Published on 12, July, 2020
Hi All
I have always known there was something different/not normal about me, when I was a child I thought I was just naughty but as I grew older I tried looking for answers. Doctors took me at face value and dismissed my problems.
Finally at 33 I decided to have a private assessment and was diagnosed in April with High Functioning Autism aka Aspergers.
I started the PIP process in Jan this year citing reasons of depression, anxiety and autism, going into detail for each category I experienced issues.
At the atos assessment it appears I came across too "normal" and was scored zero points in all areas and they criticised my lack of diagnosis. This was especially frustrating when I told them at the assessment my diagnosis was scheduled within the week and once I had the diagnosis I called them to wait until I had the report to make their decision. They ignored this request and sent out their decision before I got the report.
I then went through the mandatory reconsideration outlining why I thought they had misunderstood me and the very unsuited physiotherapist (I don't claim to have any physical difficulties) judged me just like a book by the cover. This included my full diagnostic report, notes from my councillor that saw me within 4 days of the atos assessment along with medical records and further explanation from me.
So I was shocked when the reconsideration came back with zero points again saying how the report doesn't matter as it was after my atos assessment and during that time I came across with no issues along with saying I can drive a manual car which means doing multiple things at once and so I should have no issues. This has left me feeling really low and made me question the fairness and honesty of this system and I don't know if I have the energy to take this to tribunal even though I have nothing to lose.
Any help or advice would be very much appreciated.
I have been through the process of applying for Pip and ESA and going to Tribunal. I have had successes and failures. If you do go ahead to Tribunal level be very aware that it is tough. Very tough. It damaged me considerably to the extent that I refused to reapply for well over a year afterwards before persuaded to try again. Then I had full support from Welfare Rights and was awarded. However the Tribunal was so horrendous that I am wary of any filling in of forms. I am in the process of redoing my own ESA forms ; if it doesn’t go as I hope then I doubt I can put myself through Tribunal again. I have every faith in Cab and Benefits and Work as suggested. And usually Welfare Rights are helpful if you can access them. As you already found out, at each stage, they will only process what you wrote in your original application. If you admit new evidence or circumstances change after that application, that isn’t taken into account. So it has been put to me more than once that it is better to reapply from scratch at a later date. However there are many success stories from people who have gone to Tribunal. I would strongly suggest that you don’t try to do this alone. It’s much better if you get backing from somewhere or someone especially if they are more “ official “ in nature like cab. It is a tough system, process and situation. Before you decide anything I suggest you take your application and supporting documents to Cab to get another opinion on your own personal circumstances, information and forms as they will have experience of both form filling and feedback from Tribunals. They may also support your application to Tribunal if that’s what you choose to do. Sorry to be negative but my own experience of Tribunal left me in a bad place ( I wasn’t diagnosed asd then) and you need to be aware that they question you very hard. I felt like I’d been severely interrogated and I couldn’t cope with that again. However... I hope others will respond, maybe they have had a more positive experience and outcome.