DLA don't know where to start

sunnyone

jetta_wales wrote: »

The forms are horrible, I did them when I was 17 but have just done mobility again to have it looked at again and it wasn't fun. I'm lucky in that I don't have to renew mine ever but doing the mobility one again made me remember how difficult they are.

I wrote out all my answeres on paper befoe putting them on the form and I even used the computer to type out one bit for the 'any other information' part as I wanted to write a lot and that's difficult for me as my eyes get sore trying to focus (and failing somewhat).

This helped because I could re-read the questions and then re-read my answeres and make sure I'd stayed on point and covered all the things I needed to and used the relevant key wording.

Best of luck x

Isnt reading and writing hard when you are legally blind?

sunnyone

ariane5 wrote: »

Hi there,

I have been agora and sociophobic for 32 years and have been turned down once for DLA I am currently awaiting a Tribunal date as I feel thy did not take my phobia seriously as a disability, basically telling me that I do not need help getting out. *cough*

I would definitely advise you to try a claim. You have nothing to lose. I know the form is very, very stressful to complete - I could barely do it the second time I applied after putting my heart and soul into it the first time and being turned down and it took me 6 weeks to complete.

Tell as much as you can though - tell them about all the things you would like to do in life and how being able to pay a carer to accompany you would help you to do them. Or how having a car would help. These people either DO not, or REFUSE to, understand that phobias can restrict mobility just as much as physical conditions and they need as much information/education as we can give them.

Also, get someone who cares for you or knows you well to complete the page of support in the form - not a b*****d doctor - they have their own stupid useless form to fill in. I failed to do that and am having to do so now.

Get a GP to send a report and talk to the GP before they do so that their report corresponds to your form otherwise the DLA people will assume YOU are the liar, not the Good Doctor. My GP failed to mention 2 of my physical ailments and the DLA stated as FACTS, not what I told them, but what the Dr told them by mistake. That REALLY ****es me off. :mad:

I fear that they will never give us the higher mobility component though, as
they would be inundated with claims from all the agoraphobes the NHS has failed to treat. For that reason, your best bet is to go for the care component I feel. I think mobility is only ever given to people with very severe physical problems. I have cervical spondylitis, chondromalacia patellae, arthritis, severely painful lumbar back weakness which causes my disc to pop out quite often and I am in constant pain and on heavy duty painkillers and I was refused any mobility component. And, of course, the rules became even more restrictive in October 20008.

I am not holding out any hope of being successful though, so if I did get anything, it would be a pleasant surprise.

Good luck and please keep us informed as to how you're getting on.

The rules have not changed but you are correct that agraphobia will never get a high rate mobility award because it dosnt fit the criteria and even worse it can stop your claim dead because you dont need help to go out if you dont go out and so anything on your form about going out would be excluded from concideration, a tribunal panel member told me that.

There are many people who recieve DLA for agraphobia, depression and anxety, it is taken seriously but you only recieve an award if you can prove it and your doctors back you up, you should be constently gathering information to back you up even if its not currently needed, ask everyone involved in your care to write to your GP and copy it to you and you soon have a file of evidence, they cant deny proven reports from diffrent health carers collected as youve seen people as and when you are treated.

ariana, I would concentrate on your physical problems for the mobility componant, that could gain a high award where as agraphobia would only get lower rate.

Anyone who claims or may claim DLA in the future needs to make sure that they recieve copies of all corrispondence sent to there GPs, its free and very easy to do and cant be disputed because your health carers and GPs have the same letters.

jetta_wales

sunnyone wrote: »

Isnt reading and writing hard when you are legally blind?

It's such a shame when even other dissabled people can still happily jump to conclusions and judge.

There are very few people that are 100% blind and only see blackness, the degree's vary a great deal and for some different situations make a huge difference to their sight.

My condition is called Achromatopsia it's more simply known as day blindness (why am I even bothering to explain all this justifying myself to such a srcastic and judgmental comment?).

Do you know what, if you want to know then read my other posts or google it.

sunnyone

ariane5 wrote: »

Then that is absurd.That's like saying "she's scared to go out so why should she bother?" Mind you, maybe that's what the NHS thinks and why their treatment is so awful! It's also akin to telling people in wheelchairs not to bother asking for ramps when they can just stay indoors and wheel about! I sometimes can go out, with someone else. At the moment I depend on my elderly Mother and i don't think that's fair. That's what the extra money would be helpful for - a carer or support worker or taxi even. I knew I would never get high rate mobility for the phobias.

The way the DWP see things is that if you dont go out because of agraphobia, you wont get considered for help walking outside but if you do go out with help and you have the evidence to back it up you should be awarded low rate care but that can stop you getting high rate care because the criterias are so diffrent and some people cant see that many people have more than one condition and truthfully when you have both physical and mental health problems some health care proffesional just dont understand that they go hand in hand.



I did that in a previous application and they also turned me down. This time, I was so stressed and teed off when i filled in the form I barely mentioned them. I will definitely mention them at the Tribunal though which is literally making me physically ill thinking about it and I have no clue how long it will be before it comes up. I'll have died of dehydration by then the way I'm going.....

Didn't something come into force in October 2008 or something that made it harder to get sickness benefits?

yes ESA (the new incapacity benefit) but that has nothing to do with DLA.

It's definitely good advice to get as much support as you can. Thanks very much for your advice, sunnyone!

good luck on your appeal and please post when you have the results.

sunnyone

jetta_wales wrote: »

It's such a shame when even other dissabled people can still happily jump to conclusions and judge.

There are very few people that are 100% blind and only see blackness, the degree's vary a great deal and for some different situations make a huge difference to their sight.

My condition is called Achromatopsia it's more simply known as day blindness (why am I even bothering to explain all this justifying myself to such a srcastic and judgmental comment?).

Do you know what, if you want to know then read my other posts or google it.

I was reading your thread and clicked onto the next one and read it, I replied without thinking after reading you said about reading and writing, sorry but it was at odds with being totally blind and thats what i was thinking because thats who will get HRM in 2011 if and when the goverment bring it in and write up the criteria.

I have partially sighted friends but who are not blind, I am deaf with a small amount of hearing ability but not a Total, I also have a totally blind friend (no eyes) and a totally deaf nephew (no hearing equiptment) and thats what I equated to your posts.

jetta_wales

sunnyone wrote: »

I was reading your thread and clicked onto the next one and read it, I replied without thinking after reading you said about reading and writing, sorry but it was at odds with being totally blind and thats what i was thinking because thats who will get HRM in 2011 if and when the goverment bring it in and write up the criteria.

I have partially sighted friends but who are not blind, I am deaf with a small amount of hearing ability but not a Total, I also have a totally blind friend (no eyes) and a totally deaf nephew (no hearing equiptment) and thats what I equated to your posts.

That is not what legaly blind means.

You can be blind in one situation (which I am) and see not as terribly in another situation and that will give you the registration as a legaly blind person which I was registered as by a specialist in Great Ormand Street Hospital as a child.

There are only two types of classification, Partialy Sighted and Blind. I have the same classification as somebody who has no eyes even though indoors and especialy at night my ondition improves greatly. It might be a wide classification but that's just how it is and mobility DLA in particular is especialy relevant to outdors, where I'm quite screwed.

Stil there are far more tactfull ways to enquire.

sunnyone

jetta_wales wrote: »

That is not what legaly blind means.

You can be blind in one situation (which I am) and see not as terribly in another situation and that will give you the registration as a legaly blind person which I was registered as by a specialist in Great Ormand Street Hospital as a child.

There are only two types of classification, Partialy Sighted and Blind. I have the same classification as somebody who has no eyes even though indoors and especialy at night my ondition improves greatly. It might be a wide classification but that's just how it is and mobility DLA in particular is especialy relevant to outdors, where I'm quite screwed.

Stil there are far more tactfull ways to enquire.[/QUOTE]

Probably, but I did explain why I replied in the way that I did

rodeo

ariane5 wrote: »

Thanks sunnyone. :T I appreciate your time and effort.

Hi ariane

just thought id give you my experience for what its worth

my partner has agraphobia too combined with panic attacks,anxiety,depression etc in a nut shell cant/doesnt go anywere without me he as been on IB since sept 2005, tried for DLA in 2007 and were declined and my partner wouldnt appeal.
Anyway i trawled the net and found out from various sources that to say on the form that "due to agraphobia he doesnt go out" apparently is a fatal mistake as someone said above, they take it that if he doesnt go out then he doesnt need any care/support.
I managed to convince him to let me try again for it last year, i used some brilliant info i received by email from a lovely lady whose actually wrote a book on how to fill the dla form in (can you beleive) for free,due to it being an email i cant post a link but if anyone needs it to fill form in just let me know, its brilliant for mental health claims and it worked for us .
My partner was awarded medium rate care and low rate mobility so i now claim carers for him, so worked out well thank god as i know how hard it is to fill in the forms and actually get a positive result.Needless to say i photocopied the form and its stashed away ready for the renewal date you live and learn

jetta_wales

The first time we did these form I only got lower rate care and lower rate mobility whee we were expecting to get middle rate care as that's what my sister had.

So then someone came to help us do them again she asked "Can you cook a meal by yourself?" I said "yes of course I can" and then she asked
"what happens when you can't read food packaging and how do you tell when meat is fully cooked?"
"oh... I ask my Mum"
"so then no you cannot cook a meal without support"

I felt crap she did the same with getting dressed because I check that with someone when I'm done in-case I've gotten it totally wrong and am wearing odd socks and colours that clash and you can see my bra through my t-shirt.
"So no you cannot get yourself dressed without support"
Then getting around the house, well I know my own home of course I can get around by myself. Untill she asks Mum how often she moves things around the home that I might not see and stumble over? "oh all the time, her Dad and I are always very aware of where things are put and picking up after her siblings if they've left something somewhere she might trip over it"
"What??? Since when???" I asked
"Since always" she said.

I never knew I just never realised at all quite how much people do help me and I was in tears by the end of it I felt totaly useless.

Thing is if we went about outlived thinking in that way then we'd all be on anti-depressants and those with mental health problems could only ever get worse not better but unfortunatly for the sake of these horrible form you have to. The key is to just do it all matter of factly as though you're talking about another person with your condition but not you so you don't end up taking it all to heart.

It's just a task to be completed and like a school assignment it needs a little research first but then when it's done just forget about it.

stressedofdevon

I had a fantastic experience the last few months with making my DLA claim. It was sorted far quicker and with more empathy than the ESA which surprised me as reading through forums here and elsewhere I thought I would be up for a fight on mental health issues.

I have depression and am housebound with social anxiety. I do have great support from my local mental health team, who I have seen weekly for the last five years, and I have a good GP. They were I think crucial to my successful outcome.

I told DLA that the forms were beyond me, having had them several times and just being too overawed and stressed to plough through the questions and the way they made me feel. So they arranged a phone call on a given day and time and a superb young lady did all the hard work for me over the phone. She was a member of their staff, not from a charity or mental health group, and I cannot praise her highly enough. She even dropped a warm note in with the form which they send out for you to sign once they have completed it. Please don't be frightened to ask for their help.

I did have written support from the healthcare professionals, but the decision took only a couple of weeks and I receive lower mobility and middle rate care. I am more than happy with this outcome.

Like the original poster, I could not go anywhere at all without a car. Keeping that on the road has been critical. I have a teenager at home and I am able to shop with her help, even if we go at funny times so the shops are empty. We could not do this without our own transport and are so grateful for this benefit.

Amazingly with some financial pressure lifted I feel more able to begin thinking of the future. I don't want to be broken forever.

Good luck to all, don't give up, it may not be as bad as you think.