Telephone Assessment Review as Appointee

Thank you Gary, I am my son's appointee (I did mention this in my post), which is why I have been following the members' posts on this thread.

Following some previous advice from you and other Mods to various questions I asked about this previously, I have reached the stage of applying for a Tribunal, but I feel it is completely pointless, especially as my son was awarded PIP at the Standard Care rate for 6 years. However, that is less that he was receiving previously and he would lose his job and struggle with life generally without help from his family, so it is important to me that the full extent of his difficulties is "officially" recognised. I feel that his previous award (Enhanced Care and Standard Mobility), which was awarded after a Mandatory Reconsideration and was the same level as the DLA he had been receiving for 18 years before PIP was introduced, recognised the full extent of his problems, so I have reluctantly applied for an appeal. However, I'm sure he will be able to convince the panel that he has no problems at all, as he resents his diagnosis - autism - and rejects the idea that he cannot manage alone. I know that, one day, when I am no longer here to provide support, this will be put to the test, but I try not to think about it, as it is just too frightening. I believe there is support available to people with a recent diagnosis of autism because much more is known about it now, but this did not exist when my son was diagnosed and we were just left to get on with life as best we could. Clearly, we cannot expect any help from the DWP and, frankly, I don't expect the tribunal to be any more sympathetic. According to statistics I have read in the past, most autistic people's first experience of a courtroom comes when they end up in one being tried for a criminal offence.

Sorry for the rant, especially as I was initially applying to a post detailing a positive experience - it's good to know some people are taken seriously.

Best wishes,
Wendy

Well Wendy Woo, someone older that I know got their Autism diagnosis at a celebrated London hospital eleven years ago. [What a place to send someone from a home counties market town for that, just as well they weren't too freaked by travelling on busy Tubes etc!]. They sent them away with a letter and absolutely no follow on advice. Later I discovered that many books published by Jessica Kingsley on Autism had already been published by then, several of which proved very helpful. But the hospital didn't even suggest looking for books.

Hello denby,

I was under the impression (hoping!) that things had improved, but clearly not. Thank you for taking an interest - maybe I should do a bit more research. I read a lot about autism when my son was first diagnosed, but lately I've just been muddling through - you get used to just living from day to day, coping with situations as they arise, don't you? But PIP assessors don't understand that.

Best wishes,
Wendy

Hello BIS,

Thank you so much for your advice. I have begun the appeal as I didn't want to be outside the timeframe, so I'm now waiting on the DWP's response, which I believe is the next stage. When I see what evidence they have, and if there is anything other than the assessor's report to say that my son's condition has improved (although I don't really see how there can be), I will decide whether to continue or withdraw. As you rightly say, I'm finding all this a huge strain, but it's encouraging to hear from other members and receive their support, and the recent statistics published in the newsletter (i.e. only 1% of claimants won their tribunal because of extra evidence) seem to be in our favour!

Thank you all very much.

Wendy