about 5 more people than the family had said existed, and atleast 4 cars (we couldn't afford 1.. still can't really).

to a lesser extent.. neither my father nor myself have foodstamps anymore because they kept bumping them down (around 100 per person.. for 1 month) to almost 10 bucks per month before shutting them off all together for not filling out some paperwork or something (who knows.. neither of us never got anything. we called multiple times and only got voicemails.. which eventually were full. i think they just let them fill and delete them all at the end of the week) and when i went into the place (mind you i had just got a car at this point, about 2 months previous.. never had a car before.. so i ended up getting a $300 parking ticket for a sign that apparently only exists in that specific part of the city and is in the middle of the length of the sidewalk even though it's meant to relate to that spot all the way to the corner following it. which everywhere else the sign just means that particular spot...... and $300 is about half my monthly income, so it took a long time to make up the money) i took the paper with me that had the case workers name on it. they said that case worker wasn't here anymore (about a 2 week old paper at that point) so they said they would find the current caseworker. i waited.. waited.. waited... nothing. asked again, same BS. this went on for about 2 hours before i gave up and left (to find the ticket)

it also took a lawyer just to get me on disability (my father is bipolar, was admitted to a hospital for quite a while.. so his was easier) because they don't like to give a label to a problem and don't want to put a little effort into helping somebody to keep them out of the system (i had tried for years to get a job.. i did get one, then got hurt and had 3yrs of surgery to "fix" it and by then i was in such a huge depression i would have jumped off the roof if i had a way to get on it). now, they still won't give me a proper label (they described the problems i had and what "should" have been done when i was younger.. which all was what they're supposed to do for autism. be it aspergers or high functioning) because at this age they would (if i wanted) need to pay for a college education and give me my own section 8 so i could live alone (which would help SO much) but clearly that would be more money. so instead i sit here being a waste of life knowing i have a lot of potential but no way to tap into any of it or prove to anybody that it's there since jobs only go by your education level and not your potential. so my only current hope is trying to stick out this terrible "job" (i dont get paid and i'm expected to work every day from when i wake up to when i go to bed) with my family (aunt "owns" the business... does nothing, pays nothing, but it's in her name) until i can effectively steal enough money to do my own thing. at which point i think i'll just focus on becoming an expert in a few select categories to ease stress on myself and give myself a better routine while still making enough money to get the hell off of disability and hope they don't try to take so much of that new income i'm making that i'm forced to stay on disability since i would be getting the same (or less) per month




sorry, that turned into a terrible rant. i hate the whole system...... i know how things "should" be, and how they are.. and the two are not even close. i wish i had the money to setup some type of apartment building setup where it was just for ASD people (or some who would be OK around them) where they could focus on what they truly want to do in life while helping eachother. they would be free to paint the walls or change the lights or such as they want to be more comfortable, each apartment would be soundproofed to help with distractions and sofourth (there's obviously a long list of possible sensory problems and ways to help them. although i still have no focus (and fear i may never have it) i ultimately just want people to live to their potential. like this story....... her son could have been a fantastic artist (what i see looks good to me) or influential composer or who knows what...... instead, he was some guy stuck in an apartment ignored by everybody and left to die. clearly neighbors didn't see him often or really even know he was in a bad situation (assuming they cared at all) because he would not have starved to death. people might not pay your light bill... but they'll give you enough food to not die. i happily would have helped him sell (if he wanted) his works so he could buy food, or even just traded him food for a piece of art every now and then. i think this one really hit home for me because it's one of if not my biggest fear for my own life. at this moment, if my father didn't drill the whole "man up" thing into me, i promise i would be crying right now. i remember the feeling i had when i cried as a kid.. i just dont cry anymore. and on the extremely rare times that i do cry now.. i'm a mess. it doesn't matter why i'm crying... the outcome is comparable to somebody losing everybody they love in 1 car crash at the same time on christmas eve

 

[epath13]

Yes it is a sad story. But... Didn't his family know what was happening? Starvation doesn't happen over night, didn't they visit him, check up on him? There's no information about it. I understand if he didn't have any family and died, but he did. I'm not blaming anyone, just wondering.

 

[Spiller]

The weird thing is, the UK and Europe in general is held up by some in the United States as some sort of model of a place that takes care of those citizens who are struggling, they say "look how much more caring they are towards their citizens than we are here". But is that really the case? The situation varies from state to state in the USA, but here in California, they make it pretty easy to survive as a poor person, including as a poor person who is working. Become rich? No. Survive? Certainly. I should know, because I am one of those working low-income persons.

What governments report and what actually happens are, quite possibly, rarely the same - the UK Gov. doesn't advertise the fact that a number of people have died of starvation while on, or waiting for, benefits and that charities have had to set up food banks to help these people while they're waiting for the system they've paid into to help them, any more than it decries the lack of help obtainable from the NHS for a variety of conditions, including autism and mental health.
My GP told me, as an example, that a new department was established dedicated to joint and back problems - after she'd referred several patients, the first came back after a year, asking when they might hear about an appointment. The GP phoned the department and was told that it currently consists only of a department name and someone to answer the phone!
When waiting lists become unacceptably long, the solution here is to create another list to transfer people to, thus creating the illusion that waiting times have been addressed and are seen to be dealt with.

Info: I read that only 1.5% of those on benefits are fraudulent claimants - so a lot of money and propaganda is being directed at an apparent problem that isn't, really, even significant.. smells of 'scapegoat' to me!

 

[Spiller]

Yes it is a sad story. But... Didn't his family know what was happening? Starvation doesn't happen over night, didn't they visit him, check up on him? There's no information about it. I understand if he didn't have any family and died, but he did. I'm not blaming anyone, just wondering.

I don't know if this makes sense, but it's my thinking. I spent a year living on rations - a half-cup of pasta, half of veg, 3-4 meals per week. I was severely depressed and not really able to cope by myself.. I didn't ask my family for help either, though I could have, it just seems to me that I should be able to order my own life and handle whatever comes along; when I was homeless, penniless, starving, I coped.. maybe that was the only control I felt I had over my life and I didn't want to relinquish that.. it might sound mad, but I don't feel mad..

 

[epath13]

I don't know if this makes sense, but it's my thinking. I spent a year living on rations - a half-cup of pasta, half of veg, 3-4 meals per week. I was severely depressed and not really able to cope by myself.. I didn't ask my family for help either, though I could have, it just seems to me that I should be able to order my own life and handle whatever comes along; when I was homeless, penniless, starving, I coped.. maybe that was the only control I felt I had over my life and I didn't want to relinquish that.. it might sound mad, but I don't feel mad..

No, it doesn't sound mad. I think I can understand when you say about having sense of control when coping and managing issues on your own.
But I still wonder, if a mother believes her son finds it difficult to cope with life, why she or other relatives didn't step up? How many times did the mother or other relatives visit him? We obviously don't know the situation, we don't know what kind of relationships they had. But I'm a bit surprised seeing a parent talking with so much admiration about her son's creative works and providing very little information about his death. I do understand, I met people like that (if she indeed was one of them). They prefer to withdraw and hold others responsible (people, government, organizations) because fighting for somebody's well-being or even life would be too overwhelming... It's not bad or good, its just the way they are.
I'm asking those questions, because those were the 1st questions that popped into my mind when I saw the article...

 

[grommet]

This is a horror but it shows how vulnerable we are. When I tell people I can't take care of myself, I wonder if any of them understand that I am being literal. We on the spectrum are usually quite bright and I wonder if people mistake that for capable. I think his mother is very strong. I think aspies need help from other aspies because who else will understand?

I am sorry he was hungry. I wish I could have helped but I could not. I wonder how he felt when he was alone and not eating enough. I wonder if he was okay though he probably felt ill. If he love his painting maybe he focused enough on that that he didn't feel much of the hunger pains. I cannot know but I hope at least that is true. Rest in peace.

 

[ChrisC1983]

i can say this... when i was younger i would become extremely focused on things (back when i had interests) and i usually kept a gallon of something to drink in my room. but as far as food.. i occasionally would forget to eat for the whole day, or may have a couple cookies or pieces of candy. and i generally wouldn't really notice i was hungry until i woke up the next morning.. or if i jumped right back into whatever i was focused on by then my family would ask if i was hungry and i would just agree to have whatever they were offering me because i remembered it's been a while since i ate (i still forget about eating.. but i won't remember if i ate or not, so i don't even notice that i'm full until i'm eating either) so it is atleast a real possibility