Taking Nutrition and Aids

Hello

I am helping someone to prepare for a claim for PIP. They have a physical disability with his spine and his hips which means the person cannot sit on stools or hard chairs and he can only sit on the settee in the living room even then he has problems. He asked me a question which I could not find the answer for so I thought I would ask hear to confirm.

He cannot sit by a table to eat food so he is only able to sit on the settee in the front room to eat his food and he uses a lap tray on his knee. He asked me could this be a possible aid in the "Taking Nutrition" activity of PIP? If he did not use a lap tray then he would not have a place to eat his meal.

Thank you in advance.
Waxwing

Hello, Waxwing

Try and think why the person cannot sit on a hard chair or stool before you write your answer.
What if the assessor says well, you could put a cushion on the chair.
You say they have a disability affecting their spine or hips. Does that mean the person cannot felt at the hips to sit upright at all?
If so, then you can argue that means they will have difficulty with their digestion because they cannot sit upright.
you can say that sitting on the sofa with a lap table because all other ways, eg a TV table, means they have to sit upright and this is not possible for them.
You might also consider if it means they will, by necessity, have more spilled food than a person without that disability, and therefore have the expense of extra washing.
Remember, look at the activities that are being assessed, and what difficulties the person has that a person without that disability might not even realise would be a difficulty.

As an example, my son has a hemiplegia, and only has the good use of one hand. He's never managed to learn to tie his laces with one hand, despite the best efforts of the OT at school.

I said an aid was the necessity of using the curly, self-tightening, laces.
I was careful to say that, although he used Velcro or slip-on shoes usually, he needed the curly laces, because he plays American football, and the boots are not available as Velcro or slip-on, and couldn't be made so and still be tight enough.

The points for them made the difference between no award and the standard award, so I didn't have to appeal and argue that they'd ignored his communication difficulties with his autism (it would have stressed him too much).

Thanks LL26 and Becca for your very informative replies they have been very helpful.

Dear Waxwing, please do keep the forum informed of what happens, as I think this is a very interesting point to argue and if you succeed for him it could set a precedent. Your description does make me wonder too, is he able to stand and so to prepare and cook his food, then to carry the tray to the front room? All sorts of things assessors could throw at him too!
Best wishes,
Denby

Hello Denby

Yes I will keep everyone informed about this. I do not want to go into to much detail about his problems but I think they are enough to argue the fact that a lap tray could be used as an aid. You did cover some points that we could outline with confidence. I think the "Lap Tray" falls into the category of the use of a chair as an aid or sitting on a bed to get dressed.