DLA form support?

Jenna

I have posted the below on the Disability boards too ... I hope you guys don't think it's cheeky but this is where I normally "live" on MSE but I just thought I'd put it on the Disability one as it's more specialised but here is where I feel most comfortable soo...

Hope that makes some sort of sense sorry! xx

~~~

Hey,

I have M.E. as some of you already know.

I am in the process of filling in my forms to re-apply for DLA (my current award runs out very soon). I am cutting the deadline fine (in fact I may already have left it too late to avoid a gap in payments) because I have been too sick to face the forms most days.

I am going to have another look at the forms right now but I wondered if anyone is about to "hold my hand" as it was?

I know it's pathetic but I find them really upsetting and I don't know if I feel comfortable asking a friend for help because I don't normally talk a lot about how my M.E. affects me so I would just get embarassed telling them about it ... a good friend has offered to help me with them and help me write it down but I don't know!

xx

Horace

Jenna - don't be afraid toi ask your friend to help you fill in the forms. The powers that be need to know how your disability affects your day to day living and they are not going to know that unless you tell them - they dont have crystal balls so if you put as much detail as possible and look at days when you are at your worst then they could end up paying you more than they do now. I know its often embarrassing to talk about how our disabilities affect us but there are times when needs must.

Good luck with your re-application and please let your good friend help you.

Jenna

Thanks Horace for your kind words I suppose they aren't psychic no! I will try and let her help. I suppose just because some stuff is embarassing (I don't mind talking about it online as it's anonymous!) e.g. if I have a bath my OH has to help me out otherwise I might fall over because my muscles are so tired and weak from washing.

And I'm 22 (not 82 which is how I feel!) - mad eh. I dunno I know it's silly I just don't want people to see me in a different light.

xx

Merlinexcalibur

Hi, another piece of advice may be the Your Able website which is full of stuff like MSE is plus support when you need it. And the other ... if you are able to, a Welfare Rights officer may be able to complete this form for you.

Don't worry, I know exactly what these forms are like. From working in the DWP once but also other sources. The trick is, to get someone who really knows how to fill them in for you. Hence my suggestion about Your Able who may be able to help you how to word it. Because it's all in the wording as there is a 'way' to word them so you get more points. Hope that made sense.

I know it's pathetic but I find them really upsetting and I don't know

Why is it pathetic you have illness. And I would hope no one else would think that of you. It's one thing to accuse someone of that but not everyone has a normal life like others do. I am sure you see where I come from?

Also, I suffer with an illness pretty similar to yours but it's not ME so I fully appreciate how you feel but I will not let anyone put me down. Nor anyone else. Hope that also made sense.

Jenna

Hey Merlin,

Thanks ... I will check out that website ... I've never heard of a Welfare Rights officer? The forms are horrible just so long and they never say what they really mean either! I feel like they are trick questions in some way and oh I don't know I am not convinced they will believe me about any of it anyway - the medical community doesn't like people with M.E. I don't think and half of them don't believe in it (what a joke that is) - probably because they haven't found any pills to treat it yet! But yeah I just don't like having to justify myself so formally to them. I feel like I'm on trial!

Hmm. That was probably rantier than I meant to be - I think it's getting to me more than I thought! I will shut up now lol *skulks away*

Merlinexcalibur

Jenna, rant away. Seriously, I could scream down some canyons the way I've been attrociously mucked about with health matters, whilst dealing with debt so I would always understand where you were coming from. Nothing wrong with a good, constructive rant and because we don't get the level of service, get shoved from one place to the next. It inevitably drives you up the wall but also increases your anxiety levels, thus impacting on your health. I could scream this last month for example in that direciton but won't.

And I know about ME, how underepresented it is, the bad press it unfortunately gets and the misdiagnosis, it's really dreadful so we've every right to rant ... I haven't been properly diagnosed because I get the same as you do. Four years later I am still trying to get to the bottom of things. Loads of us do.

(((Jenna)))

Jenna

You may regret that invitation with the amount I talk LOL :rolleyes:

It's just so much bureaucracy isn't it?! And if you don't tick the right box then "computer says NO!" and you have to have an appeal and a doctor come out to see you and oh just argh! Don't they REALISE I would really much rather just have a normal life without all this well, err, I don't think I'm allowed to swear so err, yes, without all this mess?!!

A lot of the debt is health related anyway as I had to leave my previous job due to stress (aka basically constructive dismissal but I never bothered to follow that up) - 5 weeks on SSP will destroy anyone's budget and it did mine - so it all went on the CC.

What they don't know of course, is that if they reject me I won't be able to see my psych, and if I can't do that I will get very very stressed and upset (not intentionally you understand but I have had some traumatic events in my life - not health related but not going to go into it on a public forum - and if I am not actively dealing with them then they really seriously mess with my head) and that could get bad enough for me to get ill (really ill I mean) ... because all of that strong emotional stuff and stress and panicking works my adrenal glands like nothing else ... and then I will not be able to do my job. And then I will only end up on IB with bigger debts and/or living on my Mum's living room couch eating baked beans or some such thing! So really I am doing them a favour as at least at the moment I am working and contributing tax and NI to the economy! (and besides, I don't like baked beans )

Yes ... I've taken to not calling it M.E. when I tell people what I have ... now I am saying Myalgic Encephalopathy because it sounds scary and then people don't shout at me!

Argh it's just SUCH a mess. I am really royally hacked off today - lying on the couch all achey but can't stop, must get this done or will have serious money problems v. soon...

*takes a deep breath* ... see I told you you might regret the offer :rotfl:!!

Merlinexcalibur

Ah, that it - just teasing. Regret, nope. I like listening to people's troubles/problems. You could call it a 'vocation'.

It's all cause and effect when said and done. Like those Newtonian Ball things on people's desks. One think knocks into another, without stopping, back and forth. Until someone holds one ball, ceases the motion. Ceases the kinetic energy.

and if I am not actively dealing with them then they really seriously mess with my head)

Yep, know that precisely. I do it often. I post to get them out of my head but also work through them 'visibally'. Where it makes more sense.

Between you and me - used to work for NHS; YES I've had quite an eclectic life's work which is why I am knowledgeable on certain issues because it was my job to know them; you would not believe what goes on, the patient never gets to see so little wonder it's like it is now? - I've had the same 'Newtonian Ball' thing these last 6 months. Nothing is more frustrating than when you go to the people who are supposed to help you, and they make you increasingly worse. Meant to go to them to get better not worse.

Anyway, loved the couch. I'm sure you know where I come from.

Oh, I also do the odd ocassional writing here and there ... you wouldn't believe how frustrating writer's block can be. Particularly when your brain disconnects from your fingertips at the keyboard. It's when you start thinking about what you are typing when it happens. lol