PIP diabetic impaired vision 2

Hi AAT,
Think about how you do each activity.
Firstly cooking - what part of the process can you actually do - bearing in mind safety, reasonable time, acceptable standard and repetition. (These are the size called 'reliability' criteria.)
Are you able to peel and chop vegetables without slicing your finger?
Have you had kitchen accidents?
Can you identify different vegetables and different meat?
Can you read the dial on the cooker?
Do you drop things because you don't see them properly?
Can you read packets to understand cooking instructions?
Can you see if meat is properly cooked?
Can you tell salt from sugar?
The test requires a simple one course meal from fresh ingredients. Think about how you would do this, how long it would take bearing in mind the questions above and any other difficulties you might have. If you take more than twice the time and able bodied person would take, or have a risk of substantial harm, cuts, burns etc or even fire if you fail to turn off the cooker or leave something near it which could catch light then you fail the criteria. All 4 must be met. Also if you produce burnt food or undercooked or over salted food etc this indicates unacceptable standard.
Failure to meet all the criteria will show help is required.
Sometimes a gadget might help you stay safe etc. if so then the correct points would get for an aid/appliance.
Maybe some supervision would help?
However, if someone needs to help and effectively they are the chef and you only do watch or do very little then you can't cook and prepare food.
If no amount of help reduces safety, acceptability etc then 1f would apply.
Although you haven't specifically asked about other daily living descriptors - think about safety and other of the 4 criteria
For example - can you see to get in the bath safely, can you correctly use the tap and not scaled yourself?
Reading I assume will be difficult as you have suggested. But can you identify any medicine, and safely take these? At least you might need a dosett box filled by another or someone needs to supervise medicine taking?
Are you able to do up buttons and shoelaces? How long do you take - is it too long?
Budgeting- do you need help to read bills and make payments?
Remember that with all descriptors it is help reasonably required not actually given.
As for mobility - it sounds like you may need to be accompanied on both familiar and unfamiliar journeys - so 1f?
If you can't see traffic, potholes, kerbs, lampposts etc then there is a clear risk of harm - likely to be substantial if you fall or don't see a car! This will be more so if you have other mobility issues.
There was a fairly recent case about someone with bad eyesight who avoided going out at night as she couldn't see well. This is the leading case on repetition - because the lady couldn't repeat the activity across the whole, (as evidenced by her avoidance of night journeys,) she failed to meet the criteria and could achieve points under mobility 1.
Unless you have other physical health problems that reduce your walking ability, then it is unlikely you will also achieve points under mobility 2.
Remember that even if you have a better day and go out walking or achieve cooking without issue etc this won't matter. Descriptor s only need to be satisfied for the majority of days. (Confusingly 'always' is not all of the time!)
I hope this helps.
Good luck and let us know how you get on.
LL26

Hi AAT

The important issue for every question is as LL26 says can you do an action safely in a reasonable time, acceptable standard and repeatedly (known as the 'reliability' criteria. In addition to your impaired vision because of your diabetes, you mentioned in your last post that you have peripheral neuropathy and stage 3b kidney disease. The DWP are not so interested in your conditions per se - but how these conditions impact your daily living and mobility as per the PIP criteria.

So LL26 broke down questions for you for the cookery question. Clearly your poor vision would be an issue, but if you are dropping things, if you can't carry a heavy pan, if you struggle to hold a knife - this may well be down to the symptoms of your peripheral neuropathy. I can only make a guess at the things you find difficult - you know what they are and you should say so. You can always group things together with sentences such as
"Because of the shooting pains in my hands, due to my peripheral neuropathy and impaired manual dexterity, I am unable to grip a knife and this make it impossible for me to prepare a simple meal. This is in addition to my impaired vision (due to my diabetes) and severe lethargy (because of kidney disease) which makes it unsafe for me to handle knives, or try and carry a hot pan and I can't even take a meal out of a microwave because I may drop the food. Because of this my partner does all the cooking. "

Now obviously I made that sentence up. You know all the areas you find impossible but the three conditions you have mentioned will have an impact on most of the questions.

So when it comes to the moving around section -go back to can you complete an action "safely, in a reasonable time, acceptable standard and repeatedly (known as the 'reliability' criteria). Do you have problems walking? I imagine you may experience pain before you even stand up? I suspect your balance could be impaired in which case there is a safety issue and if you are in pain you certainly won't walk as fast as someone without the condition. If you do have the sort of problems I have mentioned, you should tick 2e, which is the shortest distance, because you have difficulties before you take your first step. If this doesn't fit your circumstances, choose another, but be aware that people often make a mistake on this and say, "I can walk 200 metres, but I'm in pain." The assessors will not hear that you struggle if you don't make it clear how often you are in pain and what impact it has. You also have the lethargy from your kidney disease that is going to impair your ability to walk around. The one issue is if you go shopping around a supermarket - they will generally say you can walk 200m. If you do this you must emphasise difficulties you have, if you walk with an aid, if you need assistance, if you have to stop because of the pain etc. Do not assume they will be familiar with your conditions or understand the impact - you have to tell them.

BIS