Tribunal Tomorrow

Hi Alice-Anne,
Firstly good luck with the tribunal tomorrow and try not to worry.
Make sure before the hearing you make a few notes of important things to say, perhaps at the end, bullet points are good. Tick them off as you go through them.
Getting PIP is about showing that you have difficulties with the various activities.It doesn't matter whether you just have a bunch of awkward symptoms or you have a named disorder. As long as you can show, for example that you can't walk 20m it doesn't matter whether that is caused by a stiff leg, a painful bunion, a hip replacement or even back pain. The important thing is to show you have some sort of health problem, AND this causes the relevant functioning difficulty. A diagnosis is only a label that permits treatment if this is possible.
So it is highly likely that your forthcoming visit to the consultant will hopefully provide a diagnosis, but this won't change your symptoms, but of course may help you come to terms with limitations etc.
Clearly your GP thinks you are definitely autistic, otherwise he would not have made the referral. Therefore you have a diagnosis that just needs a second opinion, and a specialist viewpoint just to make completely sure. So it is really important to explain this to the tribunal. Maybe you should also tell the tribunal what led to the GP making his diagnosis, was it something you thought, or did he make his own conclusion? Maybe you have always been aware of having autistic difficulties and some recemt incident caused you to seek confirmation from the doctor? This information is very important and it will help the tribunal build a picture of how you live and this will inform them of the likely difficulties you face- the panel will be aware of the problems generally faced by people with autism, so they will be able to direct questioning relevant to this health condition.
Remember to give examples, things that have not worked, even if embarrassing. I know that the whole PIP process is very negative as it focusses on things you can't do. Be brutally honest, which I appreciate is difficult, don't try to gloss over things and accept you can do them. It is not about pleasing the tribunal, they need to see the 'warts and all' version of you, however weird, stupid, pathetic or embarrassing etc this might be. Remember the panel is likely to have heard all the difficulties before so there is no need to feel ashamed of anything you can/can't do. Be yourself, and make sure that you say if you don't understand, or get confused, or need a break etc. If you have someone at home then they can support you, make notes, give evidence and make sure you are not becoming too overwhelmed.
Be yourself, say it how it really is, and give as many examples as possible. This will give you the very best chance of winning your appeal.
Good luck.
LL26