Published on 12, July, 2020
Hi,
I am new to the forum as my daughter was only diagnosed with Austistic Spectrum Disorder last summer, after a year and a half of assessments. We applied for PIP last April (I am her appointee) and have just been sent a letter saying she will not receive it, despite never going out alone and not being able to cope with communication with people other than her immediate family, and that is limited. She scored 4 points for 'engaging with other people face to face' and 4 points for 'planning and following journeys'. Zero points for everything else, despite a face to face assessment where I explained that she goes out on average once a week, sometimes less, and is always accompanied. She has lots of sensitivities, particularly with food.
Has anyone else experienced this? I am preparing an appeal. It says on the covering letter ' I realise you have a disability or health condition and receiving this decision isn't the news you were hoping for'. It's a joke.
Hi, my son is 19 and has been going through the assessment stage since he was 16. He has had to deal with the transition from adolescent services to adult services which has caused lots of delays. I was advised to apply for PIP and I went along with him to his assessment. At that time he had still not had any formal diagnosis which I feel went against him. 1 week later he was diagnosed with Aspergers and then received his letter to say he didnt qualify for PIP. I read your post with interest as your daughter sounds very similar to my son. He is due to finish his 6th form course this month and the future is a big worry. He sees a Phsycologist for his social anxities and he and another phsychiatrist who assessed him have both said he could not cope with going into the working world yet as like your daughter he never leaves his room or engages even with us his family very much. I agree to look at him he is physically fine and I feel this is what they based the PIP assessment on. We now have the diagnosis report and I am about to write the letter asking to be reconsidered, but I am almost sure that they will still tell him he doesnt meet the criteria. If you have a 'disability' that affects your everyday life and inhibits your ability to engage and interact with others then why isnt that enough? I feel so helpless keep watching him having to go through all these assessments knowing how much torture it is for him to sit there and be questioned and have to face people in an unknown place only to be told 'you dont meet the criteria'. I will take on board the advise on here and contact my local welfare rights advisor as I am trying to help him on my own and feel like I'm drowning under the pressure of it all. It is good to see that you got the right result in the end. It shouldnt take that long and you shouldnt have to fight so hard for it. I thought getting a dignosis would make life easier for him, but now I'm not so sure.