Can a person be an aid?

Can a person be an aid on PIP mobility.

My wife suffers with agoraphobia and stress & anxiety. She always has to have either me or another family member with her to guide her safely. It is very much in the same way as an assistance dog guides a blind or deaf person.

Your feedback is much appreciated.

Hello Steveinleo59

I'm not quite sure what you are asking here; if you aren't sure that your wife will qualify for the mobility part of the award then all you can do is state that she is unable to go anywhere on her own, because she is a danger to herself (and maybe others?) and provide backup supportive evidence to this effect. This is more of a mental health issue than a physical one, isn't it.

If you mean she needs someone (or something) to support her as she walks (a crutch, or a physical elbow to lean on because she is unsteady on her feet) then the same applies but it is more of a physical issue. It all comes down to the exact amount of assistance she needs and whether she is in any danger to herself if she can't have that assistance.

Other members might be able to give you more in depth advice, especially if they have the same sort of issues themselves. If you read through the guides you should be able to identify where your wife would score points and fill in your application form accordingly. You can ask other family members to write a brief note to explain how they have to help her if you're not available, also. Good luck with the form

hi there,
seen your post and thought i may be able to help you here as i myself have the same issues as your wife ime agrophobic , and suffer mental health too,. i put in claim for pip and wasnt succefull i as awawrded only 4 point for the following a journey ,this seems to be the most people seem to get for this activity as it covers mental health more than the physical side,.. hat you need to do in your claim for for this answer which i wasnt aare of at the time of me filling in mine is,,. ,,if your wife is unable to go anywhere without you or a family memeber to follow journys and plan ,, you have to show them excactly why she cant ,if she would be at risk to herslef or others during a journey,, if she experiances extreme overwhelmng psycological distress explain what happens ,, ,give example of a event that happened if you can ,basicaly show them that your wife needs supervising throughout the journey rather than support ,so basicaly you can class yourself as a aid as without you she would be unable to follow or plan a journey on her own ,, always emphasise the extreme psycological distress this causes her ,remember to use words reliably ,safely and in a timely manner ,, when filling in your claim form in all descriptors ,, hope this helps you a bit ,ime now going to appeal as until i joined this wonderfull site i had no idea how to fill in my claim form ,,so hope you manage to suceed and get your wife the benefit she entitled too,. good luck,.
alison,

Sorry the descriptor was short.

My wife basically has to have at least one family member to accompany her even to go shopping. As her husband, I usually go with her, but if we have to travel to our nearest city it takes me and our daughter (aged 26) to enable her to go out.

At the home visit assessment, the assessor who was allegedly a psychiatric nurse, decided that as my wife could walk albeit slowly for 30 metres to the car, she is fully functional out in the urban jungle. This was also despite her having a mental meltdown the week before the PIP assessment as she has depression, stress & anxiety disorder as her primary diagnosis from her doctors and mental health nurse team.

So what we are asking is:- Should either myself or our daughter be declared as a helping / coping method in the same way as a sight impaired person has an assistance dog?