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And then I get a response (of sorts) from ATOS.

 

They've been told I don't do phones. One of my complaints is that they ignore letters, and claim not to have received them. They've asked me to phone or write to the Bristol office.

 

What sort of IT company doesn't do email?

RMW

"If you want my parking space, please take my disability" Common car park sign in France.

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I would have written in a slightly sarcastic way to your mp , that your dissapointed to see that the esa system isnt working as intended and would he mind having a look at this small problem, which he is surely able to sort in a heartbeat and that by his help it will renew your faith in the system . LOL

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Well MP's are suppossed to be servants of the people (shame egos get in the way) and that reminds me i sent a letter to my mp in october and no sign of that yellowish envelope yet!

As far as my local MP goes theres 3 ways of contact. Telephoning the constituency office, email and post. I have telephoned in the past and that was dealt with efficiently that way. I suppose it could be a lottery depending on your mp.

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reallymadwomen on mobility can I ask if you have a wheelchair or not? or do you have alternative aids.

 

As I understand it if you have a wheelchair then yes the new descriptors are a big problem and they will probably give you 0 for mobility, but if you have other aids and have been given them instead of a wheelchair for good reason ATOS should give you mobility points.

 

I am amazed you still have no appointment. I would have thought by now they would be trying to force you to a normal medical like they did me.

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I don't and can't use a manual wheelchair. I use two elbow crutches but can still only get about 20 yards before I have to stop. I am wholeheartedly resisting a mobility scooter or powered wheelchair at the moment but I will have to decide which to go for soon. Hopefully the diagnosed metabolic neuropathy in both hands and severe arthritis (plus a tendency to dislocate at the slightest provocation) in one shoulder should be enough to prove I can't use a manual wheelchair since it makes using the crutches difficult, but who knows what ATOS will think.

 

I dug my original reassessment letter out over the weekend whilst getting all the paper work in order, and it's dated the beginning of February. Over the lack of a date for the assessment, the bottom line is that they have to come to me so it has to be a doctor and it has to be one who's had the neurology training, so that's another couple of hurdles on top of the recording one. I suspect lack of recording equipment is the least of their problems though to be honest if it was suggested, I'd do without the recording now just to get this over with. So long as I'm still recording myself, of course!

RMW

"If you want my parking space, please take my disability" Common car park sign in France.

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And another week on but no further forward.

 

ATOS - no appointment, no reply to complaint.

DWP - no comment

MP - no reply

 

Every time I do this, something seems to happen.

My MP has apparently decided to be made of sterner stuff this time around and has had a response from DWP/Atos already. It is unfortunately somewhat lacking in accuracy. Is this becoming a habit for them? Do they really feel their service is so bad they have to lie about it, particularly when those lies are easy to prove? They finished their response with the advice that I not worry about this whole assessment thing, never mind consider withdrawing my claim because it's so stressful. Do they get lessons in being patronising?

I really really hope there are serious consequences for lying to an MP (but doubt it).

I have to go and lie down until my blood pressure drops a bit.

RMW

"If you want my parking space, please take my disability" Common car park sign in France.

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Nothing more likely to happen with the ATOS thing over the weekend, but according to the online site my application for a blue badge has been rejected. Are the council just allowed to say no without asking for any medical evidence or doing an assessment? Anyone know if I can appeal?

RMW

"If you want my parking space, please take my disability" Common car park sign in France.

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Nothing more likely to happen with the ATOS thing over the weekend, but according to the online site my application for a blue badge has been rejected. Are the council just allowed to say no without asking for any medical evidence or doing an assessment? Anyone know if I can appeal?

Yes you can appeal ring you local council and inform them about you want to appeal by the way do you get D.L.A mobility? if you do then send copy of award letter with appeal

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Yes you can appeal ring you local council and inform them about you want to appeal by the way do you get D.L.A mobility? if you do then send copy of award letter with appeal

 

I only get low rate mobility. I didn't want to risk my existing DLA award (I also get HRC) asking for a review since I'm not desperate for the money nor do I need a new car but I do desperately need a blue badge to get to the docs etc, so I applied as 'can't walk or has extreme difficulty walking'. The council website says they're supposed to ask for evidence and/or do an assessment but they've just turned me down, no reason given.

RMW

"If you want my parking space, please take my disability" Common car park sign in France.

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My goodness what an absolute nightmare. No wonder your username is: reallymadwoman.:|

 

I have been anticipating the whole assesment process for some considerable time now. I would liken it to having the sword of Damoclese suspended over my head. Yes I dreaded the arrival of any brown envelope, even the ones that came last winter, heralding the payment of a winter fuel allowance, caused me more stress than they were worth, it seemed.

 

So yesterday (a Saturday, in the weeks approaching Christmas) all causing more angst.The dreaded letter arrived, informing me that they will be ringing me soon, then sending out the interminable form for me to fill in. (EA50??) whatever the damnable thing is.

 

My main problems are mental health ones. My last assessment was some years ago. Due to my agoraphobia a lady doctor came out to see me. I could no more visit an ATOS assessment centre than I could enter the gates of Hell. (No doubt very similar). What are my chances of arranging a home assessment now I wonder?

It would appear that mental health descriptors are now few and far between, also they seem to be very stringent. A lot more so than before.

 

One of them that would seem to apply to me would be this :-

 

"Has, on a daily basis, uncontrollable episodes of aggressive or disinhibited behaviour that would be unreasonable in any workplace".

 

But then, in a normal day I would be at home, with a caring friend, with my cat on my lap and trusty pooch at my side. On these occasion I would rarely break out into the afore-mentioned behaviour.So it would not then apply.:| On the otherhand, should I be forced into a workplace environment, somewhere I didn't want to be, with people who I did not know or trust, given stressful tasks to accomplish, I would most definitely lose it. Most probably risking harm to myself and others. So what is the answer to this question :???:

 

I will endeavour to keep you guys up to date with my progress or, lack of (should I start a new thread? I wouldn't want to step upon anyone's toes) I will of course be grateful for any advice/support proffered on here.

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I only get low rate mobility. I didn't want to risk my existing DLA award (I also get HRC) asking for a review since I'm not desperate for the money nor do I need a new car but I do desperately need a blue badge to get to the docs etc, so I applied as 'can't walk or has extreme difficulty walking'. The council website says they're supposed to ask for evidence and/or do an assessment but they've just turned me down, no reason given.

Well when I apply for my blue badge I was advices by council staff over the phone to send in my award letter. if you send award letter then as per my understanding council do not need to do further check

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Well when I apply for my blue badge I was advices by council staff over the phone to send in my award letter. if you send award letter then as per my understanding council do not need to do further check

 

Only if you get high rate mobility.

RMW

"If you want my parking space, please take my disability" Common car park sign in France.

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My goodness what an absolute nightmare. No wonder your username is: reallymadwoman.:|

 

I have been anticipating the whole assesment process for some considerable time now. I would liken it to having the sword of Damoclese suspended over my head. Yes I dreaded the arrival of any brown envelope, even the ones that came last winter, heralding the payment of a winter fuel allowance, caused me more stress than they were worth, it seemed.

 

So yesterday (a Saturday, in the weeks approaching Christmas) all causing more angst.The dreaded letter arrived, informing me that they will be ringing me soon, then sending out the interminable form for me to fill in. (EA50??) whatever the damnable thing is.

 

My main problems are mental health ones. My last assessment was some years ago. Due to my agoraphobia a lady doctor came out to see me. I could no more visit an ATOS assessment centre than I could enter the gates of Hell. (No doubt very similar). What are my chances of arranging a home assessment now I wonder?

It would appear that mental health descriptors are now few and far between, also they seem to be very stringent. A lot more so than before.

 

One of them that would seem to apply to me would be this :-

 

"Has, on a daily basis, uncontrollable episodes of aggressive or disinhibited behaviour that would be unreasonable in any workplace".

 

But then, in a normal day I would be at home, with a caring friend, with my cat on my lap and trusty pooch at my side. On these occasion I would rarely break out into the afore-mentioned behaviour.So it would not then apply.:| On the otherhand, should I be forced into a workplace environment, somewhere I didn't want to be, with people who I did not know or trust, given stressful tasks to accomplish, I would most definitely lose it. Most probably risking harm to myself and others. So what is the answer to this question :???:

 

I will endeavour to keep you guys up to date with my progress or, lack of (should I start a new thread? I wouldn't want to step upon anyone's toes) I will of course be grateful for any advice/support proffered on here.

 

I know exactly what you mean by the sword of damocles.

 

You are not obliged to speak to ATOS on the phone or the DWP. I never give them my phone number so they can't ring me, but even if they already have yours, whoever answers (even if it's you!) can say you're not available/prefer not to use the phone or whatever.

 

Now you have advance warning, it would be worth speaking to your GP to get a letter saying you can't go to the assessment centre, and another detailing some of your problems. If you go through the descriptors and pick out ones that might apply, it would help him/her tailor his letter.

 

Regarding filling in the form, it really helps if you get assistance from someone who knows what they're doing, but that might be difficult if you can't go to them. There are guides on the net - I think Rethink or Mind do one.

 

If you would like your own thread as any of your problems are likely to get a bit lost on this one, I can ask the site team to move your original post and this reply.

RMW

"If you want my parking space, please take my disability" Common car park sign in France.

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:reallymadwoman:

 

Desperately need some downtime at the mo but you may be interested in;

 

The title of 'Doctors and HCP's willing to conduct recorded ...... ESA assessments', on :what do they know: An annotation, by S J Kirtly, talks about Atos at Bristol. Sorry, can't ref it cos DWATO, just for a change not, are overdue with their response. Put 'atos audio recording' into the keywords and search all requests.

 

The news item in the following annotation www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-19912820 is just as pathetic.

 

Sincerely, Margaret.

Edited by **Margaret**
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There was a huge flurry of activity Friday afternoon when I supplied evidence that DWP/ATOS had lied to my MP and we were led to expect something positive early this week. Does Thursday still count as early in the week? What a let down once again.

 

Also ATOS are once again outside their 20 days to respond to a complaint. This whole thing is bringing back memories of the endless and endlessly ignored complaints to Bank of Scotland and FOS, but I no longer have the stamina I had then. It is incredibly tempting to just decamp to France and tell them where to stick their recording equipment.

RMW

"If you want my parking space, please take my disability" Common car park sign in France.

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At last some good news!

 

I wrote to the council and asked why I'd been turned down for a blue badge so that I could obtain appropriate evidence - for all I know it was because they didn't like my photo!

 

Had a letter this morning asking for the fee as my 'appeal' was successful. Does anyone get the feeling they turn everyone down and only actually read the application if you query it?

RMW

"If you want my parking space, please take my disability" Common car park sign in France.

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Good news on the blue badge :)

 

I feel that they will as a matter of course refuse anyone without hrm dla.

 

On the one hand they're discouraging anyone from applying for benefits to cut the bill, then on the other they're practically saying if you don't apply for the benefits you can't have any concessions. Madness!

 

I will probably actually only use the blue badge once in a blue moon since I'm not allowed to drive and if I'm in someone else's car they inevitably drop me at the door before parking elsewhere - but there is a bus stop right outside the apartment from where I can easily get to the bus station (1 stop, last and only time I did it I was charged £1.80) and from there the world is at my feet, independently. However the complete farce that are the qualifying rules for a concessionary pass meant that the only way I could get one was to apply for the blue badge first.

 

Also means that I can once again get to the train station and use my railcard. Note rail companies rules for concessionary travel are completely different again - you can have a railcard even if you only get low rate mobility.

RMW

"If you want my parking space, please take my disability" Common car park sign in France.

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imagine this: esa refused , dla then taken away, council then dont issue a bus pass because the previous bus pass was awarded on dla entilement.

 

I had to look very closely at the local councils requirement for bus pass to see if would qualify. Luckily I was able to get a pass on another bit other than hrm. So i would advise people not to be put of attempting to get a pass without hrm. Use the info the councils makes available on the forms / guides. Im sort of safeguarded against dla problems (expecting a lot of trouble next year) and continued bus passes. Trains are just to expensive for me to use :(

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