CFS/ME Tribunal Appeal Next Week - HELP!!

I suffer from CFS/ME, along with chronic long term insomnia & depression. On my last ATOS medical I scored zero (I think it was 12 points on previous medical).

My appeal hearing is next Friday (23rd March 2012) & I'm desperate for any help/advice people can give me in relation to CFS & ME and successfully overturning the decision at the tribunal.

Any related upper tribunal decisions, relevant descriptor help/explanations/arguments, experience from other CFS/ME sufferers who have successfully overturned decisions at appeal (and how). ANY HELP REALLY will be greatly appreciated...

Thank you (in advance)

Marc

If your appeal is next week, with respect you should have sought advice earlier.

You can find case law on ME/CFS here DLA & AA Case law scroll down to paragraph 5.7.

Hope this is of some help, as you'll find it difficult to get ;face to face' advice at this late stage.

Thanks for this. I know I've left it late, but due to my illnesses, I sometime have difficulty concentrating or even using a computer & have therefore buried my head in the sand.

I appreciate you taking the time to respond

Hi Marc
I have Me/Cfs so I can understand the difficulties with concentrating. Try to have someone with you at the Tribunal, and is there anyone who can write you a supporting letter, perhaps family or friends explaining the effect Cfs has had on you and your limitations now compared to how you was when well.

I have read posts from other B&W members with Cfs who have been successful at tribunals. I Wish you all the best and hope that the decision is changed in your favour.
Mike

Jim Allison wrote:

You can find case law on ME/CFS here DLA & AA Case law scroll down to paragraph 5.7.

Jim, I went through this one 10 years ago, and it went to the Commissioner on precisely this matter.

He said that, if the Tribunal were satisfied that my account of my disabilities was genuine (which they had already said they were), then the only grounds on which they could disallow the claim was if they were in doubt about the diagnosis on CFS. I had a letter from a consultant which said there was no doubt. I won a re-convened Tribunal; without giving any further evidence.

I was looking the other week at some stuff on the web, and came across this on a DWP site advising "specialists":

The reality is that the disability of CFS/ME involves both physical and mental incapacity and it is important to ensure full consideration is given to all the disabling effects of the illness and an accurate assessment of care and mobility needs is made.”

For the purpose of DLA, however, the current law means that a claimant cannot be eligible for a higher rate of mobility unless his/her disability is considered "physical". For this purpose, CFS/ME is "physical".

Is CFS/ME a physical illness?

If that has official status, then it is more recent than the guide you quote, and may be a considerable help to those of using CFS-related disabilities in our claims.