Hi Guys, I have put together the following submission letter for my son's appeal. I would be realy greatful if you could take the time to have a read through and feed back any thoughts or changes I may need to do. Thank you all in advance .....

Appeal submission of ***** ******

Date of appeal - 00/00/00

National Insurance Number - ** ** ** ***

I, ***** ***** am appealing against the decision made on 22nd February 2010 to decline the award of Employment and Support Allowance on the grounds that I have not attained 15 points from the combined Physical and Mental Health descriptors following my Work Capability Assessment (for ESA) on 21st January 2010. I submit that the Atos medical assessment was in places inaccurate and did not adequately assess my physical and mental health conditions.

I suffer with anxiety, depression and significant loss of hearing. My mental health problems began 6 years ago and were caused by a number of different factors, including the attempted suicide of my father and the continued alcohol abuse he undertakes. The loss of about 80% of my hearing in my right ear and difficulty in school when I was moved away from all of my friends and felt alienated. I left 6th form having not completed my first year and have not worked since.

My medication at the time of the medical assessment was Fluoxetine (40mg), this was a recent change at the time as the medication had been increased from 20mg to 40mg as the previous dosage were having no effect. I had been referred to a psychiatrist who I had been seeing since October 2009 and was awaiting an appointment for Cognitive Behaviour Therapy.

I feel depressed and anxious most of the time, to the extent that it severely impacts my daily life. My anxiety is severely increased whenever I have to leave the house or interact with other people (even family members). I have contemplated suicide on multiple occasions but have never physically acted on it.

The Atos medical assessment I attended contained many inaccuracies:

The report states that I came to the medical assessment on the bus and that it took me 40 minutes. However, what the report does not state is that I was with my mother and was very anxious days before the assessment took place. I was finding it difficult to sleep and I kept ruminating over what could happen. The journey was only possible because my mother accompanied me and without her I would certainly not have attended.

The report states the following about the description of a typical day

‘Usually goes to bed at different time’, ‘Usually gets up at different times’, ‘Has disturbed sleep patterns’, ‘Past couple of years has slept during the day and been up at night’. However, the report does not state that this is mainly due to avoidance of family members and any social interaction.

It also states that I can easily break this pattern if necessary but in reality this is untrue because as stated above I felt it very difficult to sleep for days before the assessment and was only able to get out of bed due to prompting from my mother.

The report states that I do not eat with the family unless it’s a special occasions and that I joined my family over Christmas. However, I spent a mere hour with my family to eat Christmas dinner and I barely spoke or made eye contact with anyone. The only reason I agreed to attend the meal was due to prompting from my mother.

Description of Functional Ability

The report states that I go shopping with my mother once a week, this is not the case. It is barely even once a month that I go shopping with my mother and this is after a lot of persuasion and prompting. It goes on to state that I do not verbally abuse people or physically strike them, it does not however say that I do have thoughts of verbally or physically hurting people. This is due to me feeling as if I am being judged and constantly stared at by people.

The report states that I will leave my mother to go to other shops alone and that I do not experience difficulty in doing so. This is not true. There was only one occasion before the assessment that this happened, I walked into one shop to look for a magazine while my mother was just outside the shop within view. I felt very nervous doing this. I was not able to buy this myself due to anxiety so I asked my mother to do so.

The report then becomes contradicting as it states that ‘No disruptive behaviour’ followed by ‘some time ago - about 6 months ago has hit doors at home’. I have put holes in walls and doors, I have smashed up two laptops due to frustration pertaining to my condition. This is another reason as to why I withdraw from society because I fear I will not be able to contain my temper.

The report states that I ‘speak to friends online but do not see any of them’. However, since leaving 6th form I have purposely avoided contact with any of my friends but I will exchange pleasantries online if prompted. However I will not engage in a real conversation for fear of the other person asking me personal things to which I then have to explain my condition.

The report states that I ‘walk to the GP occasionally alone’. This is inaccurate as my GP is two bus journeys away. During the assessment I did state that I had walked to the doctors on my own, this however was Dr. Lambert my psychiatrist. The journey to see my psychiatrist is a short, 15 minute walk on a route that I know very well. However, even on this short, familiar walk I feel incredibly anxious before leaving the house for fear of bumping into individuals that I may know and may have to socially interact with. There have been occasions where I actually turned around and went back home when I saw someone I knew.

The report states that I ‘talk to family on phone’. This again is untrue as I actively avoid taking telephone calls from anyone. If the phone rings I feel incredibly anxious and feel very sick with the fear that it will be for me and that I will be forced to take the call. This is also the case with knocks at the door, I automatically think it’s for me and will often lock myself in my room as to avoid it.

The report states that I ‘completed the ESA50 without difficulty’. This again, is not true. I physically wrote the answers down but my mother had to explain the questions to me and help me answer them.

The report states that I ‘get angry but contain my anger’. This, as I have stated above is not the truth. I have repeatedly damaged property in fits of rage.

The report states that ‘my communication ability and self awareness do not give rise to symptoms, and allow interaction with others’. This is untrue. The Assessor arrived at this conclusion by looking at my appearance and my verbal communication during the interview. I felt a little bit more comfortable because I was with my mother and I could keep checking her for reassurance and the questions that were asked required very basic yes/no answers so I didn’t have to have a conversation. I looked confident because I have learned to put on a front (almost arrogant), this is my shield and the way to not let other people know that I am extremely anxious. I was not physically sweating because I do not sweat a lot but this doesn’t mean I wasn’t very anxious. One of my ways of expressing anxiety is to pace back and forth, however this would not have been apparent in the interview as it was seated, hence no rocking.

I believe I fulfil the following descriptors:

Hearing with a hearing aid or other aid if normally worn (d) Cannot hear someone talking in a loud voice in a busy street, sufficiently clearly to distinguish the words being spoken. (6 points)

The report states that I appeared able to hear my name when called in the waiting room. This in fact is not true, as I had to check with my mother whether or not it was my name before acknowledging the caller. The hearing test that was done was completely irrelevant, this was done in a very quiet room and I was told to stand facing the wall and listen for the assessor to say something to me which I then had to reply to. The reasons I could hear her were due to the room being completely quiet and the fact that I was intentionally listening for her voice. Also, there were no conflicting noises to be heard (traffic etc). In relation to the descriptor, this would only be possible if the person was standing either directly in front of me or on my left hand side. I have problems holding a conversation with someone in a reasonably quiet environment unless they are sitting opposite me or to the left of me.

In addition to this, when I am listening to music I need to wear earphones so as to not disturb people by turning up the volume to hear and the same goes with watching T.V. which I watch with subtitles.

Initiating and sustaining personal action. (d) Cannot, due to cognitive impairment or a severe disorder of mood or behaviour, initiate or sustain personal action without requiring frequent verbal prompting given by another person in the claimants presence (6 points)

My Depression makes me not want to do anything for myself, even to the extent of getting up In the morning and making myself something to eat. Usually meals are prepared and left for me to re-heat and I require constant prompting from my mother for me to eat these, if this did not happen I would quite happily get some crisps and biscuits and take them back to bed.

Coping with change © Cannot cope with minor, unforeseen changes in routine (such as unexpected change of the timing of an appointment on the day it is due to occur), to the extent that overall, day to day life is made significantly more difficult. (6 points)

I have to plan everything. I ruminate constantly about what could happen and I have to pre determine get out strategies if things were to change. If an appointment time was changed at last minute I would panic and pull out and I would have to leave it several days before contemplating arranging another appointment.

Another example of me not being able to cope with change is when a process that I am used to following and expect to follow, changes. Such as, paying my bus fare. This happened when I used a different company’s bus service and the pay system was different. This led me to panic and turn to my mother to take over. This event has now caused me to mentally think about how I am going to pay every time I get on a bus.

Getting About © For the majority of the time is unable to get to a specified place with which the claimant is familiar without being accompanied by another person. (9 points)

I very rarely travel anywhere alone. All appointments are planned ahead and attended by my mother who has to take time off work. I would not attend these appointments on my own. Aside from appointments I do not leave the house at all unless persuaded to go shopping with my mother. I have lived in the same area all of my life and I used to quite happily go the cinemas, go to the local shops on my own etc, but now I cannot even contemplate this. The local shop is only 50 yards or so round the corner and I cannot go in and buy something, to the extent that I would rather ask my ill, 78 year old granddad to go for me.

The experience of going to the assessment I found to be incredibly traumatic even though I was with somebody There would have been no possible way I could have done this on my own.

Coping with Social Situations (b) Normal activities, for example, visiting new places or engaging in social contact, are precluded for the majority of the time due to overwhelming fear or anxiety (9 points)

I find it extremely difficult going anywhere new. The assessment centre was completely alien to me and I was very much out of my comfort zone, I had anxiety/panic attacks just waiting for the bus and not being able to plan ahead where we were going because I’d never been there. On entering the building I had to report to security and sign in, this completely overwhelmed me and my mother stepped in and did all the talking and signing. There is no way I could have done this myself, I just wanted to leave.

Activities that would be normal to the average person such as going to the cinema or the pub with friends are an absolute impossibility for me. Old friends have, in the past, invited me to social gatherings that I have had to decline because of my anxiety.

I purposely take myself out of social situations that involve social interaction. A big example of this is my sleeping pattern which is done on purpose. I sleep through the day so that I avoid all social contact involved with day to day life and I wake at night when no one is around.

I do not eat meals with my family, but on the rare special occasion that I have (Christmas etc) I have suffered from very bad anxiety and I could not make eye contact or sustain any conversation with family members. I felt very uneasy for the very brief amount of time I was seated at the table and as soon as I had finished I left straight away.

Dealing with other People (f) The claimant misinterprets verbal or non verbal communication to the extent of causing himself or herself personal significant distress to himself on a frequent basis. (6 points)

I find it extremely hard to deal with people, even family members. I can not hold a conversation without feeling judged or looked down upon. I purposely avoid these situations so I don’t have to deal with it. An example of this is when a family member said that I looked well that day, I understood it as an insult because I thought he was suggesting I looked bad or ill the rest of the time.

I respectfully request that the tribunal award 42 points in the limited capability for work test, and allow my appeal.

That is a very good submission; you have pointed out the inaccuracies and demonstrated how you feel the points should be met - which is exactly what you should be doing. If you have supporting evidence from your son's professionals, you could make reference to those within the text. The only criticism I have is that you have made it look like he has written it, when in actual fact, you have. Would he be capable of writing such a submission? If not, it would be best if you included a sentence of two to explain that the submission has been written with assistance. They may draw inferences otherwise, which I have seen happen. I've removed the partial name, national insurance number and the date of the tribunal from the top of your letter. Although only partial information, together it could still identify him.

Thanx for the input,

I will add a new sentence explaining the assistance writting the letter. We do have 2 additional letters one for his doctor confirming diagnosis and a second from his psyc. also giving her professional opinion on the discriptors.

I think that's very good indeed so good luck

Thanx for the input,

 

I will add a new sentence explaining the assistance writting the letter. We do have 2 additional letters one for his doctor confirming diagnosis and a second from his psyc. also giving her professional opinion on the discriptors.

The bit I've bolded - does her letter of support include how she thinks he meets the descriptors?

Excellent submission. And as Erika suggests if you include details in the submission of medical evidence included, who its from and their qualifications, and request that this evidence, from experts, should be preferred over the inaccurate atos report.

Thanx Leemack, but I must lay the credit at your door as I borrowed most of it from one of your letter earlier in the month.

The psyc. has drafted a letter using the discriptor as a guild. Although she has not specifically mentioned each one, she has made reference to how he copes with different points of the discriptors.

All in all we are both happy that we have done as much as we can and hopefully the panel with see through the atos rubbish.

Will keep you guys posted

Good luck, Karen. Hope it goes well.