scyzoaffective disorder

when_will_it_end

hanna thanks for that
never actually thought about it as much
there were questions tho that were asked like can she prepare a meal i said no as she can be absent minded gave example of when she left soup on an forgot about it when i say absent minded tho i explained it as she leaves her self goes in to another world compleatly an i also said she cant use anything shrp that may be in the kitchen as she may steal to harm her self later or just do it there an then like she did whilst washing a few plates once there was a knife in there an she squoze it till she bled i said i lock all sharp things including knifes away which for thr few i have left as i minamilised (sp) to just what i needed

i thought that thats what they needed how should i have answered that differently

another example is her not being a risk to her self an others i thought that self harming which they finaly did agree on in the phone apeall was being a danger to her self i gave an exaample of the time when she threw water over the tv as she thought thats where the voices were coming from telling her to self harm she is aware of common dangers but does not care for them she knows that that may have madethe tv blow up an start a fire maybe in a normal state of mind she is aware an wouldnt have done it but when she hears voices ect she ignores the dangers....was i right in answeing that question?

thanks

when_will_it_end

an you are also right about the illness affecting people in different ways i know she could go for some time without an episode but at this time an for the last 12 months at least they seem to be everyday

wogglemaker

Hanna - thank you for your post. Having chronic asthma, copd, sleep apnia and every steroid side effect known including insulin dependant diabeties, I find it hard that a lot of people do not know how it can affect your life

Huggs Woggle

Hannah_10

when_will_it_end wrote: »

can she prepare a meal i said no as she can be absent minded gave example of when she left soup on an forgot about it when i say absent minded tho i explained it as she leaves her self goes in to another world compleatly an i also said she cant use anything shrp that may be in the kitchen as she may steal to harm her self later or just do it there an then

If she's technically aware of them but in a dissociative state and therefore irrational about them (which I think is what you're describing although check with her CPN) then the answer is NO she's not aware of common dangers.

Switch this round. Pretend I'm telling you about my (made-up) daughter. Suppose I say she leaves things on which creates a fire hazard and she can't be trusted with sharps. She's not really aware and present in herself either. You reckoning this daughter of mine can prepare a meal then? Coz without knives or a cooker and in need of supervision I would say that means no!

Lets say my (made up) daughters disibility was that she had recently lost an arm. I'm telling you she can't use the cooker safely, or use knives, or manage without supervision. You still reckoning she can do her own dinner? It's not your daughters arms letting her down, it's her psychology. None the less though the effects are the same which is why DLA is an effects-based award.

The point is when you go to the kitchen you can do sausage, mash and peas with onion gravy easy peasy. Or grilled chicken bits, pesto and pasta. Or what about egg, chips and beans? A curry even, how hard can a curry be eh? These are the sorts of things that are staple foods, proper normal meals for most people. Without using a knife or a cooker then which of these can you still do? You can't can you. You can't prepare a meal.

So, how often is it that she can't prepare a meal? Is it like this once a week? For one solid week a month roughly (thats a quarter of all meals). Every single meal time?

And what's the risk? You can't trust her with a cooker because of the fire risk. You can't trust her with sharps because of the self harm risk. You can't leave her unsupervised incase she floats off to another place in her head and is stuck there for hours totally incapacitated (risk to her own welfare/ risk of self-neglect). If you weren't cooking for her or helping her make the food she'd be at risk of starving. I count two deadly hazards in that list!

When you really take each question appart and look at it long and hard then you often find the truth is your daughters care needs are greater than showed up on your first crack at the form.

I'm giving this as an example of one question because to go through every question takes too long, but you can see how it works out that when you think about it your daughter's care need (supervision mainly I expect) can be broken down and documented really clearly in a way they can't miss.

As for the telly, you need to have a long hard think about how many hours a day she needs supervision for on average and how often she is having an unwell phase (she probably varies, but perhaps not). How long can you honestly safely leave her alone? When she's in a dark place I'm thinking the truthful answer might be you can't even go to the loo without taking a risk. When she's doing a bit better she might be alright if you left the country for a week. Only you know.

Get another form and have another go. Forget that she's your daughter for a couple of hours and write about her as a collection of deviations from the norm. I know that's sad, because she is your daughter and you probably want to tell people that she's a very nice girl really and that she can do everything anyone else can (on a good day) but those things do not show the DWP what her care and mobility needs are.

Also do the form SLOWLY. If it takes a week of evenings to fill it in then that's alright. Take each question and really really think about it. They wanna know where her disability stops her doing normal everyday things. Every tiny detail of it.

If you find it hard to get the hang of the required approach print this topic off and give it to the CPN or to a helper from the CAB and get them to help you. Sometimes one needs a third party perspective to really see what a question is after and what's the most honest, accurate and illuminating answer you can give.

when_will_it_end

thank you so much hanna
unfortunately i am at the stage where i have just filled in an sent off the g24 but i will get another form or even look at the letter an the points on why they refused an do what u said in preperation for the appeal i am asking my dd chams worker to help she did write a letter of her own back to the DLA after the phone appeal to clarify some points i will print this off an show her u have been a great help

thankyou xxx

Hannah_10

If she's under the care of CAMHS then it's because she's a child or adolescent (teenager) and so things like preparing food will be looked at in relation to a normal child of her age. So for example it'd be reasonable to expect a 5 year old to be able to toilet hiself/herself, a 10 year old to be fine in the bath and a 15 year old to be able to handle thier own breakfast and lunch and sometimes dinner too. Applying for a person under 16 is harder, because kids do need parental care anyhow. The pressure really is on you to show how much extra she needs over any other kid.

The fact you were once on HRC means that in the past they have accepted that she needed care/supervision around the clock. How then it's fallen from HRC (which is hellish dificult to get for Mental Health) to nothing at all is really confusing. Ask the CAMHS worker to look into what supporting evidence you supplied last time (ie a letter from X person in the NHS) and what evidence you supplied this time too to make sure that it wasn't refused on the basis of no supporting evidence.

when_will_it_end

this is the confusing part i never expected HRC an still dont understand why it was awarded as even tho she still needed supervision it was nothing like it is now all they did last time was write to the doctor to be honest i think it was about the suicide atemps she didnt have this chams worker then at the time she had a psycologist from the childrens hospital that she didnt feel comfortable with she was offered help via this person chams and SS i told them all that this was to much counceliung an it all may conflict so we would choose the one she felt most comfortable with which in the end was chams no info was asked for by any one else so how they came to the descision they did ile never know

this is also where it gets confusing she is 16 now but only just left school when DLA came last yr to ask when she turned 16 did she want the money herself she said no she wanted me to sort it all out so is she a child in there eyes or an adult an im her representative???

Indie_Kid

when_will_it_end wrote: »

she said no she wanted me to sort it all out so is she a child in there eyes or an adult an im her representative???

She's an adult in the eyes of the DWP. Not all adults are capable of being able to sort it out.