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Worried Asperger's son p.i.p interview

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5 years 11 months ago #211520 by Editor68
Worried Asperger's son p.i.p interview was created by Editor68
Hi,
My son is 22 , has Asperger's and suffers from anxiety and depression.He does not go out but has been accompanied to the local boxing gym on a handful of occasions as it is his new obsession. It was really small and social interaction as you can imagine is at a bare minimum as people train themselves. Apart from this he does not go out at all.
I am now worried this will go against him in his pip as their "proof "of being able to go out and handle stressful situations/ communicate without support.Although this is far from the truth.His high anxiety meeting new people has resulted in him just going to the doctor's and visiting his grandmother, always accompanied. He has a punchbag at home and the repetition of movement helps him calm down.
Any advice regarding this for his interview would be appreciated.
I will be attending with him and do not want this information to be misconstrued into something it isn't.
I do predict he will not talk much as the stress over this interview is already starting to show, something I warned pip would happen.

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5 years 11 months ago #211537 by Gordon
Replied by Gordon on topic Worried Asperger's son p.i.p interview
Editor

First of all have a look at our PIP Claim guide there are sections that deal with the assessment and the questions that are likely to be asked.

www.benefitsandwork.co.uk/help-for-claimants/pip

The guide also explains the criteria for Mobility in particular the Going Out activity looks at three things.

Planning a route - this is primarily a cognitive or sensory (e.g. blindness) activity. You are being asked about the problems you would have with working out how to get from one place to another, you do not need to be able to follow the route that you are planning.

Undertaking a Journey - this is do with mental health issues such as agoraphobia and social anxiety and is concerned with you leaving the house to go somewhere, they will be interested in the things that stop you doing this. You need to show that you would suffer "overwhelming psychological distress" to meet the criteria.

Following a route - This activity about the problems you would have navigating a route. So are there problems cognitive, sensory or mental health issues that would prevent you from doing this? This is different from undertaking a journey, in fact if you cannot undertake a journey then you will struggle to score points for following one.

Gordon

Nothing on this board constitutes legal advice - always consult a professional about specific problems

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5 years 11 months ago #211607 by Tranquility125
Replied by Tranquility125 on topic Worried Asperger's son p.i.p interview
My son is similar and I gave examples of what he was unable to do, such as go out and meet people, make friends, have a social life and all the different situations where he needed communication support and social support as well as being unable to go to places on his own. The face to face itself can work to your advantage if it shows how difficult your son finds it to communicate, I had to either clarify or answer entirely on my son's behalf for most of the questions asked because he stared at the floor and gave one word answers or shrugged his shoulders. I also emphasised that he needed travel training to go somewhere on his own which can take weeks for him to build up a template in his head and that he was unable to just go out whenever he felt like it due to his anxiety, getting lost, having difficulties with others etc. Does just going to boxing and to his grandmothers mean he can reliably mix with others, communicate reliably and find his way on unfamiliar routes whenever he needs to? To my mind it doesn't. Think of all the things he can't do and the places he feels unable to go to because of his Aspergers, the reasons for this and the kinds of help he needs and relate it to the PIP criteria, we managed to put together quite a long list and used some as examples, not only on the form, but also during the face to face. You need to give enough of the right kind of info so they don't make incorrect assumptions. Best of luck.
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