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PIP - Requiring supervision in the form of prompting for day to day activities
- JohnP
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3 days 12 hours ago #306890 by JohnP
PIP - Requiring supervision in the form of prompting for day to day activities was created by JohnP
I am about to apply for a PIP. I was diagnosed with Autism, ADHD, OCD, Social Anxiety Disorder, Non-specific anxiety disorder, and depression 12 Years ago. Day to day I have a dependency on my wife to prompt me to take medication, to eat, to bath, etc... I also use various reminder apps, although because I frequently hyper-focus, reminder apps and alarms are very much a hit or miss. Without my wife constantly prompting me to eat, I either go without altogether, or occasionally I would eat a bag of crisps, or a biscuit if it was sat in front of me. I do drive a car, but can only do so with the use of an aid or someone sat in the car with me. I get extremely anxious if I don't know where I am going or where I am, always have done. My concern is that the assessor will say that because I can physically drive a car then I should be able to cook a meal, or make a financial decision. That is a flawed assessment. Whether I can physically drive is irrelevant. What prevents me from carrying out day to day activities is not a physical impairment, it is a combination of my autism, my ADHD, my OCD, and my anxiety disorders. Will these be considered during the assessment?
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- BIS
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1 day 2 hours ago #307018 by BIS
Nothing on this board constitutes legal advice - always consult a professional about specific problems
Replied by BIS on topic PIP - Requiring supervision in the form of prompting for day to day activities
Hi JohnP
If you are about to apply for PIP, I would advise you to go through the Guide to PIP claims and reviews (benefitsandwork.co.uk/guides-for-claimants/pip), which will explain the critical issues you should put in your application to increase your chances of success. It's a large guide, but many members have found it extremely useful, and under each question are some example answers which you can adapt to your own situation. Applying for PIP can be a frustrating process. Don't assume that they will understand your conditions or your difficulties. They are not so interested in the conditions themselves, but in how these conditions affect you against the specific PIP criteria.
In the guide you can find out the types of questions you are likely to be asked at the assessment and the traps you should look out for. Your worry about you driving a car and how that will be viewed is a valid one. Assessors can get fixated on a claimant being able to drive. It will entirely depend on the assessor. I have known someone to say they can't make any financial decisions - and then be asked whether they fill up their car with petrol and pay. Assessors will sometimes make assumptions without even asking questions - so they will assume when told that a claimant drives and they can remember how to physically do this, and follow road signs they could also remember to eat when they are hungry. And if they are not eating, it is a choice and not because they can't. Yes, I know this sounds like a ridiculous comparison - but these get made.
So if you have a look at the guide, you will see how each question is broken down. Take for instance you have difficulty remembering to eat, without support from your wife. Is it because your depression means you're not motivated to eat, or you have specific rituals associated to your OCD around food? I only mention two things - and there may be many more. Don't try and say everything - but focus on the symptoms that make something challenging or impossible to carry out. Don't just generalise and say something is because of your autism, ADHD, OCD etc - because the person reading it won't necessarily understand the impact or have detailed knowledge of your conditions.
When it comes to the assessment, make sure that you ask for it to be recorded, and you will see in our guide that we recommend people making their own covert recording.
BIS
If you are about to apply for PIP, I would advise you to go through the Guide to PIP claims and reviews (benefitsandwork.co.uk/guides-for-claimants/pip), which will explain the critical issues you should put in your application to increase your chances of success. It's a large guide, but many members have found it extremely useful, and under each question are some example answers which you can adapt to your own situation. Applying for PIP can be a frustrating process. Don't assume that they will understand your conditions or your difficulties. They are not so interested in the conditions themselves, but in how these conditions affect you against the specific PIP criteria.
In the guide you can find out the types of questions you are likely to be asked at the assessment and the traps you should look out for. Your worry about you driving a car and how that will be viewed is a valid one. Assessors can get fixated on a claimant being able to drive. It will entirely depend on the assessor. I have known someone to say they can't make any financial decisions - and then be asked whether they fill up their car with petrol and pay. Assessors will sometimes make assumptions without even asking questions - so they will assume when told that a claimant drives and they can remember how to physically do this, and follow road signs they could also remember to eat when they are hungry. And if they are not eating, it is a choice and not because they can't. Yes, I know this sounds like a ridiculous comparison - but these get made.
So if you have a look at the guide, you will see how each question is broken down. Take for instance you have difficulty remembering to eat, without support from your wife. Is it because your depression means you're not motivated to eat, or you have specific rituals associated to your OCD around food? I only mention two things - and there may be many more. Don't try and say everything - but focus on the symptoms that make something challenging or impossible to carry out. Don't just generalise and say something is because of your autism, ADHD, OCD etc - because the person reading it won't necessarily understand the impact or have detailed knowledge of your conditions.
When it comes to the assessment, make sure that you ask for it to be recorded, and you will see in our guide that we recommend people making their own covert recording.
BIS
Nothing on this board constitutes legal advice - always consult a professional about specific problems
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