going back to work

hi everybody,
i have got my esa assessment on the 7/9 and i was reading the questions you might be asked from the benfits guides, the one that grabbed my attention was would you like to go back to work, i would love to go back to work but it is very very unlikely that i could because of all of my disabilities. how could you answer this question because of all the assumtions that atos make. going by the guides and test on this sight i should be in the support group but there are no guarentees of this, if you said that you would love to go back to work would they put you in the wrag because of your answer,thinking that later on you would be able to go to work even though it would be impossible.
would they just asume,how do you answer
best regards to all

There is nothing wrong with the what the OP has stated in saying, "I would love to go back to work but it is very very unlikely that I could because of all of my disabilities."

For the sake of being pedantic however, in my opinion perhaps the use of the word "love" is overemphatic, and a more appropriate word would be "like?"

Crazydiamond wrote:

There is nothing wrong with the what the OP has stated in saying, "I would love to go back to work but it is very very unlikely that I could because of all of my disabilities."

For the sake of being pedantic however, in my opinion perhaps the use of the word "love" is overemphatic, and a more appropriate word would be "like?"

ambition or goal are the sorts of words that come to mind... get your full potential is the one you seem to hear used by pros in this sector

I told an Atos nurse some time ago when I was less clued-up about benefits, that I spend hours studying on a computer but have very poor concentration and often get very little work done. Unfortunately she didn't hear anything after the word 'but'!!!

This may seem pedantic, but if you say that you would love to go back to work, there is no reason whatsoever for the ADA to disbelieve you because only you know what you want.

However, the second part of the sentence, it is very very unlikely that I could because of all of my disabilities, if the ADA hears it and strings it with the first part of the sentence, is an opinion that the ADA may disagree with.

I would prefer to say I would love to be well enough and able to return to work.

Alternatively you could say that you do not consider work as an option because you are not well enough [or you wouldn't be claiming ESA and attending Atos medicals - as though it's more enjoyable than work!].

Another option is to relate work to your disability in a broader context. For example, if you have social phobia/agoraphobia you could say 'I don't like travelling or being with people, which includes travelling to or being at work'.

It shouldn't really be necessary to carefully plan how to answer questions before a friendly chat with the Atos doctor/nurse who is fully trained and qualified to assess your disability, but unfortunately experience has made me lose confidence in them.

Hi, my answer to this would also be,

"I would like to be well enough"

and I wont be goaded to utter the word "yes" because, from experience, only one of those words will be recorded!

Best wishes,
Rachel