what benefit can i claim as i have epilepsy?

[tracy4334]

I have recently been diagnosed with epilepsy and i am no longer able to work. I had previously worked as a self employed registered child minder. I have been to the benefits agency and have been refused sickness benefit. Can anyone help advise me of what i am entilted to claim. I have a husband and 1 child and a morgage. My husband works full time and i have previously paid my n.i contributions. The only thing the benefits agency have told me i am entilted to is to reclaim my self employed n.insurance contributions. Please help.

Thanks Lola

[brian4439]

You/your husband should be able to claim working and child tax credits. Also if your epilepsy causes any mobility issues or you have care requirements you may be able to claim disability living allowance

[Guest NATTIE]

prescriptions are free as well as epilepsy is classed as a disability and you can get an exempion certificate

[midge61]

You may be intitled to the disability living allowance as you can no longer work. If you look on the directgov website you will be able to find out there in the benefits section.

[freebird]

Tracy have a look on this web site

 

Disability Living Allowance (DLA) : Directgov - Disabled people

 

also I am not too sure which local authority you come under but most Towns have a disability rights group or section of the local council who can advise you of your rights etc........

 

if you want to PM me with any info I'll see if I can dig something out for you......

 

 

I have a little knowledge as my youngest daughter is disabled...I'll try and help all I can.

[freebird]

Tracy I've just realized where you are

 

check theses two out

 

 

Login

 

Sections within 'Adult Social Care'

 

 

 

 

Off the top of my head, I'm sure you are entitled to benefits and or the care component of the disability living allowance.....and then possibly a carers allowance for who ever will care for you. There will be an adviser who can go through all this with you. If you are granted the higher rate of the care component, you can then apply for the mobility component....which can be granted for limited mobility but they also take in to account you needing help to get around in case you have a seizure etc ( sorry about the spelling ) A good adviser will help you through all this..........

good luck

[patdavies]

I assume that the DVLA has revoked your driving licence?

[tracy4334]

Thanks to everyone for your help with my problem, i will certainly be following the advice of everyone who replied. Thanks again Tracy

[Guest NATTIE]

DVLA can revoke a licence until the person has been clear of epileptic seizures for at least one year. I found a link NSE : Information on epilepsy : Driving and travel

 

This link is a FAQ's on epliepsy

NSE : Information about epilepsy : Frequently Asked Questions

[freebird]

but you can get DLA. mobility component for yourself and a "named " driver to drive you around, or to use the extra DLA from the mobility component to get taxis etc..........

some authorities also provide extra buses for mobility users and they pick you up at home, for essential journeys etc.

[taff999]

Is it the duty of the sufferer to surrender their license or of the dvla to take away after an epiliptic fit/seizure.?

[feelingfine]

To the original poster: Tracey

You are intitled to get DLA and if you have a partner or someone who cars for you they are entitled to recieve Carers Allowence.

If you are unable to work becuase of the amount of seizures you have then also you will get Income support (not JSA) As you wont activily be seeking employment.

You should then also be able to get help with Council tax/Housing depending on your condition and personal position.

 

If at anytime you have to fill out any income/expenditure forms for any reason your DLA does NOT get taken into account, this also applies to any other monies received from DWP, the DWP do NOT take into account your DLA

 

To Taff999:

It is down to the person who has the epilepsy to disclose to the DVLA.

[Guest NATTIE]

to respond to taff. One seizure does not class someone as epileptic but if it is at the wheel of a car but without any other factors involved, it would be wise not to drive. I am a great believer in education to everyone about epilepsy because people are very ignorant about this condition. Some comments I have heard in my time, not yours taff, have been ill judged, uneducated and absolutely rubbish, and this is by people in professions that should know better.

 

Things like "I have never seen the like of this", "they must suffer". Some practices tant amount to discrimination. To those that know, these statements are absolute and utter nonsense.

Epilepsy can be desribed like this, a computer that shuts down for a second and then comes back on. It is more scary for those that see someone having a seizure with no knowledge than for someone who has.

Two types of seizures petit mal and grand mal. Grand mal can last for some time and the person could be out for a hour or longer while petit mal can be just a blip. Some people with epilepsy can foretell a seizure just by a feeling they have.

[taff999]

good post nwsm - the reason for my post was my nan was epileptic also and never drove just set me wondering if this was one of the factors.Never knew anything about this but i suppose it makes good sense.

[tracy4334]

I everyone, thanks for all of your responses and information. I do not have a driving license, my husband does all of the driving. I was diagnosed with epilepsy just a few months ago. I first started having siezures 10 months ago and sometimes i can have as many as 10 small siezures a day. I do not have any history of epilepsy in my family but i know how serious epilepsy can be as my husbands aunt died due to a massive seizure aged 36 and also his cousin aged 15. i just can`t seem to get anywhere with the benefits agency, we are living from my husbands wage and child benefit. It`s a struggle. thanks to everyone for there help in this matter, i have been reading every post and i am going to the C A B armed with all this information. Thanks Lola:)

P.s I am using a friend Tracy`s computer and id to make these entrys

[feelingfine]

Hello lola (tracy)

I suffer from epilepsy and have to give up driving.

I said that in the earlier post i made you would be entitled to DLA and other forms of benefits.

But:

The DLA does depend on how frequent your seizures are and how they effect you, do you have partial, complex, or full blown seizures?

NATWESTSTAFFMEMBER, is right in saying that some people do have a vague notion of when an epileptic is going to suffer a seizure, as this is the case with me sometimes (normally a 30 sec warning) or thereabouts.

 

When filling in ANY of the forms regarding your seizures espicially the DLA it will ask questions like:

1)can you make a cup of tea?

2) can you cook a meal?

 

They may seem simple questions but PLEASE TAKE NOTICE that they do not say it , but they mean..when you are at your worst, ie in your case when you are having a seizure, so the answers to all them type of questions would be NO!!

 

It took me over a year to get DLA and two tribunals, basicaly because i filled the forms out as any normal person would when asked simple questions like the above, because nowhere on them forms does it state that the questions are to be answered when in your worst condition.

 

Regarding your Partners Carer's Allowence:

This again would depend on what type of care you need when you have a seizure and the aftercare of that.

The same would apply to filling out any forms applying for C.A.

 

Other factors that the DWP will take into consideration when you apply for any benefit is:

Are the seizures controlable with medication (which in my case they are not)

The amount you have per day/week/month

The recovery rate per seizure (this is quiet a mixed question) because every seizure is Totaly different for every person who has them and in fact even for the same person, every seizure is different.

Are the seizures day/night or both

Do you have any kind of warning

Is there any pattern to them

 

 

They will backdate any payment for DLA if you get refused and go to tribunal and then get awarded it.

 

As for the C.A.B. well for my own personal reasons they didnt fil the forms in correctly which led to the long hard slog to finaly get DLA awarded.

 

So please when you fill the forms in you must remember to fill them in when answering as if you were at your worst.

I cannot stress enough of this point, the forms are very difficult to understand, even for C.A.B. and this is where a lot of people including myself have fallen down.

 

If you do need any help please ask me , i will help you , or one of the other members will, i can only help "from my own personal experience" and not offer any legal or advice like C.A.B do.

 

I hope this is of some use to you.

[ecobabe]

I used to fill in loads of these forms for people and I always filled them in based on the WORST day you could have. so when they ask can you make tea, you say yes but you need someone to watch you to keep you safe in case you have a seizure. this is not deceitful because you could have a truly awful day and not have the correct support if you play your condition down. think carefully about each question and answer based on the worst scenario. also be aware that in my experience folks are usually knocked back or awarded a lesser amount. we always appealed it and were very often successful. we reckoned that the benefits agency routinely did this.

[woodpecker01]

I brought up my half sister from the age of 6 after my mother passed away, She had petit mal epilepsy and would fall suddenly while having a seizure so I had to try a protect her from hurting herself, I could`nt always get to her quick enough as she never got any warning and only knew she had a fit after it was all over, Sometimes she would wet herself, put her head in her dinner during a fit, There was times the school would not have her in until her fits reduced, I decided to note down the times for each fit for a month as a record for the doctor, one day alone she had 38 fits, This was getting me down so I decided to take her of her medication for a week to see if there is any change in the amount of fits she has, I could`nt believe it, the first day she had only one and that was the only fit she had for the week.

 

I decided to phone the hospital for a urgent appointment with the consultant, When I saw the consultant I showed him the fits record, I told him that I have stopped my sisters medication and her fits have stopped, But he would`nt have it, he insisted that she goes back on her medication and gave a different medication.

 

Today my sister is now 20 with her second child due 3 weeks, She stopped her medication when she left school and has`nt had a fit since.

 

:) :) :)

[freebird]

Yes Lola, both ecobabe and feelingfine are very right.

It took me ages to do my daughter's initial claim, I kept picking it up and putting it down in the end I got some help from some people called Cerebra, they are an organisation for brain injured children andnt he have some very useful guides for filling in the forms...they helped with the "wording" for the "worst day" scenario..which was useful..I was so used to telling people how well my daughter was doing and bragging about her milestones that I wasn't too good about writing how truly disabling her condition can be.......

To cut a long story short I had appeals too and even had a person at the DLA office tell me over the phone that we had been rejected because her condition might improve.............my daughter's condition is degenerative and I told the "office worker" to read back through the Doctor's and social worker's notes......in the end she got awarded the higher rate and the mobility component, but it was a struggle.

Ask your Council if they have a "disability advice worker2 and it might be worth contacting the epilepsy association try the national one first and see if they have an advice worker who can help you with the form filling etc......

 

remember you have to put your absolute worst day down..it's hard but that's the way the system works.

 

good luck

[JRankoff]

hi my name is james i suffer with epilepsy, i have done now for the past thirteen years. i had my first seizure at the age of eighteen but as i have been getting older they have been getting more violent and being a self employed builder this causes a problem for me as i am not only a danger to my self but it put others at danger as well. iv been off work now for the past eight weeks and being self employed i am intitled to no benitfits is this true has anyone any advise please.

[installspark]

@ tracy4434

 

You can claim DLA if your condition has existed for a minimum of 3 months and is expected to last for at least another 6 months. The previoiusly posted link for more information on DLA was incorrect, more information can be found here:

Disability Living Allowance

 

@ JRankoff

 

Eligibility for Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) depends on several factors.

 

 

1. National Insurance Contributions [ESA contribution based {ESA©}]
   
2. Income [ESA income related {ESA(IR)}]
   
3. Savings and investments [ESA(IR)]
   
4. Occupational Pensions and Personal Health Insurance [ESA© and ESA(IR)]
   
5. Partner's employment and income [ESA(IR)]
   
6. Permitted Work [ESA© and ESA(IR)]
   

For further information regarding ESA see

Employment and Support Allowance

[JRankoff]

Thank you very much tracy for your reply and help. I was wondering if i would be intitled to any other benefits because as a ceiling fixer where my job is working at hights this now has stopped me from working. Being self-employed im not even intitled to JSA. I am under the royal london hospital for observation they would like me to have a chip inplant in to my chest, this chip works the same way as a black box on a plan by recording all the bodys vital signs this has been proven most succesful as my epilepsy is very strange. Im very happy to post this information regarding this technolgy. Please can you help me as im very confused to all this.

Thank you.

james