Autism, learning disability, won't attend F2F

My 19yr old son rarely leaves the house and won't go to strange places. I wrote that on the PIP form and also sent enough evidence including letters about his condition from Consultant Psychiatrist. A letter arrived this morning with an appointment for 4th April...

Last year my 17yr old son was approved PIP by a phone consultation - he also has autism but has NO learning disability.

Even if I get sedation for my 19yr old and manage to somehow get him to go to a face to face assessment, he will just say yes to everything... how can I handle this?

I contacted his psychiatrist & she's writing a letter to say it would be detrimental to his mental health to be put through an interview so I hope that helps.

Yes I am his appointee. My son knows he has autism, he does not know he has a learning disability though. He gets distressed if anyone talks about him not being able to do tasks, so he will say he can do it - even though I have to help with most activities.

All of this was written on his form. I even wrote an example of when his psychiatrist asked him if he had Diabetes, Epilepsy or Asthma and he told her he had Diabetes. He doesn't have Diabetes lol!

I found this online, the DWP's own guidelines says on page 19 that "Cases that should not require a face-to-face consultation - where there is strong evidence on which to advise on the case and a face-to-face consultation is likely to be stressful for the claimant (for example, claimants with autism, cognitive impairment or learning disability) " My son has all 3 of those examples, so they are not following their own guidelines. Why is this?

www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/upl...sessment-process.pdf

I sent a pschiatric report from C.A.M.H.S. with his claim form so they had medical confirmation of his conditions too.

I have a 25 year old son with similar problems. I was very stressed last year as he kept getting letters to attend an interview, I managed to get a specialist nurse to get involved & she just quoted the law & hey Presto he didn't have to attend & was awarded support group & PIP. Hope this helps as I understand how stressful it is, especially when appearing "normal" and saying yes to everything but not understanding any of it !!! Please look up legislation because as far as I am aware, there is a lot of new legislation to do with "autisim/ asperger/adhd to support you and just maybe quote it.
Good luck & I wish you well from another parent in the same boat!

Get a specialist nurse, harrass them to put pen to paper as to they NEED A HOME VISIT AS IT would cause too much distress to the application! Hopefully they will back off !

I wish you well as I've been there and fully understand the anxiety and stress you are under (