Disability Allowance Claim, going to tribunal

[Inca]

Re: Disability Allowance Claim, going to tribunal

OP has already stated he can stand /walk for 30 minutes. If that has changed he has to prove it to the panel.
Cooking...as I stated..gadgets and seats to help
Drugs used to help with pain........2 of them are available over the counter.Naproxen is slightly stronger ibuprofen and tramadol are not the strongest painkillers available by prescription,again,Drs note explaining why these are prescribed to OP will help.
Do you use sticks/walking frame? By your own admission you commute to work by train,,regardless of the actual train ride,you are able to get from your home to the station so that will be enough for PIP assessors to reject your claim.
I'm sorry to sound harsh but that's nothing to what the panel will ask you.........unless you can prove you have radically deteriorated (and can back it up with Drs reports etc) you won't get PIP,,,there's no point trying to 'make the truth fit' because you have already told them the facts.

Oh,,and on reading your initial post again I see you have a car...they will ask you why you use public transport that causes you so much pain instead of getting to work in the comfort of your own vehicle.

[Inca]

Re: Disability Allowance Claim, going to tribunal

[QUOTE=CleverClogs;336016]How would the ingredients be "already there"? Would they be beamed by transmat from the supermarket to your kitchen or would you have to carry them?..Online delivery services

Can you carry bags of vegetables, boxes of eggs or packs of meat? As above

Can you stand at a kitchen sink to wash/scrub vegetables, or at a work surface to prepare them?Perch seat

Can you stand over a stove as the food cooks, turning the food so that it does not burn or would you need to sit down before then because the pain was too severe?Perch seat

Do the drugs you take for severe pain make you at all giddy, clumsy or tired? Could you safely use sharp knives or a hot stove when you are in such a condition, or is there even a slight chance that you might cut or burn yourself?[/QUOTENot on the drugs stated,tramadol maybe,but panel will say wait till the side effects wear off (about 15mins)
Aha,,O Cloggy one...........IFYPFY !! (and will probably be the only time msl

[CleverClogs]

Re: Disability Allowance Claim, going to tribunal

How would the ingredients be "already there"? Would they be beamed by transmat from the supermarket to your kitchen or would you have to carry them?

..Online delivery services

That gets the ingredients to the house and may, perhaps, get them to one's pantry or larder.

Can you carry bags of vegetables, boxes of eggs or packs of meat?

As above

See above. On-line delivery services will get the goods to one's door and maybe into storage, but won't get stuff from the pantry, fridge or freezer and convey them to the kitchen when needed. Nor would the delivery services hold a bag of flour to weight out a quantity into a bowl.

Can you stand at a kitchen sink to wash/scrub vegetables, or at a work surface to prepare them?

Perch seat

Can you stand over a stove as the food cooks, turning the food so that it does not burn or would you need to sit down before then because the pain was too severe?

Perch seat

We do not know if a perch seat or kitchen stool would be appropriate, as that would depend upon the degree of kyphosis and scoliosis from which the OP suffers. One could also suggest that the OP sits in a hypothetical wheelchair if the kitchen were adapted for wheelchair use, or an even more hypothetical, elevating wheelchair if the kitchen did not have lowered work surfaces, etc. This is what ATOS assessors are trained to do - they'll find any excuse to deny disability.

Do the drugs you take for severe pain make you at all giddy, clumsy or tired? Could you safely use sharp knives or a hot stove when you are in such a condition, or is there even a slight chance that you might cut or burn yourself?

Not on the drugs stated,tramadol maybe,but panel will say wait till the side effects wear off (about 15mins)

By then, though, the food may have spoiled or burned and the OP would have to prepare the food all over again - if they still have an appetite!

I was actually thinking in terms of rather stronger pain medication than ibuprofen or tramadol.

Another point to consider - which I had omitted from the above - is the demotivating effect of the expectation of discomfort and/or pain. If the past experiences of the OP lead him to expect to be in agony after attempting an activity, it would hardly be unreasonable if he were to avoid that activity in future.

[Inca]

Re: Disability Allowance Claim, going to tribunal

I am basing my answers on the statements made by the OP Cloggy...and trying to be as honest as possible.
On the information given I don't think the tribunal will find in his favour,,I might be wrong (even I am now and then lol) The OP can't appeal on 'what might happen' grounds...it will fail.
The adjudicating panel have to be convinced that the OP meets all the criteria for PIP at this time..and being totally blunt he doesn't appear to.

[CleverClogs]

Re: Disability Allowance Claim, going to tribunal

The adjudicating panel have to be convinced that the OP meets all the criteria for PIP at this time..and being totally blunt he doesn't appear to.

Because he isn't yet bedridden, comatose, or dead?

[Eloise01]

Re: Disability Allowance Claim, going to tribunal

Another point to consider - which I had omitted from the above - is the demotivating effect of the expectation of discomfort and/or pain. If the past experiences of the OP lead him to expect to be in agony after attempting an activity, it would hardly be unreasonable if he were to avoid that activity in future.

Acknowledged - but that is a personal choice and one which I am quite sure that none of his doctors would support. Following a serious fall I have spinal and hip injuries, with consequent tearing of musculature in the ankles, shouklders and arms. I am in daily pain - the only question is how much. I cannot walk any distance without a stick now and the condition has deteriorated rapidly over the last year. My pain medications are not available over the counter - at the highest dose required for "bad days" they are morphine based and have nasty side effects.And I am double the OP's age.

I wouldn't qualify for DLA and I wouldn't dream of applying for it either - there is a very real disability (and yes, my two consultants, GP and two physio's all concur that it is now a disability) but I will be damned if I am going to be beaten by it. If the OP can stand / walk for 30 minutes then they are doing ok, because most days I can't, but it doesn't stop me trying and pushing and doing everything I can to have a normal active life. There are some things I used to do that I have had to accept I will never do again, but that list will be very short if I have my way.

I am sorry if the OP is in pain - I know how that feels. But in my opinion, if they focussed as much effort on building up what they have, rather than complaining about what they haven't, then they may find things much less debilitating.

I am in no way defending ATOS or the current governments drive to reduce benefits - but the OP seems to be very fortunate in many ways. They can drive, travel by public transport, hold down a job, and presumably get to the pub or whatever social activities they want to take up - I would be vastly surprised if, after all these activities which they can handle, they cannot manage to cook a simple meal for themselves. So I agree with Inca - there may be adaptations which can improve the quality of life for the OP, but there is also an attitude of mind which nobody can give them. You are defeated when you admit defeat.

[CleverClogs]

Re: Disability Allowance Claim, going to tribunal

Eloise, that is simply rubbish.

If you were to claim DLA or the new PIP, you would not be "giving in" to your disabilities - you would merely be getting help to cope with them.

As for "You are defeated when you admit defeat", that is simply the sort of disability discrimination propaganda peddled by ATOS, the DWP and the snollygosters currently in charge, which they gleefully broadcast via the Daily Wail and the Daily Torygraph.

[Eloise01]

Re: Disability Allowance Claim, going to tribunal

Eloise, that is simply rubbish.

If you were to claim DLA or the new PIP, you would not be "giving in" to your disabilities - you would merely be getting help to cope with them.

As for "You are defeated when you admit defeat", that is simply the sort of disability discrimination propaganda peddled by ATOS, the DWP and the snollygosters currently in charge, which they gleefully broadcast via the Daily Wail and the Daily Torygraph.

I would claim them if I remotely thought I needed them. I don't. Sorry but that is my opinion. I see many people who claim benefits and really need them - but I will not pretend that everyone who gets them needs or deserves them. Thinking that everyone who gets refused benefits is being discriminated against or victimised because they deserve them or are entilted to them is as narrow minded as those you criticise for the opposing view. Not everyone who wants benefits can have them.

[CleverClogs]

Re: Disability Allowance Claim, going to tribunal

I would claim them if I remotely thought I needed them. I don't.

Bully for you!
It's cripples like you who give the rest of us such problems... :rant:

[Eloise01]

Re: Disability Allowance Claim, going to tribunal

Obviously we will have to agree to disagree since I don't intend to brting myself down to your level and insult peoples disability or call them cripples. I think we live in a society where a significant minority think that they are entitled - and what they think they are entitled to is the money paid in by other people. It is not me who is causing "the rest of you such problems" - it is those who think that claiming benefits is an entitlement and should be their right. Whether the OP is one of those I do not know and I am not suggesting, but I agree with Inca - I can see little evidence from what the OP has said themselves that they are entitled or why they should be. It is people who have recieved all sorts of benefits whilst working, jogging to the pub or whatever - albeit a minority of claimants - who have caused the people of this country to question how their tax money is spent. If certain papers and the government canb exploit that, it is because it happens - not because it doesn't.

[MissFM]

Re: Disability Allowance Claim, going to tribunal

From the OP’s point of view a little financial help would make a big difference to maintaining a normal life. That is what DLA is supposed to be all about (enabling people) – maybe PIP will be different, I do hope not ( probably it will also be implemented so as not be geared to helping the end user ). Some are lucky enough not to need financial assistance to this end, as Eloise 01 has explained is so in her case, but that is irrelevant here. ATOS needs constant reminders that their role is supposedly to help those in need on behalf of the taxpayer (us all) rather than bully them into an early wheelchair (or an early death).
The fact that the OP has been valiant enough to endure his pain and difficulties and to put a brave face on it to the DWP has counted against him - and that is wrong in anybody’s book.
It’s particularly repugnant that the assumption now is that people are trying to blag something - ie that they are lying about their condition and how it affects them. There are scallies out there, we all know that – but there are, more importantly, people who need help and are being denied it by “ The System”.

[Inca]

Re: Disability Allowance Claim, going to tribunal

Because he isn't yet bedridden, comatose, or dead?

When I last looked I wasn't bedridden,comatose nor dead,,and I certainly am NOT a bloody CRIPPLE !!

[Inca]

Re: Disability Allowance Claim, going to tribunal

I'm hoping the new system DOES sort the genuine from the skiving gits.

[CleverClogs]

Re: Disability Allowance Claim, going to tribunal

I'm hoping the new system DOES sort the genuine from the skiving gits.

It won't.

ATOS train their assessors in how to downplay and minimise symptoms, so it will be the WCA shenanigans all over again.

[des8]

Re: Disability Allowance Claim, going to tribunal

Hi there,
I know exactly what you are going through as my 29 year old son also has Scheurmann's.
Because of it he is unable to work. He is in constant pain, can't sit for long, but also can't stand for more than 10 minutes at a time. Travel by public transport is virtually impossible, and by car it's a series of short hops and breaks to allow him out of the car to stretch. Lifting and stretching can't be done.He's married, but can't pick up or play with his children. He also has had no relief from physio and relies on painkillers (prescription and non prescription).
He does get DLA, but it was a hard slog. First application was refused, but this seems to be standard, so keep reapplying and don't let them grind you down.
Stress to the panel what you can't do; that you are in constant pain and that although you use a microwave etc sometimes, there are extended times when you cannot care for yourself because the pain is too intense That should get you the lower rate care component. Similar forceful arguments about mobility might work there as well.
Good luck and best wishes.