DLA decision unsuccesful not sure what to do now

Lady_K

I've just finished a 7 page letter to send for the reconsideration. I'm going to try sorting that email thing out tomorrow as still not sure if its right. I want to be sure its going to get there before sending personal stuff like that so I'm going to phone first and ask if they can aknowledge reciept of the file and that it definitely gets printed and goes into my papers.

I don't know if I have put enough evidence or if its what they want but I have just said that I believe my form was not properly read as the reasons for failing it did not match with the answers and information I put on my form then went into detail on each and added extra for parts of my claim that that they totally ignored and did not even consider then just rounded up with a letter.

If that fails the reconsideration will they let me know and how much time will I have to choose which kind of appeal I want and how much time will it be for paper one compared to tribuneral one?

Why do they seem to put on so many peoples decision letters that they can walk over 50 metres and they are not at risk of falling when things are stated in the form? If they said something like can you provide more evidence for these things its different but they state the oposite to what you have said, they must have some strange rules there, it happens so much they must be told to do this

Lou76

Blakespops wrote: »

Keep your chin up, seems they test your tinasity my medical evidance says the opposite of what dla say so am hopefull of winning at appeal tribunal. just do not know how they sleep at night when they act in this way

The first claim I put in (2003) was turned down. If it wasn't for my Mum I would've given up at that point, I was in such a deep depression with my illness and subsequent financial worries (being refused my mortgage insurance for one) that I didn't have any fight in me.

Mum insisted I appeal, she could obviously see I was genuine (she's not blinkered though, if I'd been acting it she'd have told me to buck up my ideas and get back to work:rotfl:) and was livid I was turned down as she obviously knew the financial struggle I was having & mental hardship this was causing, of course, not to mention the physical upheaval [the reason I was applying in the first place] of my illness to begin with.

I appealed and got, what I thought was, a lovely sweet old doddery Dr call at my flat for an assessment. He asked me to get up off the sofa to show him how well I could walk; I managed about three paces and passed out. Seemingly my Mum was in a panic but she said she was in a better state than the Dr.

Anyway; the appeal was refused. The information from the Drs report was like reading someone else's review, it was nothing like we told him or what he'd obviously witnessed for himself. That's when we, well my Mum, decided to get in touch with her local Information Centre with regards to going to a tribunal. At the time I could have saw it all far enough. :mad:

I won my case and as a result was awarded DLA for another year with a years backdated payments (to allow for the 2 year award I was actually given).

That, as I said earlier was my first claim in 2003 (awarded 2004). I then had a claim in 2005; again I was awarded DLA for another 2 years, applied again in 2007 and was yet again given another 2 years - all without appeals/tribunals etc. But if I'd had to fight them I would, you better believe I would.

Today I received my letter stating that I've been awarded it again until 2014. It's a total relief, I would say "you can't believe how relieved I am" but I'm sure everyone on here does believe/understand it.

OP, I hope that doesn't sound as though I'm gloating? As much as I could have ran naked through the streets of Glasgow today when I received the letter :eek: I wouldn't come onto a thread, such as this, to gloat.

I'm just hoping to back-up what Blakespops says about keeping your chin up, and hopefully give Blakes a bit of hope too.

Good luck to you both, and anyone else on here who's going through the same. No matter how much you want to, don't give up the fight, you're the only one who'll lose.

As Norman Stanley Fletcher said: "Don't let the b@stards grind you down!".



ETA: When I first applied for DLA I was applying purely for ME. Even now, 6 years on, a lot of Doctors don't recognise it as a real illness or some, at least, see it as non-detectable disability - in other words, ME in itself doesn't show up in a blood test.

I know what I'm going through is real, but try telling "them" that. :mad:

As I said, never give up the fight...

Lou x

Lady_K

Lou76

I think thats great Lou and so glad to hear you don't have to go through the stress of appeals and the like.

And I don't blame you if I wasn't likely to get arrested for being a public eyesore I'd go naked through the streets too if I got an award till 2014 thats of course as long as its with supervision, less than 50 metres and I can use my walking aid

Lou76

Lady_K wrote: »

Lou76

I think thats great Lou and so glad to hear you don't have to go through the stress of appeals and the like.

And I don't blame you if I wasn't likely to get arrested for being a public eyesore I'd go naked through the streets too if I got an award till 2014 thats of course as long as its with supervision, less than 50 metres and I can use my walking aid

Even Glasgow has public decency orders, hence I stayed at home and phoned my Mum instead.

I honestly wasn't gloating, it did seem a wee bit crass to go on about it in your thread but I felt it had to be added to get the full story (i.e a wee glimmer of hope for when you fell like telling them "do you know what, !!!! it...") - some of which has since been edited and added to.

Honestly though, if you can, get help in filling the form out otherwise you'll only tell them what you can do and not what they need to hear - i.e. what you cant.

That's how I knew you were genuine, I read your posts and you apologised for what you couldn't do, and about how you broke down on the phone thinking they'd think you were 'acting it'.

Sadly that's the problem, left to our own devices we play down our faults, or in this case, disabilities. That's a great trait to have in life, and one I stand firmly behind, but as I've learnt [to my cost] it doesn't get you what you're entitled to as far as DLA goes.

Good luck. xx

Blakespops

:beer: Far from gloating you are showing that you can win the fight for what you deserve and should be awarded in the first instance. We have hope and trust in the appeal process based on how we can show the decision is flawed so until the day we face the three man pannel we believe that the money is just being held in trust. we also hope stories like yours will inspire some of the other people on here to not allow the DLA to grind them down and give them drive to fight for their rights.

good on you lou:T

Lou76 wrote: »

Even Glasgow has public decency orders, hence I stayed at home and phoned my Mum instead.

I honestly wasn't gloating, it did seem a wee bit crass to go on about it in your thread but I felt it had to be added to get the full story (i.e a wee glimmer of hope for when you fell like telling them "do you know what, !!!! it...") - some of which has since been edited and added to.

Honestly though, if you can, get help in filling the form out otherwise you'll only tell them what you can do and not what they need to hear - i.e. what you cant.

That's how I knew you were genuine, I read your posts and you apologised for what you couldn't do, and about how you broke down on the phone thinking they'd think you were 'acting it'.

Sadly that's the problem, left to our own devices we play down our faults, or in this case, disabilities. That's a great trait to have in life, and one I stand firmly behind, but as I've learnt [to my cost] it doesn't get you what you're entitled to as far as DLA goes.

Good luck. xx

space_rider

Just read your story and hope you get the award you deserve. It seems to me that by making these forms so difficult it ends up in people either not claiming or being unable to fill it out in such a way that it enables you to get the right award.

The first time I saw such a form was 8 years ago when my daughter was 4 months old. I looked at the form and thought I can`t be done with this on top of dealing with an ill baby who would stop breathing at a drop of a hat. I did fill in the form but it did take me almost a month as it was so mentally draining putting down on paper her care needs.

kazzah

Lady K
if you can't get someone from CAB to help you and you are suffering from depression ahve you contacted MIND?
they might be able to help you.



http://www.mind.org.uk/About+Mind/Whatwedo.htm

jaxw17

Lou I thought that that was a really good insperational post.

Jax

Lady_K

I think so too lou its really nice to hear from someone like you that things can get put right in the end. It helps us to carry on the battle with a bit more hope and strength to carry on as its so easy to just give in. I have throught this so many times the last few weeks just thinking is it really worth it.

We hear so much from people struggling with appeals that it is so nice to hear from someone who has come out the other end with such success Thankyou for giving me and many others the inspiration we need Lou

Lady_K

Jamla wrote: »

Ib50 mine took 10 weeks , they told me they are well behind and up to 6 months !

Jamla,

Whislt we are waiting for an ib50 review do they stop the money? and if so do they back date it if it is successful? I've heard nothing I'm absolutely so worried about it