My PIP claim (ADHD, eczema, social anxiety)

Ok, I'll not mention it unless they ask. If that happens I'll explain how my own limitations make caring take 35 hours+ a week.

I'm making steady progress on my PIP form text, ready for when they arrive. A reminder that my main conditions are dermatitis, ADHD and social anxiety.

Q13: Going out

A bit of background info. I drive. I don't go out alone. I don't use public transport alone and still prefer not to use it if I can, unless the anxiety from driving somewhere built up (city centres) outweighs the anxiety of being on a bus with my mum.

I can drive to a variety of locations that take less than five minutes to get to from my home without my satnav but for anywhere longer, I need a satnav. I will add that I have lived in the same house since I was born 31 years ago, so am extremely familiar with the area. I may be moving to a nearby town in the new year and will need the satnav for any journey from then on.

The satnav is just Google maps on my smartphone, nothing disability-specific as I don't use a blue badge or need accessible-friendly facilities, which seems to be the only thing I can find that disability-friendly satnavs focus on. I can't think about routes as well as focus fully on the road, so I need a satnav. I wouldn't be able to continue driving if there was a diversion without my satnav's ability to re-plan a route, because I'd be terrified of missing one of the diversion signs and getting lost. I can't remember verbal directions at all, I rely on visual directions to tell where I'm going.

The reason I can't go out alone is social anxiety. I feel extremely vulnerable of being judged. When I've had to go outside alone, I have coping mechanisms that frankly scare me a bit, like how I talk to myself audibly to tell myself that "nothing is out to get me". I shake, I use fidget toys, I hyperventilate. I can't go out alone safely, I need another person with me that I know extremely well to be able to go out. Even then, it's mentally exhausting.

I also have problems going out because of my skin. Apart from the obvious fact that raw areas, scabs, red skin and flakes on my face draws attention I can't cope with, I also struggle with temperature. My body can't regulate it at all during flares (currently affect me approx 75% of the year but it varies from year to year). I will sweat and it creates an incredible burning feeling that I can only describe as feeling like someone has rubbed me all over with nettles. This happened the other day when I was out with my mum. I overheated in a shop, sweated due to overheating (my mum said it didn't feel warm in there so I know it was my body), skin went bright red, I was raking a comb over my face to scratch the itch, I was crying and couldn't think.

People were looking at me, which made everything much worse. I noticed my phone wasn't in my hand and fell to my knees hyperventilating and sobbing, telling my mum in broken words that I was burning, I needed help, needed the phone to live (it's my med reminder, satnav, appointment reminder, so it really is a lifeline). Turns out, I'd put it in her bag for some reason. I have no idea how to explain this any better, but it happens when I go out a lot. I wouldn't be able to follow or plan a route or anything else when this happens! No idea how an assessor would interpret it though.

Short version:
1. I drive, worried it will be used against my claim in my ability to do the other things, even though "driving" isn't a PIP activity.

2. Would the physical symptoms of my skin blocking my ability to plan a route be taken into account? It would be due to the intense itching and burning that distracts me to the point I can't think. It can come about as a result of psychological distress or temperature fluctulations (going between different buildings to the outside, like when shopping).

3. I can go out, but only accompanied, so I don't expect to get points for being unable to go out. It wouldn't be accurate anyway. Granted, I only go out for appointments and to take my mum shopping, no more than once or twice a week.

(I'm sorry I wrote so much, I have a tendency to do that)

Hi Gordon, thanks for replying.

I don't go out alone, whether in the car or not. The reasons would come under "psychological distress". The car is far better for me however, for several reasons. I can control the temperature for example, which helps my skin not flare up, causing an inability to focus and intense pain/discomfort.

Either way, it depends on what they mean by "planning and following a journey". Does it explicitly refer to the use of a map or atlas, remembering and retaining that info while out and about? Because I can't do that at all. I can explain that on the form. I have ADHD and Executive Functioning Disorder (though the latter is undiagnosed at the moment, but it's symptoms are shared with ADHD) that makes retaining info extremely difficult/impossible. I can't ask for directions and even if I could, I'd forget it right after they told me, even if it was for say, three turns. If I wrote the directions down while driving alone, I would have to stop after literally every turn to check the next direction and there's a very high chance I'll still forget it.

Does it mean that if I need a satnav and can explain that I need the info right then and there because I can't remember it otherwise, I count as not being able to do the activity at all? The person with me could theoretically hold a print out with instructions and read them out to me, but we've never tried that as I've always had a satnav. If they did that, it would mean I needed the assistance of another person to help me follow the journey, correct? If so, that just means I need to decide whether familiar (f) or unfamiliar (d) apply.

If I go for descriptor E, I'll feel I'm lying. I go out once a week to get shopping because I have to. I go with my mum because she likes to pick her own stuff but has arthritis so she needs me to drive.

As for familiarity of a place, I don't know how familiar it has to be. I know how to get to the shops without a satnav but as I said, I've been living in the same place for 31 years and the shops are 200m away, so I know where they are. If/when I move, nothing will be familiar to me.

Thanks again. It's very confusing. I've answered almost everything else quite easily, thanks to the guides. I'm just really struggling with this one (I also did for my partner).

Thank you for clarifying that Gordon, I understand much better now. I'll remove any mention of a satnav and basically act like they don't exist (ridiculous DWP logic but whatever).

I currently have a section about severe social anxiety around going out alone as part of my answer (before I get to the "cognitive impairment means I can't follow a familiar journey" part) and I'm worried they'll only pay attention to that and either give me descriptor e, or refuse to acknowledge if I have a cognitive impairment because psychological distress also plays a part (though it's unrelated to the cognitive part).

Can I ask your thoughts on this? Would you mention anxiety at all or not for that question when going for descriptor f? Thanks.