PIP Planning a journey

Hello

I was awarded PIP in July 2017 from a claim made in January 2017. I suffer from anxiety, depression and ASD.

The award I received was the Enhanced Rate of daily living, and nothing for mobility.

The assessor scored me 4 points for ‘Planning and following journeys’. In their comment, they wrote that I have difficulty going out due to increased anxiety, which is consistent with CPN and GP that I have severe anxiety issues and said it would be reasonable to suggest I would require prompting to undertake any journey reliably and repeatedly.

In my original questionnaire for the question about this. I stated I am always anxious when I do go out and need to use a map on my phone even if I know the route as I can easily get lost. I also said I have to allow a lot of time to get somewhere and allow for getting lost, which causes much more anxiety before during and after the outing.

Is it likely I will be reconsidered under the recent review of PIP claims? When I was awarded PIP my mental health nurse did say she thought I should have received at least the lower rate of mobility, but I was so broken by the process I told her I did not want to do anything about it.

Thank you for your kind attention to my message.

Hello Gordon

I am very grateful for you taking the time to respond to me.

Without the use of a map, I would be in big trouble. I think due to my ASD, my brain cannot remember things like other people. I can get lost on routes I know, sometimes taking the wrong turnings or missing my stops even though I have done the journey several times. I get confused. It’s really annoying as I try very hard to memorise points of interest but they get jumbled. Even with a map sometimes I can get confused about the placement of the dot and when the next step should be taken. All of this means I unfortunately don’t do much independent travelling despite wanting to be more independent. And the amount of time it takes me to make a journey is very long sometimes.

In my form the welfare advisor stated that I can and do easily get lost even if I know the route. And that this brings on “extreme anxiety” before and during the journey.

Whether or not this qualifies as psychological distress I do not know.

I do not expect I will be given a new award. What I am interested in, though, is if I will receive a letter to say they reviewed my claim and decided I do not meet the criteria for an award for mobility under it.

The whole process of benefit claiming is so dreadful. I am in debt to people like you, my mental health nurse and Citizens Advice as without their support I think I would not be claiming anything. The most recent experience I had claiming ESA (despite being awarded) had such a bad impact on me I have still not recovered and am not sure when I will be able to. I unfortunately get very upset with timeframes and scrutiny and waiting, and when in limbo I get very unwell. Sometimes I feel unable to articulate myself despite having a well developed vocabulary, and lack a lot of insight into my disabilities, needing much prompting. I would like to think I am improving, however this system makes me feel like a defective human being who should have been disposed of on the production line.

Thank you for your response and I apologise for my lengthy reply. Lately I am feeling a bit scattered.