ESA Chewing or swallowing food or drink descriptor

Hi cj3474,
I am not totally familiar with this descriptor as it doesn't arise very often. I managed to find some caselaw which says as follows :

"The first “or” was conjunctive and the second “or” was disjunctive in the phrase “cannot chew or swallow food or drink without repeatedly stopping, experiencing breathlessness or severe discomfort”. Accordingly, the meaning of the expression “cannot chew or swallow food or drink”, which appears in descriptors 16(a), (b) and (c), effectively meant “cannot either chew and swallow food or swallow drink”...
[2015] UKUT 304 (AAC)Reported as [2016] AACR 1CE/5261/2014

I hope this clarifies.
I'm afraid I can't help any further.
LL26

Hi cj3474

Gordon answered this question a little while ago which I thought was nicely laid out.

I would think that problems with eating fall into three areas that I'll label; aversion, ritual and depressive.

Aversion would cover illnesses such as anorexia and bulimia where a claimant won't eat to eat food without supervision or having eaten they have to watched to ensure that they don't try and get rid of it.

Ritual would cover conditions such as OCD and possibly ASD where the claimant may only eat the food if it is presented in a particular manner or maybe the food has to be prepared in particular way or using certain pots and pans, etc.

Depressive would cover claimants who have to be prompted to eat because they don't feel it is worth doing or because they do not think they are worthy of the food, they may also eat only when hungry and so do not eat nutritionally.

To be counted as able to eat you need to do so reliably and on the majority of days, if you cannot achieve this then you should score points. Reliably means;

• Safely – in a fashion that is unlikely to cause harm to themselves or to another person.
• To a necessary and appropriate standard – given the nature of the activity.
• Repeatedly – as often as is reasonably required.
• In a timely manner – in a reasonable time period.

You need to explain why you have a problem (e.g. depression)?

How it effects you (I don't eat without being prompted)?

What happens if you don't have support (I won't eat for days)?

When are you effected (every day)?

How long are you effected (all day)?

There may be multiple reasons why you have a problem, don't be afraid to mention them all.

In regards to your last question, I don't think you quoting from the DM handbook would be considered as being cocky, it would imply that they cannot pull the wool over your eyes and that you know what you are talking about.

Gary