Aspergers - Failed DLA Renewal

Hi Everyone,

The postman has just delivered the news that my son's DLA renewal has been unsuccessful and I want to weep! He was receiving MRC and LRM and now he will receive nothing.

When I received their acknowledgement letter it said that the decision could take up to 11 weeks but it has taken less than four.

Mobility:
The letter states that my son needs help for comfort and reassurance but that no help is required with asking or following directions. It also says that he doesn't need guiding or supervising when walking outside on unfamiliar routes.

I felt I had made it clear that my son won't leave the house without encouragement or prompting and never goes out unaccommpanied. Also he cannot cope in unfamiliar places and would become very stressed.

Personal Care:
It says that my son does not need help to cook a main meal or help to motivate himself but I wrote that he is unable to do this but can manage to cook himself a hamburger or bacon sandwich. (Is that the new definition of a main meal?)

It says he needs help to wash and dry himself and to dress and undress but he doesn't need help to eat and drink or communicate. They say that this means that he doesn't need help with his "personal care from someone for about an hour or several times right through the day." The difficulty here is that my son needs a lot of prompting and encouragement to do these things.

He sleeps most of the day and is up most of the night. Most nights he disturbs the rest of the family because he talks very loudly while he is on Skype calls on his computer. The letter says that he is not at risk of anti-social behaviour. Well I don't know about that really because we work hard to ensure that my son's environment is as calm as possible. He requires gentle prompting for things like getting up during the day/washing/dressing/eating. Getting my son up during the day can take a couple of hours - getting him to go to bed at night is more or less impossible. I know from years of experience that if we did not do this, there would more episodes of "meltdown" and damage to our belongings.

At present we are appealing an ESA decision to move him from the support group to WRAG - not that we have heard anything and the appeal was lodged in October.

Thanks for reading this - I have never been unsuccessful before in claiming DLA for my son and it has floored me somewhat...

marionf wrote:

Hi Everyone,

The postman has just delivered the news that my son's DLA renewal has been unsuccessful and I want to weep! He was receiving MRC and LRM and now he will receive nothing.

When I received their acknowledgement letter it said that the decision could take up to 11 weeks but it has taken less than four.

Mobility:
The letter states that my son needs help for comfort and reassurance but that no help is required with asking or following directions. It also says that he doesn't need guiding or supervising when walking outside on unfamiliar routes.

I felt I had made it clear that my son won't leave the house without encouragement or prompting and never goes out unaccommpanied. Also he cannot cope in unfamiliar places and would become very stressed.

Personal Care:
It says that my son does not need help to cook a main meal or help to motivate himself but I wrote that he is unable to do this but can manage to cook himself a hamburger or bacon sandwich. (Is that the new definition of a main meal?)

It says he needs help to wash and dry himself and to dress and undress but he doesn't need help to eat and drink or communicate. They say that this means that he doesn't need help with his "personal care from someone for about an hour or several times right through the day." The difficulty here is that my son needs a lot of prompting and encouragement to do these things.

He sleeps most of the day and is up most of the night. Most nights he disturbs the rest of the family because he talks very loudly while he is on Skype calls on his computer. The letter says that he is not at risk of anti-social behaviour. Well I don't know about that really because we work hard to ensure that my son's environment is as calm as possible. He requires gentle prompting for things like getting up during the day/washing/dressing/eating. Getting my son up during the day can take a couple of hours - getting him to go to bed at night is more or less impossible. I know from years of experience that if we did not do this, there would more episodes of "meltdown" and damage to our belongings.

At present we are appealing an ESA decision to move him from the support group to WRAG - not that we have heard anything and the appeal was lodged in October.

Thanks for reading this - I have never been unsuccessful before in claiming DLA for my son and it has floored me somewhat...

Hi,

Albeit we cannot advise on specific cases as we do not have sight of case papers etc, you now have a couple of options.

You can ask the DWP to reconsider his case (and send in further evidence if you have it), or ask for an appeal tribunal. As his case will be reconsidered as part of the appeal tribunal process we usually recommend you ask for an appeal tribunal.

You can do this by ringing the DWP on 0845 7123456 and requesting a GL24 (Appeal form) or you can download one from here:

www.dwp.gov.uk/docs/gl24dwp.pdf

It must be returned to the DWP within a month of the date of the ‘non award letter’.

It may be advisable to seek some face to face help as well. There is a list of organisations who can help in this link:

www.benefitsandwork.co.uk/faq/general

Incidentally re the ongoing ESA appeal, it maybe the way you seem to have worded it, but are you asking for him to be put into the WRAG instead of the Support Group? If so do think very carefully about that.

Pete

Hi Pete,

Thank you for your reply. About the ESA appeal, he was moved from the support group into WRAG. We had three different decisions in just over a year.
1. Atos Medical - 9 points
2. Appeal - 30 points and put into Support Group.
3. Atos Medical - put into WRAG but no ideal of points given.

marionf wrote:

Hi Pete,

Thank you for your reply. About the ESA appeal, he was moved from the support group into WRAG. We had three different decisions in just over a year.
1. Atos Medical - 9 points
2. Appeal - 30 points and put into Support Group.
3. Atos Medical - put into WRAG but no ideal of points given.

Hi,

Thanks for clearing that up re the ESA appeal. As I read it, it seemed the other way around, but there are not many who would wish to be put into the WRAG when already put into the support group (although there is always one! lol).

It does seem a common situation that if put into the Support Group at a tribunal, the DWP review the claim again and back into the WRAG (or even off ESA) one goes, leading to the many ongoing tribunals.

Good luck with both the ESA and DLA appeals anyway.

Pete

You have my sympathies, my son is 13 years old and has Aspergers Syndrome. It is very difficult. He wont talk to people, go outside without me, he wouldnt ask for help or instructions if he was lost. He loses things, forgets important things, needs constant reassurance, can explode like a volcano because he cant express his feelings, has no social imagination, no social communication, cannot even look at someone if they are talking to him. I worry terribly about when he grows up. He is extremely intelligent and has a real gift for science and maths, he wants to be a Bio-Geneticist and Im hopeful that with the right help he will manage this. It would mean concentrating all day on his obsession and not having to speak to anyone... perfect!!! He is classed as having a disability and has extra help at school (and by the way the school get extra cash for him because of AS). When he goes (if he goes) to University, he will get extra help for his disability, and yet the government for DLA considers people with AS as not having a disability??? I really dont get it at all. I would argue that they can look after my son for a couple of weeks, then tell me he doesnt have a disability. I wish you all the luck and hope your appeal goes well

Hi Sherell,

Thank you so much for your post. I know exactly where you are coming from - I had all that when my son was 13 - he is now 21. The disability doesn't go away and the problems become different but that is only because the environment changes. My son is less stressed these days and that is only because he is at home all day - safe and protected from the outside world. He doesn't work so there is no need for routine although I do try to have one for him. Also I have learned how to keep the meltdowns and anger to a minimum - how to talk to my son and ease him into things like attending appointments or reminding him about his driving lessons. One of the problems is that he doesn't look disabled and he can look people in the eye. It is after the event that the trouble starts even if it is an enjoyable event - it is a change from the norm and causes his stress levels to rise. He has trouble processing information/being with people he doesn't know and instructions have to be given in a direct way. He was diagnosed when he was 9 years of age and we had to battle with the Local Authority to even get him statemented - that took 18 months. My son is also intelligent but one needs more than that to cope with life and that is the difficulty - getting others to appreciate the mountains that people with Aspergers have to climb.

In a few days - when my mental powers have returned, I will have another look at my written dla form and appeal the decision.

Thank you for reading this - it helps to know that I'm not the only one finding it a bit tough.

kindest regards

m'star