Hi - I'm unable to cope with social engagement for all but three hours a week at most, because of severe fatigue.
I'm appealing a decision to put me in the ESA WRAG group and see that for this descriptor, the only allowable reason for not being able to cope with social engagement seems to be having a cognitive impairment or mental disorder, which is not the case for me.
Have I misunderstood this? Should I be including that descriptor in my appeal?
I'm including others such as being able to mobilise 50 metres but it seems weird to exclude things I can't actually do because I can't do them for reasons DWP don't seem to have conceived of.
There are some limitation as to how the ESA descriptors can be related to a claimants conditions.
For example, descriptors, 1-10 can only be used in the context of an underlying physical condition, so as an example; someone with agrophobia could not use the mobilising descriptor.
For questions 11-17, the link is more tenuous and there does not have to be an underlying mental illness for a claimant to make use of a descriptor. For example, someone suffering from ME mightt have issue with Coping with Change (14).
However, you still need to review the wording of the descriptor to see whether it is applicable to your situation. So in the case of descriptor 16, the phrase
due to difficulty relating to others or significant distress experienced by the individual
is included, and therefore limits the usage of the descriptor to these situations only.
I hope this explains it.
Gordon
Nothing on this board constitutes legal advice - always consult a professional about specific problems
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