Had my Assessment for PIP from DLA

Thank you Gordon, I will wait and see but won't hold my breath as I don't think they take deafness as such a disability, I scored 2 for washing and bathing due to using an aid due to my arthritis, they didn't take into account that when I bathe or shower I need someone else in the house due to not being able to hear the smoke alarm, I know the risk is low but the consequence of harm is high, but didn't score me on that, I got 10pts for Care and 8pts for moving around mobility but they were all due to my COPD and Osteoarthritis,

I haven't seen many post for deafness on here

My HP from IAS gave no concession at all for my deafness. I am relatively deaf and have hearing aids in both ears.
At my home assessment, the HP was sat around 2.5 metres from me and had to repeat absolutely every question because she was looking down at her laptop as she was talking and I couldn't hear/lipread what she was asking. Some questions had to be repeated twice and my assessment ended up lasting for almost 2 hours because of this.
In the HP report, I scored 2 points for using aids and zero for talking with other people! I had gone into great detail on the additional info attached to my form about inability to effectively communicate with other people due to deafness but my info was completely disregarded in the report. I did manage to get enough points with my physical problems to get PIP but my deafness was practically ignored.

Teri

Teri, I agree that these HP really don't understand deafness and how difficult our life is that includes GP's as they do the same when talking to you the look at their computer screen, the amount of concentration it takes to lip read makes you very tired and withdrawn, we really have to emphasise to them the difficulties we experience on a day to day basis hearing aids are not like spectacles they don't really improve your hearing loss much that's why I put in a MR and gave them examples of what it's like to be deaf

I do agree Helen - I was barely functioning by the time the assessment was finished. TBH the HP was glad to get finished too as it had been a hard 2 hours for her too. If I had not got the points needed for enhanced care & mobility, I would definitely have put in for a MR. I find that my GP mumbles but I just tell him to shout up & he gets the message. In my experience. most medics are fairly good at speaking up, looking at you and making sure you understand what they are saying as long as you tell them you're deaf and keep reminding them. I still have to ask my husband to clarify some things afterwards though. Other people I often just smile or grimace at - hopefully at the right times as it is too tiring to keep letting them know that you haven't a clue what they are saying. The other problem I have & mentioned in my F2F is the constant ear infections and having to leave the aids out which makes you feel even more cut off and really anxious.
Good Luck with your MR.

Teri