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Aspergers and no PIP
- Janet
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7 years 6 months ago #172367 by Janet
Aspergers and no PIP was created by Janet
I have a diagnosis of Aspergers and have other difficulties such as dyspraxia and have suffered two bad psychotic episodes requiring a section and hospitalisation in 1984 and 2004. But all of this was ignored in my medical assessment. I have scored 0 for all the daily living assessments including Communication and mixing with other people which I have great difficulty in carrying out without being exhausted and getting into trouble for mistaking people's intentions and speaking to the wrong people because I have severe prosopagnosia (face recognition) problems.
I feel despair, I struggle to hold down a job, but because they say my job involves "public interaction" they say I have no problems with communicating! If only they knew. They even criticised me for referring to notes during my medical assessment. I needed to do this as my memory is so poor, I would forget all the salient facts. I was also reprimanded for having a masters degree - as if that has anything to do with it.
I am not sure if I should ask for a mandatory reconsideration - as I think they will just ignore me again.
I feel despair, I struggle to hold down a job, but because they say my job involves "public interaction" they say I have no problems with communicating! If only they knew. They even criticised me for referring to notes during my medical assessment. I needed to do this as my memory is so poor, I would forget all the salient facts. I was also reprimanded for having a masters degree - as if that has anything to do with it.
I am not sure if I should ask for a mandatory reconsideration - as I think they will just ignore me again.
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- Gordon
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7 years 6 months ago #172389 by Gordon
Nothing on this board constitutes legal advice - always consult a professional about specific problems
Replied by Gordon on topic Aspergers and no PIP
JC
I'm sorry that your claim was not successful, you have two options going forward;
Make new claim for PIP, there is no waiting time on you doing this but you will need to address the issues that prevented your current claim from resulting in an award or you will likely see the same result.
Or you can challenge the Decision although I must warn you that you will probably need to go to appeal to be able to overturn the Decision as revision rates at MR are quite low but are over 60% at appeal. You will still need to address the issues that have resulted in the zero points.
The first stage to challenging a Decision is for you to request a Mandatory Reconsideration, this needs to be done in writing to the DWP, within one month of the Decision, to the office that dealt with your claim, have a look at our PIP MR & Appeal guide for details of the process, the PIP area also has template letters that you can use to make the request with.
www.benefitsandwork.co.uk/help-for-claimants/pip
You should contact the DWP for a copy of the assessment report if you have not already done so, I would phone them but again follow up the request in writing. Once you have the assessment report you will have a better understanding of how the DWP Decision Maker has come to their conclusions and will then be able to argue against them.
Your primary task is to show that you meet the criteria, there are many reasons you may have failed, you need to address each of these but don't get bogged down in criticising the assessment report unless you can clearly show that it is incorrect, it is a lot easier to argue the facts of the situation;
"the assessor recorded that I walked 50m, I did but they have failed to document that I had to stop every 10m for a rest due to breathlessness"
than their opinions
"based on my observations of the claimant walking I believe that they can reliably walk more than 200m.
When you have a better idea of the issues with your claim, come back to the forum and we will do our best to help.
Gordon
I'm sorry that your claim was not successful, you have two options going forward;
Make new claim for PIP, there is no waiting time on you doing this but you will need to address the issues that prevented your current claim from resulting in an award or you will likely see the same result.
Or you can challenge the Decision although I must warn you that you will probably need to go to appeal to be able to overturn the Decision as revision rates at MR are quite low but are over 60% at appeal. You will still need to address the issues that have resulted in the zero points.
The first stage to challenging a Decision is for you to request a Mandatory Reconsideration, this needs to be done in writing to the DWP, within one month of the Decision, to the office that dealt with your claim, have a look at our PIP MR & Appeal guide for details of the process, the PIP area also has template letters that you can use to make the request with.
www.benefitsandwork.co.uk/help-for-claimants/pip
You should contact the DWP for a copy of the assessment report if you have not already done so, I would phone them but again follow up the request in writing. Once you have the assessment report you will have a better understanding of how the DWP Decision Maker has come to their conclusions and will then be able to argue against them.
Your primary task is to show that you meet the criteria, there are many reasons you may have failed, you need to address each of these but don't get bogged down in criticising the assessment report unless you can clearly show that it is incorrect, it is a lot easier to argue the facts of the situation;
"the assessor recorded that I walked 50m, I did but they have failed to document that I had to stop every 10m for a rest due to breathlessness"
than their opinions
"based on my observations of the claimant walking I believe that they can reliably walk more than 200m.
When you have a better idea of the issues with your claim, come back to the forum and we will do our best to help.
Gordon
Nothing on this board constitutes legal advice - always consult a professional about specific problems
The following user(s) said Thank You: Janet
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- Mark
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7 years 6 months ago #172398 by Mark
Replied by Mark on topic Aspergers and no PIP
Hi Janet
I too have a diagnosis of Aspergers and recently scored 0 for engaging face to face. In the HP report the 'nurse'? wrote "he was able enough to demand a change of room and therefore he has no problems engaging with people" I provided a 7 page report from the clinical psychologist who specialises in diagnosing Aspergers which stated my problems with face to face engagement, the lack of ability to read people etc etc.
Neither general nurses or the DWP have any understanding of Aspergers. I would have taken it to tribunal but for the fact that my sensory disability entitled me to enhanced for both elements.
I too have a diagnosis of Aspergers and recently scored 0 for engaging face to face. In the HP report the 'nurse'? wrote "he was able enough to demand a change of room and therefore he has no problems engaging with people" I provided a 7 page report from the clinical psychologist who specialises in diagnosing Aspergers which stated my problems with face to face engagement, the lack of ability to read people etc etc.
Neither general nurses or the DWP have any understanding of Aspergers. I would have taken it to tribunal but for the fact that my sensory disability entitled me to enhanced for both elements.
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