Readers, I have committed a cardinal sin.
I quote, from a DWP representative who visited me for an hour, with me being the last one on her list of six for that day:
‘she … raised both arms up to her head running her fingers through her hair.’
That is an actual ‘observation’ of what it is like to live with MS.
Funnily enough, all her comments create an image of a meeting I don’t actually recall taking part in. Apparently I was ‘dressed appropriately for the climate and was well-kempt.’
If you consider a worn and old t-shirt and jogging bottoms (minus a bra) to be well-kempt, I would seriously worry. Likewise my hair, greasy and lank, which I hide under a woolly hat most days.
My ‘memory is good’.
Yeah, I wish.
I ‘handled my ID well’ – which is strange as my mother did that for me.
My ‘speech was normal and I showed no signs of distress’. So she obviously forgot when I asked her to give me a break and stop asking me question after question after question, with the sole aim of catching me out.
Apparently I ‘visit family often’. My mother lives two streets away, my sister a few miles. I haven’t seen my sister in months and my mother visits me by taxi.
I could go on but I won’t bore you with the endless lies.
One last thing, I was ‘chatty and engaged’, with ‘full eye contact’. Which is strange as she (the Assessor) never looked directly at me once. She was so disengaged she might as well have spoken to my back wall.
I am entering the sixth month of DLA to PIP assessment.
Six months.
And according to this person, I should go through this again every three years.
If I were to write about her in a DWP report, I would say:
‘zero eye contact, rude, abrupt, uncaring, disinterested.’
Two points?
Nul points?
Sounds similar to my ESA assessment. So fictional that you question your own sanity. My charming assessor is apparently no longer employed by whatever agency breeds these callous automatons. Maybe someone confronted her in a dark alley and asked her how she sleeps at night. It is sick. All of it. Don’t get me started. Big hugs x
That’s exactly it – if it wasn’t for my mum having attended with me, I would seriously wonder if I had made it all up. Just a shocking experience x
I am going through pip and ESA assessments.
I am learning from reading about and talking about other people’s experiences.
The purpose of these assessments is to destroy the claims and if necessary they destroy the claimants.
Unfortunately the government is succeeding in this because only 8% of claimants appeal and 67% of appeals win.
So 96% of claims fail.
The Tory Government are Nazis, this is their T4 programme designed to destroy the disabled.
Sorry for being so negative but this is the reality we face!!!!
I don’t think you’re being negative at all, sadly it’s the reality and it’s horrifying.
The low appeal rate is deliberate, you’re right. I read that even applying for a mandatory reconsideration is fraught with obstacles, making it harder to take that first step towards appeal.
I await my final decision with bated breath … x
Oh dear, I’ve just started the DLA to PIP assessment. After hearing about yours and many other people’s experiences I’m dreading the assessor coming round ?
I don’t understand why they don’t just speak to your neurologist? Surely that would save a lot of time, stress and money all round?
Fingers crossed you do actually get awarded the correct level.
Sharon x
Thank you!
It’s strange, as even in their own guidance for PIP assessors, there is a paragraph about not needing to assess people with neurological illnesses such as Parkinson’s and MS, yet still they put us through this.
I hope your assessment goes better than mine – don’t forget, there’s some good stories out there too 🙂 X
Thanks for the encouragement, fingers crossed!
x
Absolutely!! Let me know how it goes 🙂 X