ABSTRACT
Patients with contested illnesses are often on the receiving end of accusations that they are malingering, that they are lazy, that they are unwilling to work and taking the state for a ride. Likewise, patients often struggle to access adequate welfare provisions, even in cases of severe impairment. This chapter looks at the problems and pressures patients face in relation to working and claiming welfare, and adds to the argument made earlier in the book that the constant struggle to define yourself and your condition against negative definitions goes a long way to explaining the nature of identity-building and personal beliefs about disease present in contested illness patients.
