0 points agoraphobia, anxiety, depression

No, I do not go anywhere on my own ever. I went to the assessment with my mum and dad. My mum came into the room with me when I was actually doing the interview thing. My mum takes me to the dr's or an appointment if I have to go and comes in the room with me there too. I rarely go outside and when I do I need someone with me to feel safe 100% of the time, and only when absolutely necessary eg gp appointment. I definitely do not go out socialising or to the town or anything, dont go to unnecessary things like hairdressers, dentist. I don't even have any friends outside my parents and boyfriend. If I can avoid it I will. I did tell them at the interview that sometimes I get out for a walk with my mum (once a week, when not stressed), but that is around an empty field as we live in the country lots of open fields (I explained later, as I can not do crowds of people and not at busy times either). When I see my boyfriend I can not travel alone I have to be taken by a parent. I don't even know how to use public transport let alone be able to cope on it. I can't handle crowds or people, have anxiety and feel very unsafe and paranoid outside. I explained all this in the ESA50 though.

I do not live alone, I am living at home with my parents, never been able to move out by myself or have a part time job that lasted more than 3 months (years ago). I need their help with a lot of things such as shopping, telephone, appointments, etc.
For the initiating tasks to be honest if I am left to my own devices I wont leave my room, wont wash or get dressed, etc on a regular basis because of depression plus thats where I feel safest. I am unable to upkeep medication/therapy without someone initiating it for me and helping me and taking me or like I said I would just fall off the radar and be unable to help myself. I have had a lot of problems with lack of motivation and avoiding over the years. In the guide it says this question applies to people with depression. I also have severe sleeping issues for 10 years in that I can't sleep and wake at normal times each day this is called free running sleep disorder but I'm not getting treatment for this. I keep meaning to but speaking face to face with a dr is very hard for me. I went to a GP about it years ago and she was unkind and unhelpful about it and brushed me off so I'm reluctant to bring it up again. Face to face situations like this are very hard for me because of the anxiety, I worry excessively about all the bad things that could happen and ways in which they could be nasty to me, lose sleep and dread it for a long time so it's a lot of hassle. Like I said I have a lot of problems with initiating therapy and upkeeping it. Because of agoraphobia, anxiety and my sleeping issues I struggle with going to repeat planned appointments, even if I am mentally prepared for it if you've had only 1-2 hours sleep it's impossible to get out of bed if you're both tired and afraid and easy to abandon it. I did write all this down in the ESA50 too. I have basically isolated myself a long time ago.

With the reduced awareness thing, I regularly leave appliances on in the kitchen because I forget about them (boiling pans, way over-microwaving things, leaving oven on, leaving things cooking in the oven) because I think its fine but then I walk away and intend to come back soon after but get absorbed in something and forget, and also hurting myself on graters, knives, etc, without supervision of a parent in the house when I cook there's no-one around to turn things off that I sometimes forget about. Recent example - grating my knuckles twice on graters in the past month, leaving a pan boiling on the hob the water had all evaporated out and the pan was black, the contents were black and inedible. How often does this task have to happen for someone to be able to qualify for it?
I should most definitely score for the first two even if they don't agree on the others.

Hello,
Got my decision notice today,
At first I thought it was bad news because the cover letter gives nothing away.

I have been placed in the support group due to scoring 16(a) and the descriptor, and they reached this decision just on the paperwork I provided as I was not able to be there face to face.

I was very surprised because I thought it would take at least another month or two before my appeal was heard.

So, there you go, it is worth all the effort, and stress, so keep fighting : ) I haven't felt this relieved in 6 whole months...

However, From what I gather in the letter, DWP can also appeal this, and tribunals cannot force them to pay me, so it may take some time to get things going again?

Anyway, I'd like to thank you for all the replies, help, support and motivation, Gordon, Mrshurtyback, Alison, and without the guides I could not have won, so thank you.