Published on 12, July, 2020
I really must vent, today I received my PIP decision.
I request a telephone assessment due to some of my perhaps shared autistic traits, in the assessment I divulged the most intimate aspects of my life, how my Autism effects my life in the most detrimental way.
I explained about my Dyslexia, Dyspraxia and my overwhelming anxiety and stress that damages my health and life in general.
I must say this assessment left me feeling very vulnerable, something I rarely admit to being, I have spent my adult life coping as best I can mimicking NT life and accepted norms to the best of my abilities.
Being at the age I am now it is detrimental to my health and well-being to continue as I have, which quite honestly dispite my best efforts has left me penniless and dependent.
So I plucked up the courage for the second time and request a personal independence Payment from the DWP.
The letter I received from the DWP today left me shaking with rage not just because I was rejected but for how they rejected me.
In the most intentional way, what I had communicated had been ignored or twisted.
With a grand total of 2 points for the entire assessment, I truly feel dehumanised and dismissed by the whole thing.
Over 80% of applications are denied at first stage - it's a deliberate attempt to simply make you give up. In appeals, 60(ish)% are approved without any additional information, another 30(ish)% with oral clarification. That information all comes from their own website.
I got 0 points. They even said that I communicate perfectly well. Me. Who's autistic. It would certainly be news to my Consultant as it's a key diagnostic of an autism diagnosis, without which we wouldn't have been diagnosed!
Madness. I was rambling and throughout (no surprise as my assessment has those as key characteristics I exhibited strongly), acknowledging as much, apologising for it even, and there were as many behavioural clues as stated facts in the whole phone call. And yet… basically their response amounts to a great big ‘LIAR!’ What a gruelling and intentionally abusive process.