Would the strength of medical evidence support problems with face to face.

Hello

I am continuing to help my brother with his PIP application. He has been unwell for the past few months and has not been able to work further on his application. He has not yet made a new claim and he is working on completing his written evidence before he starts to make a new claim so he is not rushed or constrained to time limits which would increase his distress.

He has multiple deteriating physical conditions and he has extensive medical evidence to back up his diagnosis for his physical conditions and limitations. Recently (January 2023) he had an extensive consutation with his Genetics Consultant and after a long consultation involving my brother and his mother the Genetic Consultant decided that the problems he had during childhood which included delay in speech and language development, learning difficulties, seizures the need for speech therapy and social anxiety that he had a neurodevelopmental disorder. He has a letter from his consultant explaining this and also a suggestion for possible assessment for ASD which my brother has investigated but because there is a massive backlog of ASD assessments with the NHS in our area of about 3 years he has not been accepted for an assessment.

My question is would a letter from his Genetic consultant highlighting his speech therapy, neurodevelopmental disorder, social anxiety and learning difficulties help to backup and give weight behind the activity of face to face problems and his social anxiety. He has had no specialist mental health input because it has been linked to his neurodevelopmental disorder because he has always had social anxiety from a very young age. Would the lack of mental health support or evidence impact his chances of getting points for this activity? I have read your guides and I understand that if he cannot complete the activity reliably he needs to explain the problems he has and what those problems are and the help he needs.

He is a bit confused if he should include his problems with social anxiety or just focus on his physical impacts of his conditions on his daily living (preparing a meal, washing and bathing, Using the Toilet and dressing and undressing) and mobilty (moving around) because he has more medical evidence to back up these conditions. I understand that it is his claim and only he can decide but that is where he is having problems. Any advice would be very welcome.

Kind regards
Waxwing

Thank you so much BIS for your detailed reply it has been most helpful and very much appreciated.

One final question please more for clarification. Would including face to face (Mixing with other people (Activity 9)) have an impact with scoring on the other activities to do with his physical conditions. Would they look at the physical side and the impact of his physical conditions separately to his neurological problems and score separately when assessing his claim. (If that makes sense )

Thanks in advance
Waxwing