DLA to PIP

Hi Gordon,
I had my F2F yesterday 01/06/2017...I was accompanied by my friend.
I found the session very stressful and I'm still feeling sick...!
To refresh your memory, I am registered severely sight impaired (blind) due to a condition called RP.
To start with, the assessor claimed that he had not received my answers to PIP2 form from DWP, which were typed up and sent along with the form. I gave him the copy as I had it in my bag. He said, he would send the copy to DWP but would like to go through the questions personally one by one - to which I agreed.
Then he asked me series of questions (as stated in B&W guide) and when I try to explain the problems I face relevant to the question asked, he would interrupt me by saying ''it is not relevant or we will cover it later'' (very intimidating to say the least...and his tone was not polite either). He kept doing that for most of the questions - I felt he was looking for just yes or no answers and didn't want to hear any explanation - to a point that I had to tell him politely that ''please hear me out, due to your interruption I am losing my train of thought & getting confused.'' He replied, I was going in irrelevant details (or what I was saying would be covered later)...then he said, he has only one hour to finish the assessment as he had to do other assessments and promised that he would give me time in the end to explain any points missed out. I must say after my protest, he calmed down a bit and became little pleasant too.

I give you one example of his interruption:
Question asked, if I can cook a simple meal using two vegetables?
I said ''no'' and started explaining the problems I would face. He interrupted and said, if you have to cook simple meal with two vegetables and vegetables given to you. can't you cut and put them in the microwave and cook. I said I can't see the numbers on the dial. he said why don't u use the magnifier. I said I haven't tried that...so he quickly made a note in his system that magnifying glass hasn't been tried.

I told him about issues with identifying ingredients , measuring them, checking the sell by date...he said ''due to your visual impairment, it is already given that you can't see.''
I don't understand the impact of this statement on my points?

On the reading question, he pulled out a card with writings of different sizes and asked me to confirm which paragraph I could read and after that asked me to read the snellen chart on the wall...I did attempt to read the best I could.... But I wonder if they are permitted to do that? If memory serves me right, I read in the guidelines for the assessors issued by DWP specifically mention that they shouldn't test the vision of visually impaired claimant who has a certificate of visual impairment?

To be fair, in the end he did give me time to say things which were not covered. But by that time I was very tired (side effect of my medication) and could not focus...I did try and state things which I could remember but not 100% sure if I have covered everything.
In the end he reassured me that he will send my written replies to DWP.

Gordon my worry is this: I don't know what the assessor has recorded in his system for the DM. Would DM make a decision on the assessor's report alone or would they consider my written answers too? (I have spent one month in drafting my answers with the help of RNIB...I don't wish that to go to waste!)
Lastly, do you think I should contact DWP to ensure they have my answers in the system for DM to look at?

Sorry for this long post and asking too many questions....
Btw, just remembered...assessor didn't mention about his qualification / experience in the introduction, I wasn't sure if he was expert in dealing with claimants like me with sight problems so I asked him on my out that you didn't tell me about yourself...he replied, ''I am not here to tell you about myself (may be he thought I was asking about his personal life ).'' ...then he said, I am one of the analyst here and I am a nurse with 20 years of experience. But he didn't tell experience in what...and I didn't feel appropriate to ask!

Hi Gordon, I have received the copy of the assessment report and as feared HP only included what he wanted to include...mixture of facts and made up things. He gave me 4 points for care component and 0 point for mobility.
Shocking thing is this: I am registered blind with no peripheral vision and very restricted central vision which is effected by all sort of things i.e. water logging, floaters and flashing of lights... and my dear HP has said that because he goes to work everyday & managing fine so he can make journeys unaided!

I am really disappointed...to say the least!

Gordon, please advice what would be the next step? I assume I have to wait for the decision letter to come before I request for mandatory reconsideration.

I don't want to have the expectation that DWP may consider my detailed account of problems I face and supporting documents (including certificate of visual impairment (CVI), Blind person council registration card) and make favourable decisoin for me...

Thanks Gordon
I have checked the HP name on the NMC register and now know why he didn't want to tell me about himself. He is a registered Mental Health nurse (RMN). I wonder how a mental health nurse can assess a person with sight impairment...Opthalmic nurse would have been suitable in my case. May be that they go through robust training, which enable them to assess claimants with different medical condtions!

I have thought about it and have decided to write to the DM briefly highlighting the shortcomings of the report rather than focusing on the assessor but will mention that RMN shouldn't have assessed a visual impaired person like me.

Hi Just to update, I wrote to DWP and sent the letter by post on Friday. I rang up DWP as well on Friday morning to double check the address and informed them about my letter. I was asked the need for sending the letter...upon explaining I was put through to the case worker...who initially insisted that I should wait for decision letter and then ask for MR...I had to convince her that If DM don't see this letter then they won't be in a position to make the right decision...if they follow the HP advice....
Case worker agreed to go through my concerns over the phone but I requested that I would rather send the letter...for which she agreed and promised to made a note in the system stating that I was sending in a letter by post, which needs to be considered before decision is made on my PIP application.

Hopefully letter will be delivered by Monday...and I will call on Wednesday to check if that has been scanned in the system.
I am quite stressed about all this...but can't do much!