Pip Appeal - Recordings?

Dear Teresa

May I start off by saying I really do feel your pain and suffering and I know how traumatic this is for you.
I myself was a victim of sexual abuse, which is the root cause of my mental health disabilities, so I fully understand exactly where you are coming from.

I have been in the same place as you with the DWP on many occasions feeling hopeless and not being believed and feeling so desperate that I feel the need to prove the sexual abuse in order to justify my mental health and need to claim benefits.
Nobody should ever be put in a position where they have to justify their mental health, so I really do get where you are coming from.

Sadly the DWP are very inhumane sometimes and I have had some shocking experiences, when I have been to tribunal though I have been treated with far more dignity and respect and they have been very understanding of my traumatic life and the debilitating effect it has had on my life.
The Tribunal would never expect you to justify your mental health and go into personal details of the abuse that you suffered from.
They are only interested in your disabilities and how they affect your day to day life and your ability to carry out certain activities.

That is not to say that they do not need to hear about your traumatic past, and by the sounds of it, the evidence supplied by your GP and Sister will be so beneficial as they will understand whats happened and the effect that it still has on you today.
Hence the reason why I did not feel that it would be necessary for you to feel that you need to submit evidence in the form of you being abused by your X, I hope that makes sense.

Tribunals can be extremely stressful at the best of times and I would not like to see you traumatise yourself further by having to sit through the ordeal of them going through that evidence in your presence.
But this is your claim and if you feel it is necessary then you must do it.

I obviously do not know the ins and outs of your case and how you set out your evidence in your claim, but, I do believe and would hope you would be treated with more with dignity and understanding by the tribunal who will take a much more considered approach than the Decision Maker at the DWP...

The forum moderators would be able to tell you better than I, but I believe there are occasions when the DWP can pull out of a tribunal if the evidence is overwhelming and they feel they are going to lose the case????
So if I was you, I would use the resources that I already sent you, setting out why the DM was wrong to say that lack of medication and Psychology was evidence that you did not suffer from anxiety.
And I would take each Descriptor in turn and really think about what points you are trying to score, consider how your disability affects your ability to carry out that descriptor and how you go about managing the task.....And then state what points you believe you should have scored...

For Example on engaging face to Face

If someone believed they needed social support.(4) points
They would have to frame their arguments around, not being able to do the task at all unless they received support from a family member for example.
They would have to give an example of what happens when confronted with a social encounter.
i.e Due to my anxiety becoming so overwhelming, my mind begins to race and I can not calm my thought process down enough to think clearly, I will panic and go into flight mode, I need the support of "x" in order to calm me down and remind me that I am safe and help me to remove myself from the situation safely.
Afterwards, when I get home, I will ruminate about the incident for days afterwards which makes my anxiety worse which results in me not being able to leave my home for days as I dare not risk another encounter, therefore I can not carry out this task reliably and I feel I should have been awarded 4 points .

The tribunal is used to the DWP trying to use the fact that because someone sees a Dr then they can engage with people face to face and as far as I am aware the Tribunal see's right past this and more often than not rules in the claimant's favour.

Hope this is helpful to you.

I would consider maybe writing to your MP about what has happened to you with the DWP and seeing if you can get them on side and maybe a quick search of your area for a domestic abuse charity, as many of them have welfare advisors who can support you and offer advocacy services with tribunals.

Please feel free to ask as many questions as you like on here and never worry about rambling. I feel you and I have done much rambling myself on here with my own situation with the DWP

Thank you so much for your reply and sorry it has taken me a while to respond, I get palpitations even putting my questions out openly on this forum. I take on board everything you've said and don't think I will send the recordings...it will probably just give me more sleepless nights than I already have, I just wish I'd done everything differently from the beginning and I wouldn't be in this situation now. I'm very sorry that you suffered from abuse too, it is soul-destroying having to explain the ways in which any abuse effects you mentally day-to-day. I will consider writing to my MP, I don't suppose it can hurt. Thank you for all your help and advice, it's much appreciated!