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Severe deafness, mental illness, heart disease, ar

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6 years 9 months ago #191997 by Amy8596
Hi-can anyone advise on this? I have multiple conditions with the 2 prominent ones being mental illness and severe deafness. I sent in both a letter from my psychiatrist and a copy of my last audiogram as well as a letter from my surgeon confirming my arthritis in my knees and was promptly turned down for PIP even though I was on DLA for 9 years. I did a mandatory reconsideration which was also turned down. Now on appeal stage and got papers from DWP Saturday on their response to tribunal. Citizens advice helped me on appealing to tribunal. However DWP are of the opinion neither I or CAB are health specialists or disability analysts so we don't know what we are talking about......even though I live with the conditions. The F2F was a joke. Can someone advise on the best way to present this at tribunal when I get my date as I'm nervous and worried now.

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6 years 9 months ago #192051 by Gordon
Amy

Welcome to the forum, you might want to have a look at the following FAQ which explain where everything is

Welcome to Benefits and Work

Ignore the comment from the DWP, it's standard for an appeal and won't have any influence on the appeal panel.

Although you mention two conditions, you don't explain how they impact on your ability to complete the PIP activities.

PIP has specific criteria that you need to meet so I would start by going through your PIP2, the assessment report and our PIP Claim guide to make sure that you have shown that you meet the PIP Descriptors.

You need to be able to complete the activities "reliably" and on "the majority of days" so have you included any problems that you have in relation to these phrases?

Are the CAB helping you with your appeal? If they are then they may have their own response that they may want to include.

If you have any specific questions then please reply to this post and we will do our best to help.

Gordon

Nothing on this board constitutes legal advice - always consult a professional about specific problems

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6 years 9 months ago #192109 by Amy8596
Thank you. No the CAB is not coming to my tribunal. They said filling in the pw was as far as they could go.
On impact, let me start with hearing. If I am in a supermarket with noise around me, 9 times out of 10 I cannot hear the clerk tell me anything. My husband and I make a joke out of it saying I'm deaf as a doorpost. So I rely on him to help me understand and repeat what is being said. Plus I have limited skills in lipreading. At work I have to use a Roger pen with my phone or I can't understand what is being said on a call. When my aids are out at night, of course I can't hear anything so rely on my husband if a fire or someone broke into our house. Just a few examples of what I struggle with on hearing.
On MI, I have bipolar disorder which my husband monitors my moods and medication. I suffer from depression more than mania and am very susceptible to stress which tends to be my main triggers. My psychiatrist even put that in the letter to them as evidence. On both of these, I struggle with everyday life yet the DWP think Just because I'm in finance for work I need no help. I could write a book on how everything affects me. I should mention also I was on DLA for almost 9 years so they knew all this already but seem to now think I need no help all of a sudden like I'm cured or something.

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6 years 9 months ago #192117 by Amy8596
Thanks! CAB have done all they can (fill in pw). I'm on my own for the tribunal. My psychiatrist has mentioned in his letter to them that I am seen regularly and that I continue to experience symptoms of the MI in an episodic pattern. I have some effect on my concentration and motivation in the longer term prone to more symptoms exaggerated when under stress due to excessive work and family life. My husband monitors my medication and mood swings and takes over during deep depressionsxetc. I suffer from voices as well which the f2f mentions but the decision maker disregarded. This falls under needing help for descriptors managing therapy or a health condition, engaging with ppl and budgeting decisions. On the budgeting they say I need no help because I work in finance without regarding I have no access to money nor can I make decisions without approvals. On hearing, they determined I can hear because I was in a quiet room and therefore need no help ad my aids are sufficient enough. What they don't take into account and on which I argued is how I do in everyday life with noise around me(in a shop or crossing the road for example) which I have to rely on others for assistance. I watch telly with subtitles on because my aids do not restore clarity. They only make things louder. Now imagine having this lous sound in your ear and then at night removing the aids to sleep - total loss of sound. This falls under descriptors planning and following journeys and communicating verbally. However they say I only qualify if I have help from a cmh worker or professional in verbal services such as a ball interpreter. Just a quick example of some effects I encounter.
Amy

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6 years 9 months ago #192143 by Gordon
Amy

You need to address the PIP Descriptors directly so for Communicating these read;

a. Can express and understand verbal information unaided. 0 points.
b. Needs to use an aid or appliance to be able to speak or hear. 2 points.
c. Needs communication support to be able to express or understand complex verbal information. 4 points.
d. Needs communication support to be able to express or understand basic verbal information. 8 points.
e. Cannot express or understand verbal information at all even with communication support. 12 points.

As you can see "communication support" is required to score more than 2 points unless you can show that you "cannot express or understand verbal information at all" which from your post suggests is not the case.

I'm afraid I don't think that your not having access to actual money and not having a decision making capability on your job is sufficient argument to counter your not scoring for Making decisions about money, the level of incapacity required for this is quite high, for example it your job involves any working with numbers then I think you will struggle to show that you cannot meet the requirements for "simple budgeting decisions", what problems do you have with "complex budgeting decisions".

What problems do you have with your medication, due to the change in the Descriptors that occurred in March you will not be able to score more than one point for this?

Gordon

Nothing on this board constitutes legal advice - always consult a professional about specific problems

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6 years 9 months ago #192162 by Amy8596
Hi Gordon.....what change in descriptors which occurred in March? I was put through in January so wonder now if something is different?

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