claiming for mobility car but not being 'disabled'

[HighwayDragon]

Sorry, this isn't what you think it's going to be! It's about me.

So I'm entitled to the rate of dla that means I can trade it in for a car. But I'm actually fine 90% of the time and don't feel disabled at all. So why should I claim something that I dont need? Another car would be great, and the scheme is awesome, but its like I'm taking advantage, am I?

So wyoo someone who doesn't need it claiming anyway?

Well, there's a massive gap between what you're writing here and what your consultant is saying. I would pay attention to the gap rather than assuming its because it's easy to get dla/ pip!

1. I've never met a consultant who's known anything about benefits, although I've met some who think they do. They have absolutely no input to whether you get the award, and no idea how it's scored and assessed. And often their beliefs come from a hope that there is a fair and just safety net, or just a gap in understanding quite how hard it is to get.

But your consultant does know your illness and prognosis, so maybe he/she's trying to get you to plan ahead? These things take an awful long time to process so maybe s/he's encouraging you to get going with it.

1. I suspect you're probably iller than you give yourself 'credit' for, maybe because of your own emotional state, maybe because you're resilient, maybe because youre managing well at the moment.

Lots of sympathy and support to you.

Consultants may not know much about benefits but in my experience MS nurses usually do so if they have also suggested you apply, you may be eligible.

But you get dla how disabled do you think a person needs to be to get a motability car if you get the rate you are disabled enough

Apply first, see if you get it and then worry about if you should claim for a car. Good luck :)

Not 'worry' - decide.

We have had motability cars in the past and im able to walk and get on a bus and everything get a car its ok,

I have a blue badge - I can walk quite well usually but it's only because I can park near the shops using it. If I had to park further away I'd be limping by the time I got there.

What Miscellaneous said.

I hope you don't get a nasty shock if you get turned down. I know people with significant disability who have been turned down and are in the appeals process. Their doctors are incensed but the DWP has only been listening to ATOS who have targets of how many claims to allow.

My DD has relapsing/remitting MS. I would say that whilst the consultant might not know a great deal about benefits, the MS nurse probably will.
OP have you taken advice from the MS Society?

Highway The word 'disabled' is a big one, for some people, and it can be loaded with lots of connotations. The trouble is that you cannot possibly lump people with visual impairments, hearing impairments, physical impairments, MH problems, learning difficulties etc into one homogeneous group. I am still candy, just candy with a side serving of disability. My life is different but I have had so many experiences and met so many amazing people that I never would have done if I had not 'acquired' my health problems.

I did not want to claim for disability living allowance, although the name is now changes which I hope it will make those who are entitled more likely to claim. However, I do have huge costs arising directly as a result of my health and mobility problems, so I applied on those grounds. I use my DLA money very careful to ensure I get the maximum benefit (no pun intended!) out of it. I have used it to pay for private osteopathy and physiotherapy and the improvement is remarkable. It's keeping me mobile and able to work FT, so I don't feel so guilty about claiming something that is genuinely enabling me to live an independent life - the sole reason for DLA/PIP.

OH has MS and he was turned down for DLA three times.

There seems to be no rhyme or reason and the decisions makers are not medics.

We have had motability cars in the past and im able to walk and get on a bus and everything get a car its ok

This may not be the case anymore if you were to be reassessed.

Many people are losing their DLA as the rules have become so much tighter.

I have been asessed just becase somebody is able to get around some doesnt mean they should lose benefit this Is not a dig at the pp who mentioned it frigging atos humiliated hundreds of people with their bloody assessments

I have been asessed just becase somebody is able to get around some doesnt mean they should lose benefit this Is not a dig at the pp who mentioned it frigging atos humiliated hundreds of people with their bloody assessments

I know it's just that the new guidelines for the higher rate has been decreased from being able to walk 50metres to being able to walk 20 metres.

There will be a lot of people that have been assessed as entitled to the higher rate on DLA that will not qualify when reassessed for PIP

It is ridiculous the whole bloody thing people having benefit stopped for not reaching a criteria next the will be expecting people to be bed bound before they get a penny

Please all remember when you apply, its walk 20m comfortably and regularly. If you can walk 100m once but with extreme pain and are unable to do it again, then it doesnt count as being able to walk 100m.

And if the answer to something is "yes, but" rephrase it as "no, unless". Its ridiculous, but its all in the wording of it.

Another thing, put every condition you have on there. For eg, i'm not claiming for my prolapse, but i require "specials aids" (not going into that here with no name change!) for the bathroom due to it, which is an extra 2 (?) points.

Yes, safely and with reasonable repeatability are the watchwords for "can you do X?"

It's tempting to answer a question with your best ever performance. Or with something you can manage once a day but only with a lie down afterwards.

That's not what's being tested though. The actual criteria are, what can you do safely, to a sufficient standard and with reasonable repeatability.

Always use the additional information boxes (and additional sheets if necessary), be detailed and explicit, don't be afraid to repeat yourself in question after question, and for full buzzword bingo points explain tediously each time "I need X / can't do Y because of Z in my health condition".

I am in constant pain when I walk I dp agree with you with wording forms properly

I suppose it's because my limitations just feel normal to me. However I know that I am very limited in what I can do. Does that makes sense?

It makes perfect sense to me. It's amazing how quickly you adjust your life and even more amazing how those adjustments become the norm.

Yeah I get what you are saying I have a bith defect so always been like this it seems ^normal!

Maybe its also the final nail in the 'I have a disability' coffin, I wont say it out loud, because I'm not the way a disabled person should be, does that make sense?

I cried when ds1 first got awarded HRM, for that very reason. I agree with other posters though, apply, you probably won't get it and if you do, use it for therapy instead. DS1 has jsut had his whole lot denied at the second renewal, 5 years after the initial claim, so we are now in a fight to get it back.

Yy with the limitations being normal to you. Filling in the form is difficult, because you have to work out where you differ from other people's norms - from your old norms, if your limitations are acquired.

It's also difficult because seeing written down in one list all the things you can't do any more can be devastating.

The advice is to give yourself plenty of time do the form, and do it in small chunks. I find them utterly destroying to do. Blows my nice "get on and don't think about it" coping strategy right out of the water.