Published on 12, July, 2020
Ive just been turned down for PIP while transitioning from DLA, which I had a Lifetime award for. I was awarded 2 points and I did not have a very good time of it with the assessor who I felt was bullying me from the moment I went into the room. I was so anxious about it. That I forgot my coat and the security guard on duty had to bring it into me.
My circumstances have changed since I got the life award, but not for the better. My late mother died who did everything for me and protected me quite a bit from the DWP and so forth.
I attend a regular support group for people with autism. I am fairly high functioning but still struggle with day to day tasks. For example, I can not cook a meal from scratch because of lapses in concentration so need an element of prompted to achieve that task. Because I do not have anything in place for that. My diet is made up of ready meals, which get burned a lot of the time because I put them in and get into doing something else and forget they are there. Even with an alarm to tell me when it is done. I can become so absorbed in what I am doing that I will not hear it or pay it mind. I also only really go out and about when in supported environments. Because I find the mainstream world to be to much of a hassle to navigate. And I still struggle with relationships.
I think the decision is WRONG and the report is made up of generalizations and it's very obvious I wasn't listened too.
The report notes that because I work and have a little bit of an education that I should be able to cope without the PIP. Its very dismissive of the anxiety, the executive functioning and the depression that I deal with and I feel very dismissive of me as an individual with autism. Even though when I mentioned the work I do I was sure to let them know it was supported employment through UNITED RESPONSE. The lady that set up and runs the support group that I attended was with me during the assessment and it we even had letters of support from a mental health social worker that knows me as well as the Autism Co-Ordinator in my area.
What advice can you give me about appealing this? I am presently very anxious and uncertain on how I am going to cope on a diminished income, much of which covers the general costs of living. Should I go straight to Welfare rights and get their help with Mandatary Appeal. The person that went with me to the appointment is still helping me. She had a feeling that it might not go my way because she felt the assessor did not have enough experience of people with autism in order to make a fair and informed decision. I just generally felt intimidated and bullied by him from the very start.
I have GCSE's and A BTEC and these things have been used against me by the assessor. I had a mother taking care of me when I did those and a lot of support. I would not be able to do them now in my current situation. Now I struggle to manage day to day and find it really exhausting doing the things that I do. Volunteering at a community centre, which has others like me. And working within the system itself via UR as a consultant, which is paid but its not work that comes up every week. Truth be told I'd struggle to do 16 hours in most jobs. Especially supermarkets and the like because I have auditry sensativity to a point where prolonged exposure to noisy work places leads to meltdown.
I'm really sorry to hear about your mum and how you are struggling today. I too was also on a lifetime DlA award. I've had help from diverse abilities (a charity that I've paid to help me) but I think they are more about money. In either case, I was repeatable scored very low, my answers were minimised, other pages with questions I never answered (fabricated, not even my behaviour) with decision stating its been made by looking at x,y,z and made on the muscle-skeleton accessment but that was not carried out. I am struggling.
I realise that being homeless would be tough and being in prison would take care of my means. I am fed up being treated like an idiot by government departments who think it is OK to clearly mistreat me. I think you are having a similar experience.
The absolute worst case (which actually seems pretty good) is I go out and try to burn down ASOS, becoming like a martyr. The NT majority in this country do not support capitilist punishment and I would not hurt a living thing because I think maybe it's not ok to always feel victimised by government departments (GP treats me like I'm delusional, the magistrates recently charged me (but I'm in innocent) and the PIP department has fabricated my answers. All in the last year. Prior to this I was doing well in life but all this pressure (same for you) is very tough.
So maybe, those of us who are really struggling take the fight to government. It costs more to lock us up than support us at home. So let's not end up homeless. Let's get help, fight by words and paper first though. If it gets too much, just burn down the local ASOS centre lol.. This thought process I find relieving.
But It's going to work out ok & the best advice I can give is send as much evidence as possible. Copy everything prior for your own records... Then send pages and pages. Overwhelming them with paperwork! Life will become manageable again, it has too!!
I’ve got my balaclava and fire sticks at the reasy :) I don’t need to add anymore, I’m with you, I’m fighting this all the way and I’m going to dedicate my life to help others do the same. It’s unacceptable on so many levels. I’ve started to re-study the human rights act and others because we have a human right to life, dignity and to be treated as equals in society.