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Benefits: how do you get them?

Laddo

I have been working on and off since I was 17 and in the past couple of years I have come to realise I simply cannot do it without proper support. The trouble is, due to the way my mother has treated me and my Aspergers and how she refused to help me understand my condition better, I have gone through much of my life pretending to myself and others that I don't have an ASD. I know I need help, but I find it so difficult to talk about my Aspergers as I have been raised in such a way that has made me ashamed of who I am.

Anyway, I think I could really do with some benefits. I know as someone with an ASD I am entitled to certain benefits, but was wondering just how you can actually get them. I would just ask at my local Jobcentre, but the majority of the staff there do not seem as if they would be sensitive or understanding of my condition. They are, after all, trained to get people off benefits through any means necessary as opposed to actively helping get people into work.

Does anyone have any tips on how to get the support I need from DWP? Also any tips on better recognition of my condition from GPs would be great

  • Thanks Outraged. It's gonna be a long ride to getting my ESA

  • See I had never even heard of PIP until now! I've trawled the DWP's website time and time again and the information there is so scattered it's hard to make heads or tails of it. So from the sound of things, it doesn't look too good for the time being. 

    I know from experience that the wording on the forms for ESA is terrible and very inefficient. This has mostly been what the thing that has put me off trying to get ESA. I also fear I will have a struggle getting a doctor's note - many doctors don't understand that being one being "high-functioning" does not mean that one needs zero help. Anyone got any tips for doctor's notes?

  • It's stupid they gave no points for communication difficulties :/ I can't help much how to get Around that since my social worker done my PIP forum :/

  • DebzD22 said:

    I'm on ESA and receive PIP, apparently it comes down to how the disability affects you instead of what disabily you have

    so you could get an ESA forum and get someone to help you fill it in 

    first you will need to get sick note from doctor somehow 

    My entitlement apparently is for ESA but not PIP...but get this, I recieved 0 points to reflect communication difficulties?

  • I used to work for DHSS many years ago. A lot of the problems with staff stem from the constant abuse they get from lots of people all day. Not ASD people.

     I would suggest calling at the beginning of the day and early in the week. The hard exterior is easier to overcome.

    Be pleasant, overly so if possible. Enquire about their health, how their day is going. Use the random act of kindness approach. It's a lousy job at times, and they do it to pay the bills. Remember how you might feel if sworn at and threatened. I know you would be polite, but so many people are not.

    It calls on all the skills we lack most, but, prepare and hope and smile a lot. Andif all else fails appeal, in writing. That moves your case to a higher member of staff.

    Good luck

  • Unfortunately we never cease hearing stories about how insensitively DHSS and Job Centre Plus staff handle people on the spectrum.

    The Government and DHSS keep assuring us they are doing things properly, but there seems to be no sign of any improvement. NAS Moderators, could you ask Campaigns to take up this issue again?

  • I'm on ESA and receive PIP, apparently it comes down to how the disability affects you instead of what disabily you have

    so you could get an ESA forum and get someone to help you fill it in 

    first you will need to get sick note from doctor somehow 

  • I applied for ESA twice and they basically said that while they acknowledged that I had a disability, I did not qualify for ESA. Which sucked. I ended up living off savings and getting into debt before going on JSA. I hope you have better luck.

  • You complete the form, and drop it off, with a sicknote, at the jobcenter...you either want to get an NT to do this or go at 4.55 when its empty as you may suffer sensory and/or anxiety issues if you have to que in a socially disorginised enviroment under flurescent lighting. 

    You'll be required to send more sick notes for about six months by which time you should be moved to "support group" and no longer need to prove entitlement.

    A claim for ESA requires very little to no interaction with jobcenter staff.