Pip

Hi STEVO

I know it's terrifying; perhaps you can't do it right now, but leave the door open for yourself regarding putting in for an MR. You're right - the people who mark and assess these things don't know you, and all they can do is give their 'opinion'. It's awful when you fundamentally disagree with them and think you have already provided them with the evidence. Now you can accept their opinion (with gritted teeth) - or you can say, 'They've got it wrong, and I'm going to show them how wrong they are.' It's not easy to get them to change their mind at the MR stage - but some people are successful and others like Denby fought on to a Tribunal and won that. Obviously, you can only fight on if you feel strong enough to, and that's why I say leave the option of putting in for a late MR.

You have two issues that are notoriously difficult to get assessors to understand "mental health and fibromyalgia" - as for the degenerative disc disease, they may not have come across it at all and only have rudimentary knowledge. So like many you are struggling against the lack of knowledge and experience of the people judging you. You can do things like keep a diary for a couple of weeks and include that in your evidence, you can get a partner, relative, or friend to write letters saying what they have observed or have had to do for you. You can go back through every question and see if there was anything you missed or you could have strengthened. Are they aware of how often you drive and what an effort it is to do so. Perhaps for the majority of the time you never get in the car because of the pain and exhaustion. Describe what exhaustion is like for you. You may have already done this, but having exhaustion from fibromyalgia is very different from someone saying they've had a bad day at work and they're exhausted. You will have times you won't be able to hold your body upright. This will make you unsteady, unsafe and unreliable.

Your mental health - you're right - just because you can speak - it doesn't mean a thing. Reiterate the assessor was unable to see you, so was unable to see any signs of anxiety or pain and as they have never heard your voice before they would not know how you were feeling or whether you were showing signs of distress. Describe how you were feeling, how you do feel for the majority of the time and exactly how that manifests itself. There is no standard for what a person with anxiety or depression should look like or how they should speak. Go back through each question and say how it impacts on your daily life - from whether you eat regularly, how it impacts on any social interactions, etc. If the assessor made any assumptions, simply say they were mistaken and that the evidence you have about your anxiety should hold greater credence than someone who does not know you and has only spoken to you for an hour and a half. Cite once again any medical evidence you have, but make sure you link it to the specific questions. Never expect the DWP to work out what the evidence means or what it applies to. - eg. "I am unable to carry heavy pots because of the pain and poor balance from my degenerative disc disease (see Mr P Smith's letter - Consultant Rheumatologist - 13/10/2022) and my fibromyalgia (see Mrs Brown's letter- Senior Physiotherapist - 20/05/20). It doesn't matter if you have to keep quoting from the letters over and over again for each question you want to challenge. Too often if they look at the evidence they will skim past it simply because they don't link it all up.

You don't have to take any notice of what I've written - I just want you to know what you should try and do if you feel up to challenging the decision at some point.

BIS