Scope Omdömen 

The recent marked down reviews are by a member or members of the forum that actually behaved badly, told lies, dissed advice & caused a lot of hurt. Now they're finger pointing & carrying on here & this is not a forum. To those, I'll also add, it is not just your MH that counts!

Scope Forum is a much needed resource for all disabled, giving support & plenty of advice across the board, that comes from fellow disabled people with all types of disabilities & health problems.

You would be forgiven for thinking Scope online forum's
disagreements have just transferred to the Reviews here.

Looking back on previous reviews the same issues are a continuous problem. With the same clique of members who consider themselves the elite acting as the Community Police.

While it may be tempting to define honesty as speaking the truth and abiding by the rules, this is an over - simplistic view of a complex concept.
Telling the truth- the whole truth-is theoretically impossible as morally not required or even wrong.
When you ask a person what they did that day do you want details of their whole day or just the relative parts? Who decides what the relative parts are?
What is the truth about a person anyway.

I have seen over a couple of years at least three members of Scope who have cancelled their membership of Scope and then decided they were still interested in helping other members return with the same user name as before who have been immediately attacked for daring to return.
Therefore they might decide to return with a new user name which is allowed under the Scope rules unfortunately they are still attacked.
Yet it is only this small clique of members who are even interested or bothered by this.
Power is a powerful tool and in the wrong hands can be a disaster.

You might ask where is Admin when all this is going on and you would be right to.
To use a phrase I have recently heard there is a two-tier system within Admin where if you are one of the elite you can do what you like and other members who get no support from them.

I am sorry to say no Company deserves a 5 star as most try hard and listen to reviews and try to correct. Scope is not one of them.

Perhaps be sure of your facts before assuming all the poor reviews have been written by the same person. They have not.

There are a lot of people who have been upset by their treatment on the Scope forum which is why they have written the reviews they have.
They are also real people with real feelings.

There seems to be a lot of nasty comments here from past and present members that have issues in being honest. The same members that caused issues in the past.
I've been a member of scope for 7 years and usually concentrate on just the benefits questions, rather than the coffee lounge or games room and everyday chitchat.

I've made some wonderful friends in the time that I've been there and really do value their friendships greatly. I've even had the privilege of meeting one member several times and now she's a very dear friend.

There's also another member that I've become really good friends with and I appreciate her friendship too. I won't mention any names here but I'm sure they know who I'm talking about.

I've had contact too from other members with support when there's been issues and I really do appreciate all their support.

Is it too much to ask for people to just be honest about who they really are? It seems like it is.

I've always found admin to be very fair and understanding. I've had contact from Adrian quite a lot in the past and always found him very helpful. Albus has also been very kind too. I've even know Adrian to step in out of hours when there's been issues. In other forums I've been on you have to wait until either the following day or a Monday if problems occur on the weekend.

You will always have members that come and go on any forum, with some posting once and never to return. Scope is no different in this case.

Excellent forum. Has always been helpful and given good advice.

It is not for everyone however, it is a forum after all filled with normal people, they aren't benefit advisors etc. So if you can't find what you need best to get proper advice from places like citizens advice.

For people that require general information and support it is an excellent forum with a lot of nice, genuine people.

They helped me

The scope forum isn't a place that has any regard for the disabled. No attempt is made to listen/respond appropriately, no matter how honest, no matter how unwell. Benefits changes are removing, in my case, two thirds of monthly income. The response was that I'm a fraud that's been withholding information from the dwp and will have 1000s taken and be fined, and that I refuse to deal with truth ... these jumped up bullies wish they had my level of honesty and courage, and to imply anything other crossed a line, thus this feedback. Despite explaining severe dissociation, thus I stay away from as much dwp stuff as possible, and also stating I'd been entirely open when contacted by both the ESA and HB in recent months, including sending bank statements, the abuse continued.

The weak response when reporting the abuse just co-enables more abuse, so it's also no surprise to see minions posting fake positive reviews that include naming and abusing people who no doubt didn't do anything wrong, but just didn't go along with the toxic status quo there. This is another forum that sees vulnerable people as targets to be kicked down further; the daily mail's forum offshoot it seems.

I recommend nobody goes there, as there will not be any help. And the main site has no action opportunities, only empty words, right in the middle of some of the worst benefit changes of recent years. A small toxic echo chamber that needs to be seen for what it is.

I have been using the Scope forum for about 3 years now and have found it a great place to turn to for support at my loneliest times. I am unable to work due to my physical disability and poor mental health so I have been using this forum as an escape, and until recently as a break from thinking about the potential of what could happen next month, BUT over the last few weeks I cannot escape!!!! There are a few people who seem to be feeding off each other’s constant love of moaning about the government and what the outcome will be on 30th October. All I can see is that they are winding each other regarding something we don’t know the outcome of just yet. It is clear to see other members are trying to diffuse the situation and reassure people not to think too far ahead, but the constant moaners are forgetting that the members who are trying to support them are in the same position as them, just as worried, just as scared about the outcome, it’s just that they have more sense than to feed in to your pathetic ‘poor me’ attitudes. Once the outcome of the budget has been given, if people are still troubled and affected, I think there will be a good chance to talk and support each other as the facts will have been stated. Genuine love and support will given, because all the people who have slagged the Scope forum off so badly will have f****d off because they despise it so much. Can’t wait!!!!

I’ve found people on Scope who I feel understand me and with whom there is mutual respect. Not all of these people experience the same, or even vaguely similar, health conditions as me

Lots of the people I’ve come across I’ve become friendly with and I have a handful who I’m proud and grateful to be able to say are true friends. One person in particular I’ve found I can relate to so much that it’s uncanny, but more importantly is just the nicest person I have ever known and knowing them has really changed my life for the better, probably more than they realise

I don’t believe that there is some kind of universal understanding in the community, but I don’t think it’s ever possible, anywhere in life, for everybody to understand everybody else. I’ve had comments, including from admin, who seem dismissive or even critical of me for having certain health issues. I do however understand their thought processes and, in the case of the admin, the need to adopt the stance that benefits the most people

All I can say is that via Scope I’ve met many people, more than anywhere else online or offline, who understand me, and I’m so grateful for that. There are members who seem to be genuinely concerned for others, rather than just saying the right things to benefit their own ends.

My conclusion is that if it were not for Scope, I'd be in a far far worse place than I'm in now. In truth this isn't due to the organisation or any of their activities or policies, just the other members, but ultimately without the charity I'd never have encountered those people!

I hope my review of 4 stars is not treated as being critical, but also as not unconditionally defending Scope. I just want to be realistic and see both sides, and hopefully my comments will come across as balanced and believable

I’ve been a member for over 4 years and had amazing support and met some great people with whom I’m so glad to call friends.
Past members have came on here to write appalling comments about admin and members so I felt I had to write this.
The admin have been great always there for support and advice when needed.
But when members don’t get to manipulate the community anymore the turn nasty against admin and other members.
The past few months some past members have caused a lot of upset and told so many lies even down to changing identities every now and then. They obviously have so much time on their hands to write nasty reviews and fake accusations.
I can honestly say I’ve had loads of good advice and also support.
Let’s hope the community can get to do what it does best without having to deal with negativity.

I've been a member of this online community for 5 years; I felt welcomed from the first day & find it a friendly, supportive community for everyone affected by disability.

I've stayed, because as a charity Scope is important to me, & it's been a pleasure getting to know other members, some of whom I'm fortunate to now call my friends.

The moderators have disabilities/health conditions themselves, which gives them that extra bit of understanding. They keep the community safe, & are all fair, kind, thoughtful, caring & supportive to members.

Members give advice from any knowledge they have; share their personal experiences to help others, & offer support to one another.

There are many categories to look at from cerebral palsy, benefits, housing, education, work, families & carers, to talking about your impairment, whether that be physical or mental, as well as the 'Coffee lounge' for a general chat.

Members can also make their own discussions, so there are plenty of options for all. Hope you come & join us.

After reading the recent reviews left by a small amount of disgruntled people on the Scope forums I wanted to include my own experience.

After joining the scope forums back in 2020 I have felt like part of the community the mods and members have worked hard to build, I have joined in with many of the ongoing topics and experienced nothing but support and kindness for everyone.

I love spending time reading the posts in the Coffee Lounge and making a few of my own, You will find lots of topics been discussed and something for everyone to join in with.
The Games Lounge is also a lot of fun and the Mods are regularly involved in the games, Albus especially likes to compete in Beat The Admins themed games although the members always win 🤭

Lately the forum has had a few issues with problematic members but the Mods are quick to act but this has caused them to turn to Trustpilot to leave negative reviews.

Don’t let this put you off joining the forum as lots of people are so friendly and you really will become part of the community quickly.

I just read a few terrible reviews of the Scope forum and wanted to put my opinion in.

I joined a while back because I was going through a few issues of my own. My reason for joining was just somewhere to go to have a chat, talk about issues I'm having, and be around real people. And I found that in the Scope forum. Everyone in there is nice, welcoming and understanding. The reviews I saw were pretty harsh about admin and other members. I've yet to see any nastiness or bullying going on. They were all very helpful. Then again, I'm not an attention seeker and don't think I can join a group and be top dog. I don't moan about my issues and I don't try to tell everyone else what to do. The games threads and the coffee threads are the places I like to post in. It helps take my mind off some of the problems I'm having. A fun forum for anyone who needs support or just to chill and join in with others going through the same thing. If you find it's not for you, you don't have to stay or announce your departure. And you don't need to go spit your nastiness all over the internet because people didn't bow down to you. Just quietly leave and get on with your life. Good luck!

Someone posted a really horrible and inaccurate review and shared it on the forum, after reading it I just had to write my own as Scope forum is the first place I ever felt comfortable and like I had people around that got me. Some of the comments about the forum seem so so so unfair and I have seen nothing of the sort, I've been a member for 2 years and although I don't always post I read every day. I found some of my best friends on the forum and also found my voice!!!

I love the forum staff, they're funny and patient and actually real people unlike other forums where you may as well be talking to bots!
Anywhere online has trouble makers and of course this forum is the same, but the admin are so caring and sort out problems quickly!!! Much love to you all and thank you ❤️❤️❤️❤️

The Scope forum
A veneer of inclusivity over a virtual rehab ward where flower-arranging and solemnly recording what one had for breakfast encouraged as better than any nasty disruptive thinking. Some people obviously very fragile; absolutely right they have a place where they feel safe, absolutely wrong that place pretends to represent the entire disabled community of 16 million.
“As a result, our membership increased overall from 577 in 2022 to 1,040 Members in 2023.”
Annual report | Disability charity Scope UK

That is the basic problem: a mental health forum that pretends it isn’t. Of course people do argue but the prevailing meme is that arguing is not quite nice and threads are closed if people breathe too heavily. Go to Scope to be ludicrously patronized; Nurse has bustled in and told the patients to settle. Bedtime! Fixed ideas of ‘all disabled people’ being anxious, depressed, needing help, probably suffering harassment - and in need of control. Appears run by the neurodivergent for the neurodivergent. Familiarity with various sets of initials from the MH world is assumed. A ‘this is your community’ line which in fact denies open discussion. Look, children, we’ve changed the colour scheme. Would you like more games? Rest assured proposed changes do not include making the forum a buzzing hub of opposition to attacks on the disabled. Questionnaires makes assumptions about the needs and wants of members which may not remotely be the case. Of course like every other forum on the Net the regulars like it just as it is and defend it. Other forums don’t claim to represent 16 million people
This is a fascinating about-turn from the experience of Deppi who posted below who said ND was not understood. She was entirely right about the tone of the place, the overlordship trip, defining people. ‘They think they are some kind of gods’ has not changed! Maybe a love of authority and control is a feature of some people’s conditions.

Many come. Few stay. They refuse to examine why. Lot of twitchiness, no repartee, flat. No taking up of ideas. The benefits helpdesk element is excellent but not separate and requests for advice swamp recent posts. No books or ideas. People love their pets and their gardens, which is great, but as a single physically disabled person I’m precluded from having both, so no engagement there.

Another theme is ‘we mustn’t be upset by clickbait’, the constant stream of lies about the disabled in the media which has in recent months been a flood. Indeed we should not and it has wantonly distressed many decent people, but why has nothing been done about it? Why has the regular publication of demonstrable lies not been made an issue of by Scope? Lot of wringing of hands. No action. No attempt to counter it. No campaigning to seize the moral high ground and change public opinion. No ideas for action. Not all are passive, but we’re certainly supposed to be.

I was searching around for a service to help me back into work after many years of unemployment. As I have a hidden disability, I eventually landed upon Scope's 'Support To Work' service, which promised a case worker and exclusive access to a jobs portal where I could search for work.

Well, where do I start... Firstly the jobs portal is one of the worst pieces of junk I've had the misfortune to use. In 3 weeks of being given access to this portal, the search engine found a whopping 3 jobs 'in my area', a distance of 20 miles from my address. One was for a housing company requiring social housing experience and 2 were for Scope shops.

When I told the case worker I was very disappointed with the jobs portal, I was told that it was an issue with the way that their website was maintained by the company who developed it. She told me the best thing to do was to make a list of the company names from the filter list of companies that advertise jobs on their portal, and look them up individually on Google to see if they have any jobs in my area. I thought what?! Then what is the point of the jobs portal? I did this for a handful of the companies and it was utterly useless, they had nothing. She also told me that she knew of more jobsearch websites to use and pointed me to a list. The list compromised of a handful of sites that returned next to no results.

She then recommended a scholarship in a Google Careers Certificate which would take 6 months to study one of a handful of certificates. The list she provided looked good initially until you realise that these courses are basic in nature and not very favourable with employers, who prefer to seek someone with experience over someone with one of these. I even studied and passed a google cert in the past and it's meant nothing to any employer I've shown.

So all in all, the service is no more than an idiot's guide to writing a CV, writing a covering letter and interview practise. But when it comes to resources to help find work, it's useless.

AVOID AT ALL COSTS this charity is A SCAM! A TOTAL SCAM! I'm sorry but it needs to be said from someone with insider knowledge.

It doesn't exactly help disabled people. It provides practical and emotional support and campaigns relentlessly for a fairer society (which they DON'T campaign relentlessly, they don't exactly wave flags of protest outside parliament. They just make silly little online campaigns to try and get people to spend more money).

It is DELIBERATELY unclear in it's "efforts". They say it HELPS disabled people so you'd expect it to HELP disabled people by providing SERVICES, not phoning up and getting some friendly advice over the phone and a number to jot down for somewhere else that can provide you with a service you actually need.

So where is the money going? STRAIGHT IN THEIR BACK POCKETS! And guess what! The shops are ridiculously OVERPRICED! I get it, they have high quality items but they are putting these things out there! I don't understand why or HOW they are getting items worth this much! Who in their right mind would give these things away? They are getting things worth HUNDREDS and even THOUSANDS and getting away with putting these things out there for around ⅓ of the original price for like £25, £50, £60, £80, £100, £150+. Nobody is going to go into a charity shop looking to spend that much money!

I mean just look at their online store: shop.scope.org.uk
£5 for a BOOKMARK! £5.99 for a Kaleidoscope GIFT PEN SET (contains 2 pens)! £2.49 for a CALENDAR (ITS JUNE!!!)! And the BAGS!!! Don't even get me started (in-store prices £1.29, online £21.50 for just ONE BAG). I get it, they are designed by disabled people and it's supposed to be a powerful message, but nobody is going to buy this for these prices!

And to volunteer for, well that is a huge joke! They rely solely on volunteers and without them they wouldn't exist. And they don't even treat their volunteers with respect, they treat them more like a "THEM" rather than an "US".

The paid staff are rude. They genuinely do not care. They are condescending, entitled and power-hungry freaks who get off on control. They mistreat their staff, lack respect for their customers and are only in it for the money and their own entitled sense of power!

As for the volunteers, they are LEFT by themselves to run the shop floor while the managers are out back. These volunteers are amongst the NICEST people, and they get all the stick for the prices of things and are at the forefront of most of the abuse by customers, when it's not even their fault.

AVOID this place, it's TOXIC and a SHAMBLES to society! If you think it can't be this bad, go and have a look for yourself! I'm not even joking! They don't understand little and often on the prices, and they don't care! ALL THEY CARE ABOUT IS MONEY AND HOW MUCH THEY CAN ROB THE PUBLIC!

I sent a form to advise them about a reasonable adjustment issue with my local Council. All I received was info about the Council complaint system which is on the Council website and no reference to the reasonable adjustment in spite of related information shown on their website. This is not what I expect from a so called disability charity.

Anybody can set up their own website containing various disability information and then respond in a similar manner when asked a disability related question.

So much for “emotional support”. I’ve yet to see them do anything beyond simply posting information on their website and responding with unhelpful information. I’d be impressed if they actually showed some knowledge of the Equality Act instead of Council complaints rules, which isn’t exactly a specific disability related subject.

I often visit Scope Wakefield and always manage to find some great pieces of clothing,got my husband a lovely jumper looks like new £6,today found a lovely shirt M & S again looks like new £5.25. Cant fault them and its the way to shop now for me and it helps the charity

Lovely friendly staff, I have been volunteering here since August but, now I volunteer during the half term period. I always get a smile 😁 from Scarlett and Bal and all the volunteers there! They all work so hard so credit to them all! I always get a few cheeky bargains for half the price! ❤️😁