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ellisisamazing

DLA appeals

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A few back we recieved notification of El's DLA renewal, he has been awarded middle rate care again and this time low mobility also.

Anyway, El's consultant asked me at his last appointment about what he recieves and she was staggered, she believes he should be on High Rate Care and High Rate Mobility......so she has written a letter to the DWP on his behalf but has sent me the letter for me to use in appeal.

 

On the letter she states he has severe asd and global developmental delay as well as being non verbal, that he is however mobile but a danger to himself and others, clearly stating that we have had instances when he been out with me and run into traffic and actually sat in the road and physically protested when I have tried to move him. Also we have had a major buggy on order from OT since April but we have been told we will not recieve it until at least Jan 08 due to the waiting list being so full!!! Unfortunately she had tried to speed up the Buggy delivery to no avail. I feel in a real quandary as since my DH returned to work after his fortnight's holiday last week we have only been out once for two hours because of the difficulties in taking El out and also having my toddler with me (he will insist in sitting in Ro's buggy, and then she cries cause she is exhausted with the walking! :wallbash: ) I feel like I am hemming both kids in! He was hysterical when last out and we also had some people trying interfere and "help" with "the naughty little boy" argh!

 

A double is not an option, we tried that last year and El was too tall for for that and the weight for me to push two tall kids was horrific, we have been through almost twenty prams trying to find one that is big enough/strong enough etc! We are currently using a Quinny Zapp that cost �150 but is the only buggy strong enough and seated high enough for El to sit in, again this was purchased solely for Ro but with El in mind for when she is relegated to walking. Sadly this pram is unique in design and a buggy board cannot be attached.

 

Anyway we also have the sleep probs again and I am up several times a night, last week we discovered he can now climb the sides of his cot and he was running the taps in the bathroom, this week I haven't been to bed before 2am each night and then I am up at six with Ro! :rolleyes: Melatonin doesn't work!

 

Any tips on how I can word this to the DWP? I don't want them thinking I am just some scrounger, when I phoned them two weeks ago to advise them regard the Consulant's letter I was told that the Consulatant had no right to say what she thought because she couldn't do the DLA departments job as much as they couldn't do hers!!! Also backdating tips would be helpful!

 

Rant over! :lol:

Edited by ellisisamazing

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Hi,

bit of a late night reply, I can't sleep grrrr

have you looked at Easylife Sport buggies second hand from ebay ? they're around �400 new but we managed to get a cheap one from there. I suggest you have a look cos you can get them with a seat which attaches to the front so you can easily accomodate two kids. My tall 7 yr old still fits easily into this buggy and it will take around 45 kg no problem.

They are quite heavy to lift in and out of the car but they can be pushed along really easily and have a swivel wheel at the front.

We also have a major buggy but this is more difficult to push I think with a larger child in it and of course there's no space for any hitch hikers ! or shopping !!

On the DLA front, good luck, it can be done,

I woke up one morning to change another wet bed and thought 'that's it, I'm going to ask for ****'s DLA to be reassessed', and we've just been awarded higher rate care AND mobility. I used the walkthrough guide on the Cerebra website to complete the forms.

Night,

Edited by smallworld

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Thanks Smallworld

 

I am grateful of any advice right now! Had to put El in bed with me last night (Hubby away working so had the room!), just so I could get some sleep! He must have dropped off sometime after 3am, this was after originally putting him to bed at 9pm!

 

Will have a peep on Ebay!

 

Lisa xx

Edited by ellisisamazing

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Hello Lisa,

RE: DLA claim you might want to read some of the info on a disabilities advisory site I found! the site is:

www.bhas.org.uk/freeguides/dla_guides.shtml

Re: going out, do you have a mobility service near where you live, where you might be able to borough a buggy for a while.

I believe DLA rep's are not supposed to view an opinion of any sort re your claim, but I think the problem may come down to how your consultent worded their letter! I beleive if you put things like, I recomend, beleive, suggest or such like the reconcideration team just get all higher than mighty with it, terms like 'I have noted from my assesment as a specialist in this field that E is unable on a cognative level to respond to danger signels that other children of E's age would respond to, and so on. Sorry I am quite new to this site and am not sure how old your E is but I hope you get the gist of what I am trying to explain.

Hope you get the DLA sorted out soon.

Anna

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Hi Anna,

 

Thanks for the post, gathering as much advice as I can!

 

Oh, and the DLA rep? She hadn't even seen a letter at that point.....she just went off on one when I phoned the DWP to ask what to do with the letter when I recieved it!......I think she was having a bad day! :tearful::wallbash:

 

We have tried the mobility and sadly we are not seen as priority because El can walk (though being a danger to himself and making me feel anxious and stressed is apparentely something we have to put up with.....) :wacko::wacko:

 

Will try again, now I have the letters!

 

Lisa xx

Edited by ellisisamazing

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'We have tried the mobility and sadly we are not seen as priority because El can walk (though being a danger to himself and making me feel anxious and stressed is apparentely something we have to put up with.....) :wacko::wacko: '

 

Hi again, about the mobility section, I think you will find you might get the higher rate if you can prove that E is at a much higher level of danger than, (now this is the important bit!) any other child of the same age that does not have the same disability as E.

What the tribunual chair guy, said to me was, I had to prove that my son was much more unable to get around than other children of his age!! Well as you can appriciate the DLA bods tend to say to you that all 5 year olds have to be supervised while out in a place that they do not know well and yes that is very true, so then you would be wise to say something like other 5 year olds have reached such a cognative level at 5 that if they run off and you call them and say 'I will leave you on your own if you do not come back', they would mostly come back or at least stop and wait for you. If you can give examples that explain that your E has not reached this level due to their profund delay in the field of reasoning and so on, you stand a chance. Sorry to say it but it does seem to be a lot down to how we fill in the forms.

Does your E find strangers intreasting!! by the way, if so you could mention this, due to E being non verbal but with an interest in following people he is at a much higher risk of getting lost or worse than any other child of his age, it is things like this that the reconsidaration team take into account.

Ta Ta

Anna

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Anna,

 

Cheers again!

 

Yep, El does not have any stranger danger awareness at all!, We have had instances when out when he has approached other women and even men with prams, obviously thinking they are safe like me and his Dad! He also takes shines to certain people espesh blonde ladies!!!, and elderley women with tights on! (he likes the feel of nylon!! :lol: )

 

I am going to put some stuff down on paper later and we have the CAB to see tomorrow, hopefully I can get together strong and justifiable reasons for wanting this reviewed!

 

Thanks

 

Lisa x

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>:D<<'> >:D<<'> Hi Lisa

O is also severely autistic and although we've always received higher rate care for him without a fight, once he turned 5 hs was awarded lower rate mobility. I appealed against this as he met criteria as consultant was willing to say he is 'severely mentally impaired' which is the delightfully charming and sensite way in which the form is worded. He wrote to them for me and I also telephoned and ended up losing the plot over the phone with them which is most unusual for me but I was under a great deal of stress at the time. I ended up in floods of tears and I don't know if it's coincidence but I ended up with letter a few days later which gave us higher rate mobility too. I really feel for you with the lack of sleep Lisa - O was like that for a long time and he still needs very little sleep. You should absolutely definitely be getting higher rate care for thim too as you are caring for him day AND night.

Please feel free to pm me of I can be of any help as we have been through this

>:D<<'> >:D<<'> Elun xxx

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Thanks Elun! >:D<<'>

 

My THINKING CAP has fallen off right now, but I will PM you, when I start functioning again!

 

As I type, I can hear El thumping around upstairs and making gahoooey noises!!! :rolleyes:

 

It's gonna be a long night.......... :blink:

 

....El Vino Time! Just the one!

 

Lisa x

Edited by ellisisamazing

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