Dla refused need help

lyndacampbell_2

Hi y'all

Sorry if this is a repeat but I can't find the original

I have been claiming DLA for about three years now and first I was getting higher rate care and mobility and as I was claiming income support I was also getting extra disablement payment because I was living alone.

Last year the DLA stopped the payments for higher rate care and mobility and I was given lower rate care. I have Fibromyalgia and OsteoArthritis amongst other things and since March this year I have needed help. I fell on some laminate flooring and my ankle twisted under me and my knee went the other way, I went to a walkin centre and I was told I had overstretched my ligaments and it would take 4-6 weeks to get better but 6 months on it is not much better. I reapplied for DLA on the basis my mobility had worsened and I needed extra care, I had contacted social services who employed the help of a carer but after 4 months I had to dismiss the services of the company involved, I am 48 and was getting 18 year olds coming in and whinging about the workload and boyfriends etc, I felt more depressed while they were coming.

Anywhoo to get back on track I live with my mother who is 84 and isn't in the greatest of health herself and I have to most things for her, as she can't do very much and is housebound and we live in a two bedroomed ground floor flat, we used to live in a 3 bedroomed home but had to move here because the stairs were hindering us both, the property we live in now is horrendously noisy, we live below two young girls who go out partying and come back in through the night banging doors and on the top floor of the building is a drug dealer and callers come all times of the day and night and ring our bell because they don't know her number and it is stressing us both out.

I have had my decision from DLA and they refused my claim because I do not need the help required for successfully getting benefit, my typical day is as follows:-

Awake at around 10:30am woke up to stiff joints and I ache all over, had to get to the loo fast as I needed to empty my bladder and I didn't quite make it in time, wet myself. Ran bath and my mum helped me get undressed as I can do it myself, mum helps me climb on to bath lift, lifting my legs over the bath. Mum washes my hair, my back and my feet and I do the rest as best I can. Need help to get legs out of the bath and to get off the bath seat. My mum dries my body with towel, then I have to get dressed, basically my mother has to help me with this too, by this time I am hungry and my mum makes me breakfast, I am too scared to cook, hot pans and boiling water are terrifying my hands are always swollen and tight I cant hold anything for long, I sit down to a cup of tea and I need the toilet again, I wear pads for incontinence but they aren't much use and are expensive, I still end up wetting myself and need changing all the time, this time it is my irritable bowel playing up and I need to empty my bowel but walking so slowly means I don't get tot he toilet quick enough and I ... well you get the gross picture, so I have to go through the agony of just pulling down my pants and washing myself I don't want to ask mum again and it's not nice for her, so I wash myself the best I can but I never feel clean and it is so hard to reach your anus when you are restricted.

11:30am Have breakfast but by now I am exhausted and need a lie down, so I shuffle off to my bedroom to watch TV, I just get laid down on my bed when I need the toilet again, so I go through the rigmarole all over again, rock myself off the bed to get up and slowly shuffle off to the toilet, trying desperately to get there before I wee myself again, just managed it, as I was sitting down on the toilet, urine was emerging but luckily I got there just in time. Back to bed, try again. Watch TV for a couple of hours and then the toilet fiasco starts again.

2:30 pm feel hungry mum cooks lunch and I struggle to the table to eat it. After eating need the loo again and bowel fiasco again.

3:45 put dishes in dishwasher (not a luxury by any means but a necessity), completely exhausted, have another go at having a lie down, realise that I need some underwear washing, so I have to get up and gather washing together and make my way to the Launderette, 100 yards away, hobble and shuffle my way there and the time on the clock on the wall in the Launderette, says 5.05 pm just made it in time for getting a load of washing done and dried before they close at 6pm. By the time I get back home at 6:45 I need the loo again.

7:30 sit down to a cup of tea and a sandwich watching TV, do so for about an hour then at 8:45 have another cup of tea, take it to bed with me and watch TV in bed, here I stay for the rest of the night trying to get comfortable wrestling with countless trips to the toilet and trying to get comfortable in bed.

4 am still awake can get comfortable, can't sleep yet so tired. finally drift off at around 5 am, only to wake at 7:30 needing toilet again!

That is a typical day but where it says Launderette, substitute shopping or doctors appointment, or writing emails or things of a similar nature. I don't get out much as walking is too painful and I get tired easily, anyone with Fibro knows a simple trip to the shops can leave you exhausted for days

When I got the reply to the claim for DLA I was shocked because it says "you can walk slowly and in a reasonable manner, so is shuffling a reasonable manner? "Using suitable aids, although your walking is limited, you are not unable or virtually unable to walk" I told them I need a wheel chair to get around if I go further than 100 yards.

During the day I need help to:

Wash and Dry myself
Use a bath or a shower
Dress and undress
Manage treatment and medication
take part in social activities

At my own speed I can get in and out of bed

manage my own toilet needs
get up and down stairs
move about in doors

I am at risk of falling and at risk and danger from dizzy spells

But I do not qualify for any rate of care needs, I do not understand this at all, am I missing something?

rogerblack

There is little that can be done, other than to go through the appeal process.
A letter from your mother explaining her involvement in your care may be useful.
Are you in contact with any doctors?
Was there any additional evidence you sent with the DLA form?

As to your mother.
Might she be able to claim attendance allowance?
This may lead to the possibility of a claim for carers allowance for you.

Saversue

A bit confused, you start by saying you live alone, so got a disability premium, but they state you and your Mum live together and have had to move?

Have you got Medical Evidence to back up your claim, if so what, because you will definitely need it to make an appeal?

ineed

Hi,

I can only echo rogerblack and Saversues advice, you'll need some form of medical evidence (even a letter and/or prescription for any medication from your GP) for the appeal. Have they sent someone to your house to look into your claim or have you just sent the form and they've rejected your claim based on the information you provided? It would help if your mother also wrote a letter explaining what she does for you everyday.

skintmacflint

lyndacampbell wrote: »

Anywhoo to get back on track I live with my mother who is 84 and isn't in the greatest of health herself and I have to most things for her, as she can't do very much .
/QUOTE]


sorry I got totally confused here as well. Post started with OP having to most things for Mum, then went on to say the Mum is helping OP in and out of bath, et dressed, dried and then cook both breakfast and lunch.

So who is looking after who here, or is that both can claim an allowance for looking after each other?

snoopy89

i would have thought you should get in touch with your dr and inform him/her about situation and ask for a occupational health visitor to call and see what you and your mother require. once you have that done that, get either welfare worker or cab to fill dla forms in for you and make sure the ot's paper work and recommended equipment is documented and a letter or notes from doctor.

oh you can not get the disability premium if you are living with someone or have a carer as far as i know. but please check.

while you are at it get a benefits check for both of you to make sure you are both up to date with things. Surprising how you can miss out. I Hope that helps to sort your situation out. best of luck

worried48

They turn everyone down. Appeal!

rogerblack

worried48 wrote: »

They turn everyone down. Appeal!

They do not turn everyone down.
Do they turn more down than a decade or so ago, yes.