× Members

Planning and following a journey: new regulations

More
7 years 1 week ago #184256 by Cath
Just received the letter that my sons lifelong award of DLA will end and need to apply for PIP. My son has profound learning disabilities, Autism and challenging behaviour, we rely on our mobility car, his day service is 15 miles from home. I am concerned about the new regulations around planning and following a journey, my son does leave the house but is never unsupervised, he requires an adult to link in with him when he is out to keep him safe, he cannot plan a journey or follow a familiar route, he does however become distressed and exhibit behaviour at times when out. Would his profound learning disability and autism be considered under the new guidelines as "for reasons other than psychological distress' or would the fact that he has such anxiety and behaviours be considered psychological distress? His learning disability is a result of a genetic chromosomal condition but he can stand and walk more than 200 metres so would score no points with the moving around mobility activity. Thoughts and advice would be greatly appreciated,

Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.

More
7 years 6 days ago #184289 by Gordon
Cath

There are two aspects to his meeting the new Descriptors.

First you must show that he is unable to follow (navigate) the route of a familiar journey.

Secondly, his problems must not be due to a mental health issue, you say he has learning difficulties, this would be relevant to his having problems.

So what would prevent him from following a route? Does he understand the activity? This is a familiar journey so the obvious question is does he have any familiar routes and if not why?

Gordon

Nothing on this board constitutes legal advice - always consult a professional about specific problems

Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.

More
7 years 4 days ago #184460 by Cath
Obviously there are familiar routes he takes but as he has a mental age of 2 year old, he is never unaccompanied and has the same ability as a child of that age to plan, or follow a familiar route, he has no awareness of danger, no road safety whatsoever. He is never without one to one support

Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.

Moderators: GordonGaryBISCatherineWendyKellygreekqueenpeterKatherineSuper UserjimmckChris
We use cookies

We use cookies on our website. Some of them are essential for the operation of the site, while others help us to improve this site and the user experience (tracking cookies). You can decide for yourself whether you want to allow cookies or not. Please note that if you reject them, you may not be able to use all the functionalities of the site.