To want to beat anyone who says disability benefits are easy to scam....

[WitchOfEorzea]

...around the head with this envelope I have in my hand. A DLA application for dd.

Seventy questions filled in, with the aid of an online guide.

19 pages of additional information in essay format that couldn't possibly fit in the little boxes they give you.

22 pages of official reports from consultant paediatricians, specialist speech and language therapists, GP, nursery, portage and IDS.

And they will still probably make it as difficult as possible for me if it's a anything like my experience of getting PIP.

People commenting on how easy it is to scam the system make me want to cry.

I think I deserve a drink now!

Lala and where's the outrage at the people dying as a result of having dla stopped & appeals kept on hold for months if not years. Disability rights UK said they were laughing a 'parallel' invesitit ion into this when it was leaked in 2014 that the un were planning to investigate the UK for (being the first ever) country to violate the convention on the rights of people with disabilities but nothing is ever reported

Completing a DLA application for a child is heartbreaking. Every question is a reminder of what our child can't do and we have to detail it without emotion - even though tears are streaming down our faces.

However, I don't find it degrading - highly emotional yes, and thankfully it hasn't been an annual process. DLA has made an huge difference to DS's life and helped me to enable him to have a chance of living a life without assistance. I very much appreciate it and it has made a real difference.

So, it really is worth the tears and heartbreak completing the form and NEVER feel degraded for doing so.

Someone suggested to me to have a separate piece of paper and for every negative you write for the form write a positive (obviously that is just for you not to send off!)

It's so horrible having to focus so closely on the negative aspects so it's good to be able to remember the good things too

Alwayscarrymashems sorry I read it completely wrong.

My sister's PIP was refused and she's applied for mandatory reconsideration. It's bloody heartbreaking.

Her assessor was awful. I accompanied her and we were both in tears by the end of the day. She had indefinite DLA with very clear need so its a huge blow. Luckily we're a close family and I'll do anything I can to make things easier for her but that is hardly the point is it?

My PiP was refused and I was turned down at appeal too. I'm supposed to be reapplying soon but it's taking time because I keep picking up the 'phone and then losing the will to go through with it. However, I can't afford the heating on £73.00 per week. More to the point I can't afford the loo roll, wipes and underwear! (colitis, diverticulitis, arthritis, eds, asc).

Whatever you do, photocopy or scan the form before you send it off....if all that time gets lost in the post or when it gets to the DLA office...that'll finish you off for sure if the form filling hasn't already x

Thought I'd come back to offer hope to those going through this, it's worth it eventually!

Haven't had a letter through yet but an amount has been paid into the bank consistent with dd being awarded high rate care.

Such a relief and to anyone still running the gauntlet.

So glad for you. First time round we got a home visit and full everything. Just two years later we were reassessed. DH was actually worse but got lower mobility and zero daily living. Got low daily living on mandatory reconsideration. It's bullshit. We asked for a copy of the notes and the examiner had straight out lied. Wait for court based appeal was so long and so stressful we were advised to live with it for 6 months then put in a change of circumstances form to trigger a new assessment. What's changed is that DH has gotten even worse due to the fact they removed his car. We have a shit cheap automatic now which he can't physically drive most days. This loss of independence has had a massive emotional effect on him. It breaks my heart to see it.

It was only marginally more difficult to get my PhD!

I have an indefinite DLA award and expect to be 'invited' to apply for PIP. I am profoundly deaf, and rather concerned that under the revised descriptors, I will have magically have gained abilities that I did not have before.

Deafness is a more complex one, and most don't realize the whole host of associated issues (some for me: daily vertigo, cannot travel to unfamiliar places on own, major anxiety/panic attacks, cannot communicate with strangers very well, safety issues when doing some perfectly ordinary things ....). But because I can read, I am suddenly able to communicate with all and sundry, or so the new descriptors imply.

What is not realized is that DLA enables me to do stuff that I couldn't without it. Take that away, and I'll be trapped at home even more reliant on partner. Deeply worrying.