Well I had the appeal yesterday. They changed my time and the person who was coming with me couldn't make it, the option I was given was turn up or the appeal will take place behind closed doors.
They were not interested in my mobility or medical issues (I was appealing this), they were only interested in
•If I came alone did I really need support
•could I clean myself after the loo
•could I cook a meal
•could I shop, clean and do household chores
•could I bathe
Having to wear pads became questionable and if during work hours I had an accident who could clean me - I got upset as I don't really want my friend to do this never mind someone I don't trust who I work with
Cooking was also a questionable activity, my friend cooks for me, portions it up and puts it in the freezer - I then put it in the microwave. They questioned could I take hot food out of the microwave, I said I have a towel in front of the microwave and I drag the micro plate with my food onto it and eat stood up. "So you can cook a meal", no that's not what I said "I can heat pre cooked food", "so you can cook a meal". We had the same two statements over and over again until I said that's not what I can do and they were putting words in my mouth.
Shopping - big stores "Will deliver" said the doctor on the panel. Everyday staples can be delivered via "your milk person". Cleaning - "you could get cheap enough cleaners to clean your home". Everything I said the doctor had an answer for.
Bathing - "you have a bath chair", "yes I answered", "so how do you wash your body?", "with difficulty as my arms and shoulders are poor", "but you can get into the water?", "yes", "so you can clean your body without help", "no that's not what I was saying".
The whole ordeal lasted 20 mins and then they said they couldn't give me a decision and they would write to me. I know I lost.
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Tibby3a
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I feel so sorry for you. This government should be sacked with a no confidence vote from the public !! To have to be put through all this DWP hell and then having to appeal, to prove that you are genuinely sick and disabled, is disgusting. We are treated inhumanely and I am furious with the whole situation, which is why my husband didn't appeal.....he couldn't cope with the hassle. Although, it has made my health worse from all the worry.
My health took a major dive last night and I had no sleep but endured night sweats and sickness. The stress on top of the disabilities I have is hard to cope with. But we are all going to go through the DWP at some time in our lives and it is only going to get worse. Thanks for your reply.
i had a letter from dwp for a appeal but have not appealed, as i cannot stand the hassle they give, i am going with out food 2-3 time a week now but i would rather go hungry than go through that rig around,i am having to give up my mobility car this week because i can,t afford the diesel to go in it and trying to pay the rent as well is getting difficult, but try and talk to my mp is redicalous she could not care less, she is like all the rest out to for her self, i feeel just lately if this life is worth keeping. i turned 60 on sunday and i am so tierd, and depressed and don,t want to get up from bed any more, because if i do means i will have to use electric or gas and maybe eat if i can
I would just like to wish you a Happy 60th and please see if you can get more help through your doctors or the WRVS or the social services you should be able to get food. Have you tried a food bank they might help keep you going . Just dont give up fight on please beat the b####ds at they game you are worth it. Help is there go girl ! xgins
i have been to food bank but because i am alone i don,t get help, my partner is gome now he as met someone else now and like he said she is healthy and don,t needhelp around the home, am staying in bed today,
I went to see someone from the CAB for help with regard to my benefits. As, like a lot of people on here, I'm really struggling to make ends meet financially, food has become somewhat of a luxury. I was offered a food bank voucher, but refused as I felt there were more needy people. As gins says, please try again ~ maybe through the CAB? Let us know how you get on.
please go back to your GP he has a duty to forward you on to community mental health team for support due to your depression and demand he puts you forward so you can get them to support you in what next, sorry cannot offer more but there is also the crisis team your doc can refer you to gental hugs Ingrid
I've been to my GP (General and Pathetic), I said the disabilities were making me deeply depressed, he gave me a form to complete and send it back. This I did, he looked at it and said things can't be all tat bad really, I got a new form and a new form and a new form... I have completed the same form a dozen times but nothing. I live in an area deeply inhabited with very few doctors and changing is just not an option so I stick with my gp. Sue
never give up hope re apply... took me just over two yrs to fight mine but i got there in the end... had docs even come to my home in the end from dwp but glad they did as i got it. x
I had the ATOS Dr come to my falt in January. The report could have been written by a child, he talked over my answers, cut me short with other questions and after 10 mins he left. £150 job well done ATOS, my taxes go to pay another organisation to shaft us. Sorry I seem down but since Thursday I've had the biggest flare up of Fibromyalgia and CF. I want to shout and fight but my body attacks iteself again and leaves me defensless. Sue
That sounds really horrid I can see you felt pressured and had no one with you to back you up. The Doctor should have known better common sense should be applied. I feel so sorry you had to go through this trauma but you never know you may have won and if not quickly contest it, Contest it big time we are better than this. We need help and assistance we are not criminals we have enough punishment in our lives from Fibro with out someone being so hard and ridiculous bet he has never had to heat food up that a friend has prepared and eat standing up caus you cannot carry back to your chair. The ,man is an imbecile- you can tell I feel very incensed for you
Thanks. I don't seem to have the fight in me. This was my second appeal on a change of circumstaces and third overall. I fight to stay in work, I fight to see consultants, I fight for tablets that give temporary pain relief... I wasted 17 month this time for a 20 min hearing, they could have put me down over the phone, it would have saved me stress.
This statement is absurd and insulting. Pls reconsider your comparison. I haven't heard of human skin being made into lampshades just yet. Or have I missed an article in your newspaper of choice?
The tribunal services claim that they are impartial doesn't seem to apply anymore, all they want to do is make you say stuff to fit what atos have stated in their made up report. I had my first esa tribunal in 2009 and my second in 2012 and they were poles apart regarding the attitude of the panel. In 2009 although the judge was pushing me it was more to fit my answers to the descriptors, at one point when I was getting a bit confused she actually said 'I am trying to help you here' she actually had the list of the descriptors in front of her and the Dr was standing up for me too. In 2012 the whole atmosphere couldn't have been more different much like yours Tabby, even down to the subject of pads. Guess which one I won. Hope you get a better result hun xx
Hi Lynn. Thanks for the support. I started mine back in 2009 too, had my first appeal in 2010, then second in 2012 when they told me to go for a change of circumstaces as my disabilities had change for the worse and 17 months later I am more in pain, tired and fed up. From the atmosphere I know I lost and as they said I should get my descision in the post in seven to ten days... Sue
This is appalling and totally undermining and degrading. I really feel for you. Iwas going to appeal against mine but having read this I feel there is no point. I do hope you are ok. This type of interview is traumatising at the best of times but yours sounds horrendous. I do so wish you well.
there is a point hun... fight!.. dont let them win... this is what they are hopin that they can bully us and humilate us into not apeallin and re applyin!... dont give em that, fight for whats yours... to many get it that dont need it yet the ones who do go without as they feel to ill and stressed to go thro it again... but hell no... you appeal hun done give in to them x get help with ya forms to as half the time its how it is worded.! silly as thats sounds but its true x fibro so hard to explain and when ya tryin to explain it yaself it never comes out how ya want it to as so uch is goin at any one time... try puttin pen to paper is bloody difficult! but CAB or and independant livin centre know how to word this x anyway gl hun and appeal x sendin hugs x x
Hi Deva. Don't make my story put you off. I know I will never win where I live as I am in one of the most populated parts of this country and whilst I live here (for my job) I know I will be stuck in this possition. For every one of us who don't appeal they have won. The remit now is to save the government money. x
it sounds like prisoners have more human rights than the sick and disabled.
i have an MP who if he doesn't agree with something you put to him he has no intention of taking it further to help you..... i didn't think thats what they were meant to do. their opinion shouldn't count! I wouldn't even waste my time with him, whilst his constituents starve he lives in luxury!
Yep, my MP says he doesn't know anything about disabilities as he was an engineer and housing his what he knows. MP are not supposed to do things they do. I contacted mine three years ago about not being able to find anyone to help with appeal documents (copys I sent), after thre or four weeks a pack appearred with the commons logo, as I opened it the complementary slip said "I had a word with a friend and you have to fill the forms in (enclosed)". The forms were the ones I was asking for help with, the ones I'd had to complete on my own and get back within the time frame. He passed it onto some else. x
it sounds like prisoners have more human rights than the sick and disabled.
i have an MP who if he doesn't agree with something you put to him he has no intention of taking it further to help you..... i didn't think thats what they were meant to do. their opinion shouldn't count! I wouldn't even waste my time with him, whilst his constituents starve he lives in luxury!
aww bless ya i went thro an appeal too for dla and they sent me home after and said they would write n i got declined as if ya win normally they tell ya there and then. but dont lose hope...... i re applied after my appeal as i had more medical evidence as when i first applied i had none as i was still goin thro test to find out what was wrong. so they based there decision on the time i applied and only could take medical evidence in for that period... yet it took a yr to get to court and by then i had lots of medical evidence etc but they couldnt use that as that came in after they based there decision... still by the by i re applied and handed in all the evidence again etc and they still couldnt decide so they sent a lady doc to my house ( she was really nice) but was bit gutted as the day she came i was doin ok n havin a good day.. grrrr but i did explain this happens and i did say i wasnt gonin to blag the system n pretend to sit in a wheelchair etc when i didnt need to as it was a fluctuating conditon... she listened then she then took me round the house and asked me to show her how i do things on bad days.. ie... gettin upstairs, in out the bath, cook, clean, n use the toilet... all of which i showed her how i did them...she then went away and 2 weeks later i was awarded low rate mobilty but no care for 2 yrs.... on renewal after the 2 yrs i was awared 2 yrs again n i re applied for care as things got worse and i was awarded low rate care ( some say i should be on middle rate) but i was greatful to get it as i used that money to pay for my lifeline i had to have installed as well as other adaptions ( had adult social services come out and access me as i was aparrently an urgent case). still i was honest and she even seen me on a good day so i guess i was lucky to get it but she was very nice, but some i know are not.. so its worth to re apply, photo copy all ya reports etc and try again.. dont give up just cos it didnt go right this time doesnt mean next time ya wont get it. theres alway hope get a independant livin centre or CAB to help with ya forms as half the time its dowm to how ya word it rather than what ya have put. pls pls dont give up and to all of you that havent got the fight in you pls just keep tryin if you genuinely need it then go for it. it took just over 2yrs to fight mine with appeals, and re applyin but i got it in the end. Its stressful and can cause flares but why should you go without when you are genuine... yet all the blaggers seem to get it just like that with appeals n medicals! makes me very cross... i have several friends that have been declined but have re applied after they lost appeals and won it... yet nothin have changed in ther illness just guess its luck of the draw who ya get to make the decision i suppose. fibro is so complex and lots dont believe its an illness they think ya just lazy. thats where the problem lies! still its becomin more reconised now on next time ya ight just get a decision maker thats a ikkle more understandin to it x gl with it and dont give up the fight x x big hugs
Hi. I've been to the CAB no help no funding no people to help. I've been to DIAL no help no funding no people to help. I've been to welfare benefits no help no funding no people to help. I've been to many places no help no funding no people to help. Since Thursday I've had one of the worse falre ups I've ever had... Last night I pleaded with anything/one who was listening to take it all away adn yet I wake up after two hours sleep...
This is so awful, I feel so sad for you and it is disgusting that we should have to fight, literally, for any recognition of our difficulties in normal daily life. If it wasn't for my husband I don't know what I would do. Had a really bad day again today and have done nothing, dread to think what will happen if I am on my own. Why can't we get any help with out having to push and push for it. Is there not some way we can all get together and pressurise the government into changing the system?
Hi. I live alone, no partner left when I became ill. I do have a friend who lives two hours away who doesn't drive so come round when she can. Just to have one person to push with me... I can't imagine.
I went for my 2nd Appeal on 21/08, it was horrendous, I have quite a few degenerative disabilities, as well as other stuff,and they didn't want to know anything about any of them, even though I was armed with medical proof from Consultants/GP/Occupational Therapy/Vision Support etc. I know exactly how you feel, it's a soddin joke. All they centred on was cooking etc, nothing about the fact I am unable to go out on my own, as not only my walking is very limited (I do have a wheelchair authorised by my GP), but I have lost a part of my central vision, which is my 3d vision,with degenerative macular problems and Glaucoma, every time I tried to explain how they have an impact on my life, I got kind of "told off", I also have degenerative conditions of the spine and neck etc. The "Judge" was disgusting, I thought he was to be neutral, my Representative from the RNIB, got told off in the beginning for giving in late documents, he must have scared her to death, that was the last time she spoke!! Yet I know plenty of people who have trifling medical problems, and they sail through, it seems to me that the People who genuinely deserve it, are the 1's that get turned down.
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Won my dla appeal
Should I retract my DLA Appeal
I won my dla appeal got told still might not get any money
Answer from DLA!!
