To think Katie Hopkins has officially lost the plot and special needs children do have genuine medical disorders

[Arnie123]

www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/katie-hopkins/why-must-everything-be-a-medical-condition_b_3751096.html?utm_hp_ref=mostpopular

I know she is just a gobby professional troll but this time she has gone way too far. So special needs don't exist and it is just crap parenting? Unbelievable

"Which also entitled said parent to dla payments at the time due to said child being diagnosed..."

I'm going to save this one day so I can just copy and paste it...

DLA is not awarded because of any diagnosis of anything, you can have no diagnosis and be awarded DLA, you can have a firm diagnosis of a serious condition and be turned down for it.

DLA is awarded because of care needs, that is if a child needs more personal care than is typical for its age, things like toileting, eating, washing and getting dressed independently.

These care needs are detailed by the parent, confirmed by another adult who knows the child, all health professionals involved in the child's care are contacted as is the child's educational placement (school or nursery) anything that a parent claims to use needs to be backed up by receipts and evidence. So that's paperwork proving care needs and at least four adults, two of them being professionals stating what the child's care needs are.

DLA by the DWP's own figures has one of the lowest fraud rates of any benefit at www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/222892/fem_1112.pdf 1/2 a percent and is estimated by DWP's figures to be underclaimed by 20-40%, that is 20-40% of peopel who would be entitled to it are not receiving it.

So said parent being able to claim DLA doesn't work anything like - get a diagnosis, claim DLA, nor is it anything like easy to claim fraudulently. Unless you think schools and medical professionals are helping claim benefits fraudulently?

Also just wanted to add, the job centre may be partly to blame, when I had my back to work focussed interview I was told to apply for DLA despite not having any kind of formal diagnosis

Sounds like they were trying to help you and acknowledge that you faced extra difficulties.

Why is that wrong?

Also a claim for DLA isn't about the diagnosis, it is about the extra care needed due to the difficulties faced.

'I think she vocalises things other people are too scared to say imo'

Too scared to say for good reason. It is ill founded bigotry.

Fanjo

I will read it however not all myths are truly myths, people do play the system... Considering the whole whip lash thread where some doctors will just sign it off, ok others don't but it all depends on who you see and how convincing you can be.

My views have come from personal experience so sorry if it does not fit in as it seems as part of the myth but its hardly a myth if people have seen in happen. I've seen some things about the back to work interviews with my own family that I cannot believe they still manage to be told they don't need to work yes they have "disabilitys" but nothing that would stop them working as admitted by them selfs, also playing the housing tax system.

People always have views that others don't agree with, that does not make me wrong nor does it make you wrong it just means we disagree.

I still stand by that for some people it is way too easy for a diagnoses that they will openly admit they lied about things to help get it as they had researched the illness. Again its sad for those who really do have problems but as long as anything exits with a loophole and easy to get info fraud will happen.

'I think she vocalises things other people are too scared to say imo'

Too scared to say for good reason. It is ill founded bigotry.

It does make you wrong though, sorry

APPLYING for DLA isn't the same thing as getting it.

If someone else thinks you might be entitled to it, then well you might be and it is worth applying.

You'll have to be honest because of the sheer amount of evidence and checking up, but, if you get through all of that and they award it it is because you are ENTITLED to it, whether you believe so or not.

When I got mine, if was for my first born. I didn't know parenting could be any different and was getting on with it. In hindsight I was on the verge of a breakdown and the playworker I paid to work with my child and give me a break saved us.

"I've seen some things about the back to work interviews with my own family that I cannot believe they still manage to be told they don't need to work yes they have "disabilitys" but nothing that would stop them working as admitted by them selfs, also playing the housing tax system."

Which has nothing to do with DLA because DLA is not an out of work benefit.

'however not all myths are truly myths, people do play the system'

The reason this is a ridiculous statement is because most people who are entitled to various things find it the fight of their lives trying to get access to them. For me it was the hardest job of my life.

The sheer weight of evidence isn't enough. When you have a crystal clear case for anything, you are still refused if the 'services' think they can get away with it. You will get people who believe the myths but got promoted into decision-making roles, probably on the basis that they were actually crap at their front-line job due to their belief of the myths, who make it virtually impossible to get much at all.

The system is also so complex and arbitrary that there can be no game plan.

'I still stand by that for some people it is way too easy for a diagnoses that they will openly admit they lied about things to help get it as they had researched the illness'

What people? What diagnosis are you talking about?

It doesn't matter how much you research cancer, you're not going to get a dx if you haven't got it. I think you're talking utter rubbish.

GPs cannot 'sign off' disabilities.

That isn't how it works. Your family are either lying to you or you have got confused.

There have been a few threads about disabilities outside the usual disability forums and I have to say, I despair at the general level of ignorance and bigotry out there among those personally unaffected.

And yet chattymummy, the rate of fraud is very low. Yes some will take the piss but just as sn example 50% of DLA applications are declined. It is a very difficult benefit to get.....so much proof is required of the applicants day to dau challenges.

Thats just DLA but other benefits also seem hard to obtain. ..not least because this Govt have done such a good job of convincing people that those who require them are "scroungers".

Any system will be open to fraud but the solution is to tackle the fraudsters and not label or penalise the genuine which KH and people like her do.

Before my son was diagnosed he saw Occupational therapists, specialist speech and language therapists, physios and two paediatricians. Only one of those was qualified to diagnose the autism and that was the last paediatrician based upon the reports from every other person. It took nearly three years so was hardly a rushed thing.

Chattymummy you haven't got a clue.

Oh and have you read the This is my child page campaign yet?

I expect you'll think you know better though.

So because when I have witnessed first hand does not for with the perfect mumsnet way... I must be confused or being lied to...

Now I remember why I hardly post because if you don't post the same as everyone else you must be lying/confused/bigoted/rasist/have another motive/benefit basher the list goes on.

Oh and they are on dla but still get called in randomly to access if they can go to work to see if their disability is improving at all... One of which is for a "bad back" not a very bad back when laying slabs/leaning over pool tables/going on roller coasters etc but so much of a bad back it stops them working

Fact is;

There is plenty of evidence that hospitals and professionals get things wrong all the time

There is fruad within dla, this shows that people have been able to claim for things they don't really have

The rates of which children now have things like ADHD has risen drastically even though it has been a recognised thing for many years

DLA fraud, by the governments own estimate is 0.04%. That's less than half a percent chatty.
If you are so concerned about these people, why haven't you reported them?
As for being lied to etc. Those of us who have had to fill out the forty odd page forms, in detail, with proof find it hard to believe, but yes, there is fraud. Those of us that are genuine would rather you reported the millions you reckon are fiddling.

You can work while on DLA

I do find the comments being spouted on mumsnet just beneath the This Is My Child campaign stickies really rather ironic.

How do we get it out there to the people who need it? Because whilst it's great having a love in the idea was to educate those that need educating.

Don't know what the answer is.

I think there is a lot of wilful ignorance Saintly.

I think lots will find this campaign helpful and informative, but at the same time, some just don't want to think outside of their own little bubble regardless of the facts.

DLA fraud, by the governments own estimate is 0.04%

Which includes departmental error, I think the true fraud rate was estimated to be about 0.1%?

Oh and they are on dla but still get called in randomly to access if they can go to work to see if their disability is improving at all

Then they must also be on an out of work benefit too.

DLA is not an out of work benefit, DLA enables some disabled people to work.

Chattymummy DLA is awarded on grounds of need, not diagnosis. Very few children with "just" ADHD are entitled to DLA.

DS1's hyperactivity was first noted when he received a diagnosis of autism, age 3. The diagnostic team for the ASD included a paediatrician, who was overseeing his case (the referral to her was made by our HV, who knew our history) plus SALT, a psychologist and a psychiatrist and an educational psycholgist. OT were invited to participate but were not taking new cases, at the time. Once he received his diagnosis, after well over a dozen appointments of various sorts, we were handed over to our local CAMHS. The paediatrician also monitored him for the next few years.

2.5 years later, we were re-referred to CAMHS, as he was really struggling at school - struggling so much that he couldn't manage a few day, even with 1:1 support. He was stressed and dangerously impulsive and self harming. We lost a full academic year before we'd had the long parent interview, plus a shorter one, plus a couple of play observations, plus a school observation which all together finally got us into seeing the psychiatrist (everything prior to that had been handled by a MH nurse and a psychologist) so we could discuss his diagnosis and possible courses of treatment.

What you saw, Chattymummy is typically one very small part of the entire process. Many parents are also obliged to attend parenting classes - it was noted that we already knew all the tricks that they teach and were adept at handling the behaviour, just overwhelmed by the amount and nature of it.

I honestly don't have the energy to educate such people.

Which was why the campaign seemed such a great idea

Current version of the DLA form, btw. All 40 pages of it. (complete with pointless pictures in this current version)
www.nidirect.gov.uk/dla-1a-child-claim-form.pdf

God there's a load of ignorant shit on this thread.
Makes KH appear almost enlightened.