Dreaded ESA….

@sybyllascarlett wrote:

Yes, folks, I got my form today…..it has many pages to fill in and I have 4 weeks to do it and return it. I read through it all, but as it’s Saturday I have decided to leave it till next week. I am not going to stress about it over the weekend.
Sybylla

Take youe time, draft out answers and leave them to read cold the next day and take a copy of the form before you return it [for your own records].

dont forget when answering the questions. that its how you are on your worst days!.

@vicki wrote:

I’ve been on ESA for 2yrs and today I got the Esa form from the lovely ATOS to fill out again because obviously I’ve had a miracle and been cured in the past 2yrs (idiots), what a waste of money!!

Vicki, you’ve been holding out on us!!

This is the prime reason to keep copies – you can put the same answers again and add a little more where necessary.

@sybyllascarlett wrote:

@vicki wrote:

I’ve been on ESA for 2yrs and today I got the Esa form from the lovely ATOS to fill out again because obviously I’ve had a miracle and been cured in the past 2yrs (idiots), what a waste of money!!

So there is a cure at last, thank goodness. Where do we start to queue for it?
Sybylla

Try not to worry about filling in a new ESA form, i had to do that last year after a similar period and was “promoted” to the Support Group without even having to attend a medical.

I’ve adde a few thoughts Ranald.

@ranald wrote:

I must be in a similar position to you then Littlestef, i too am in receipt of Support Group ESA but can’t see how i will qualify for any PIP.

I will claim the bars in my walk-in shower are aids to washing but who knows whether than counts? Yes – as well as the nonslip flooring.

As for planning a journey, doesn’t that apply more to those with mental disabilities? It can, unless you have to add extra planning to enable to use it, such as ensuring disabled access, disabled toilet facilities, can they cope with wheelchairs/crutches etc, is there someone there to help wth carrying baggage etc.

I still manage to clean myself after using the loo but it is becoming increasingly difficult, i have to stand and hold on to the rail at the side of the loo. Yet again, who can say whether a grab rail constitutes an aid to toileting?Yes – if the handrail was not there, you would be unable to do the job, so it aids your toileting.

Tbh, if i qualify for any PIP i will consider it a victory, there is no way in hell i will ever get another Motability car, i am already saving up my DLA to buy an old car next year.

Take a look around and consider everthing. I will be putting down about dressing, if I wear a shirt/blouse I need someone to do the small buttons – i wear pull on stuff because I can do it myself and because I cannot do buttons. I need help dressing.

When I completed my DLA review nearly 10 years ago, i spent a week going through everything, asking myself “If I did not use this could I still do the job” [esp cushion on chairs, heights of chair arms etc]] or “Am I taking this option because my disability means i have no alternative’ this last one was about veg, I cannot peel, scrub, scrape, chop, slice fresh veg, but I can use frozen veg. Frozen veg is limited in variety, so i need a person to ‘do’ my veg, this was a point they agreed I needed help with.

@ranald wrote:

I still manage to clean myself after using the loo but it is becoming increasingly difficult, i have to stand and hold on to the rail at the side of the loo. Yet again, who can say whether a grab rail constitutes an aid to toileting?.

Hi Ranald,
I would say that a grab rail most certainly does constitute an aid to toileting, because if it wasn’t there you would be in a difficult situation. Anything that you need that someone without your disabilities wouldn’t need is an aid for you.

I began to complete my ESA form today – there’s only 19 pages to go through, so it shouldn’t take long…..I’m going to do a bit at a time – it’ll probably take me about 2 weeks.

Sybylla

Just echoing other people’s advice here, but yes, it is vital that you note down everything that you use to help you do things, and give the picture of what things are like on your worst day. And don’t be proud about it.

There are some days when I can get my upper body dressed on my own, but others when I can’t. So I have to put down that I need assistance dressing, otherwise I’d spend some days half-dressed (not a pretty sight).

Rails are definitely an aid, as you wouldn’t always manage without them. And “normal” people don’t need them.

It’s a good idea to keep a notebook and write down all the things that you use to assist you in daily living, and to help you remember how things are on your bad days. When you come to fill in the form, list them all.

I won’t get even a single point for the mobility questions, i am weakened but still get about without too much difficulty, just as long as i stay away from steps and steep inclines.

I fully accept that i only scrape the qualification as things stand, raising the bar then takes me out of the picture completely.

Saying that, it’s all very well counting my blessings, but that doesn’t help me to get a job and pay my own way. I am always going to be an unattractive prospect for employers, but might find myself too fit to make the PIP grade. (one would have to be very disabled indeed to gain 12 points mobility)

I have no idea what a “muscle disease officer” is, i only see a Neurologist annually, and he is hardly what i would call approachable.

Looking at the last two PIP questions relating to mobility, one would have to be unable to walk 20 meters to achieve the necessary 12 points for the Enhanced Rate. I would imagine that rules out the majority of DLA – Higher Rate Mobility (HRM), there is no creative form filling that can get around that fact, that is the new criteria, there is nothing that says they can’t raise the bar.

The other descriptor relates to suffering “overwhelming psychological distress” means an enduring mental health condition or an intellectual or cognitive impairment. It is possible that some of you guys can go with the following and planning part though.