Thread: Seftonview or anyone with an opinion, IB & DDA?

Opinions, please.

As I have said elsewhere, I am going to an appeal medical tomorrow with a young lad with Asperger's who's has his IB stopped. Why? Well, they asked their standard questions and he answered literally as his his wont, so that when asked: Can you answer the phone and reliably take a message? he answered yes, even though he truly can't. Likewise about being able to cook without help (if you don't mind the house burning down, that is) whether he cares about his appearance or prefers to be alone...

Anyway, I was wondering whether there is any mileage in going on the attack under the umbrella of the DDA. It seems to me that the one-size-fits-all questionnaire to establish entitlement is NOT making reasonable adjustments towards the autistic, and that simply ticking yes/no boxes without considering that the lack of theory of mind means that results will be stacked against the disabled person. It is the equivalent of asking a blind man: "do you know what a colour is?" and when he says yes,decide he isn't that blind then. :-|

So what do you guys think? Worth a shot or best left alone? Feel free to shoot me down in flames if I am talking rubbish, I'd rather go down under friendly fire!

I wouldn't bother to bring the argument up at Tribunal since the Tribunal isn't a competent Court to deal with matters under the DDA.

The DWP being sued for failing to make adjustments isn't unknown, there were two cases last year (one handled by RNIB, the other by the Disability Law Service), where they continually refused/failed to provide appeal documents in braille for visually impaired customers. Following the conclusion of the Tribunal process, steps to bring DDA claims were made, and both were won.

So, in answer, concentrate on kicking ass at the appeal, and then come back for some help with the DDA (I need another good fight...)

Best of luck for today!

SV

Well, it's done.

We had to wait for 1.5 hr to be seen, which means my young friend was by then in overdrive, twitching, stimming, tired, you name it. Great.

Good thing I was there too, as his literal mind meant that he answered questions as they were, so when asked "are you on a course now?", he said "no". Well, he isn't. Not right now. He broke off for 1/2 term yesterday. :-|

How does an AS answer the question: "how does your AS affect your daily life?" ? How the hell would he know? He's been autistic all his life, he doesn't know how life is supposed to be if you're not AS, for goodness sake.

And so on, and so forth... I managed to catch the most obvious bearpits, I hope I did get the dr to see how bad things are on a daily basis for this young chap, but we shall see. Answer in about 3 weeks.

By the time we came out, we were both exhausted, and then there was another 1/2 hour trying to reassure him as his anxiety levels were sky-high.

Still, it's done now. Onwards and upwards.

It really is amazing that they get you to answer yes/no questions
When I had to have my medical for IB the 'Doctor' (& I use that term very loosely) Was not at all interested in how my Disability affected me day to day (TBI) The letter they send out clearly stated that this was my chance to tell them why I should get IB and how my disability affects me, so I spent the best part of a week logging everything from the time I got up in the AM to the time I went to bed in the PM.
Do you think she was at all interested
'could I touch my toes and grip her thumbs'
'were you knocked out in your accident?'
"Hmm, I guess you could say so, does a coma class as being knocked out?
The sheer fact that a 'professional' organisation is so inept and doesn't even have the basic medical history of the people claiming IB speaks volumes for how this government and it's organisations are run
If my IB were to be refused boy oh boy will I really put a cat amongst the pigeons

Originally Posted by Bookworm

Well, it's done.

We had to wait for 1.5 hr to be seen, which means my young friend was by then in overdrive, twitching, stimming, tired, you name it. Great.

Good thing I was there too, as his literal mind meant that he answered questions as they were, so when asked "are you on a course now?", he said "no". Well, he isn't. Not right now. He broke off for 1/2 term yesterday. :-|

How does an AS answer the question: "how does your AS affect your daily life?" ? How the hell would he know? He's been autistic all his life, he doesn't know how life is supposed to be if you're not AS, for goodness sake.

And so on, and so forth... I managed to catch the most obvious bearpits, I hope I did get the dr to see how bad things are on a daily basis for this young chap, but we shall see. Answer in about 3 weeks.

By the time we came out, we were both exhausted, and then there was another 1/2 hour trying to reassure him as his anxiety levels were sky-high.

Still, it's done now. Onwards and upwards.

Any news?

Victory!!!!

The young man got his reply yesterday and his IB has been reinstated, with a healthy backdate to come his way.

You could see the relief all over his body language yesterday, it really warmed my heart.

Well done.

It's the same as always, Patience certainly pays off in the end, nothing is ever a quick fix and now they have given you even more experience to deal with their Dickensian system, V.well done

Congratulations! I had to go through an appeal myself and it was horrific.