ESA50 review: ASD etc

Well I think, thanks to the handy guide, I have a reasonable grasp of how I need to proceed with this matter, though I am left feeling I've been told to take an A-level and get a grade A after only a week's study! Although I consider myself a reasonably intelligent person, I'm not sure I'd stand much of a chance if trying to tackle this on my own, so I'm grateful to the people who created this guide and especially to my partner who's doing a lot of work to help me through this.

It's very far from a foregone conclusion, though, and it does concern me that even with my serious mental health issues, it feels like it's still the luck of the draw: it shouldn't be like that.

It was interesting but also rather discouraging to see the quotes of official guidance on the subject, which in summary actually seems reckless and irresponsible in the ways it considers reasonable to treat vulnerable people. I'm rather unimpressed that the entirety of the focus is on putting people to work, with zero interest in the wellbeing or quality of life of chronically ill people, and all of which seems to be focussed in the most patronising way possible (thinking of stuff like e.g. the list of low-level work-related activities).

I've been in a fairly safe place for the past three years and only in the past year have I finally got to the point where carefully managing my situation I'm not having constant meltdowns and suicide attempts. But it would seem that will count against me and they would put me back in a much more harrowing place to see if I'm lying. It's a bit like the apocryphal test of a witch where if she drowns they'll finally believe her innocence and if she doesn't drown they'll burn her at the stake.

Hello Vometia. Your comment about the witch test is spot on. I have been using the exact same analogy myself. Hope you manage to get through it all in one piece!

Porthole Pete wrote: Hello Vometia. Your comment about the witch test is spot on. I have been using the exact same analogy myself. Hope you manage to get through it all in one piece!

Thank you. The whole methodology is quite absurd: it seems to serve no useful purpose except the resurrection of the rather Puritanical attitude that sickness is a moral failing that should be cured by hard work. :/

Well I'm seeing my doctor tomorrow, so I'll discuss some of the subjects with her and get a written assessment of my current level of fitness, although it's hard to say whether or not they'll take any notice at all of her opinion of my fitness for work or "work-related activity". But they'll certainly take more notice of a letter that offers that opinion than none at all.

It is still rather worrisome and I've been diverting a lot of effort into figuring out how to deal with the ESA reevaluation. Considering I don't actually have quite enough effort to manage my life as it is, it seems a rather counterproductive use of my time since its only purpose is to stave off a worsening of my situation. And it looks like it's set to stay this way for the time being, this Crabb character seemingly endorsing the policies of his predecessor.

Well thanks to the handy guide I'm almost done. Who knows whether or not the assessor will give me a fair hearing, but I certainly wouldn't have stood a chance without the questions being explained and what they're actually looking for. It all hinges on my ASD, really, and it is rather disheartening having to be so frank and scrutinising my failings from every angle: the result is that I feel my ESA50 makes me look like an awful reprobate. Though actually, the doctor who first remarked that I have ASD said "if it wasn't for your intelligence you would most likely be delinquent", which is one of those things where it's uncertain if it's a compliment or an insult! (Obviously it was neither, he was just making an observation, and about my particular problems rather than ASD in general).

So I'm all set to get it in the post this week. As well as my own rather extensive annotation, my GP is doing a more detailed cover letter describing my diagnoses and her assessment of my overall mental state, an older letter from a consultant suggesting the presence of ASD ("suggesting" as apparently only a small number of specialists can give a definitive diagnosis after rather protracted examination) and my partner also said she'd write something to confirm what I've written.

It's been horribly tiring and has diverted what little energy I have from other things, but fingers crossed, and all that.

Actually, if anybody knows, the one remaining question I have is what on earth I should answer to question 15, "going out", where the applicable choices are "never" and "it varies". It's not strictly true to say that I never go out, but I seldom go out, and it has to be under carefully controlled circumstances (e.g. that I won't meet many people, that I can bail at any time, if I have to travel I need to stay overnight, and there's still a high risk of a meltdown) but it is true that I can never realistically just go out on demand, do so reliably to repeatedly. I guess I just need to explain that in case they're feeling pedantic, but neither answer fits well: "never" is too absolute, "it varies" suggests much more capability than I possess.

Hi again. Don't know if this helps but I put a cross at side o the tick boxes on number 15 stating I was unsure which box to tick and to see 'use this space' box below. Noticed your comment from two days ago about the Puritanical attitude towards sickness.[ remark removed ]