apparently asd/adhd etc not disability...

[pokhara]

according to the horrible man dealing with blue badges at the local town hall. exact words, a disability is something to do with your legs, and thats the reason a person cant walk, not autism or adhd. Oh and because he saw ds running inside the town hall he has took it upon himself to ignore gp's part of the application form were gp's agrees for one, and pass it to head of social services, oh and autism is not a physical disability...... fuming to say the blooming least.....massive complaint coming his way, he did say more but cant remember exactly...

and to add.....ds's problems cause great dificulties and needs major buggy taken with us everywhere, but hey, that dont matter

I think it's easier to get a blue badge by qualifying for higher rate mobility tbh.

Although I had to argue with the dla 'helpline' to get them to send me the forms.

actually have appeal in for hr mob but as it has already taken since jan cant wait any longer need one asap

I sympathise - can you get local councillors to help?

pokhara, what you need to do is this:

Phone the council, and ask for details of how to appeal.

Ask them for their criteria. If they say 'physical disability', look on the NAS website for the case law that accepts ASD as a physical arrestment of brain development.

Talk to someone in authority, and explain that as ASD is physical and it is the ASD that causes your DS's difficulties with walking, that by deduction, your DS's difficulties are caused by a physical problem.

Follow procedure and write a letter of appeal, stating the case law and that as your DS has a physical condition of the brain, which directly affects his ability to walk, you trust that they will be happy to accept that he meets the criteria, and therefore, you are requesting that they provide you with a blue badge asap.

I have a copy of the letter I did somewhere, if that helps.

I am on Page 3 of the DLA Mobility question, trying to qualify for High Rate Mobility.

thanks lougle i will do that in the morn, just gobsmacked at thebloke who aid this, if you know nothing about asd etc then how can they comment on it!!!

Great advice, Lougle!

Bloke talking absolute b***ks. Ask for your form to be passed to his manager immediately on grounds of disability discrimination. And tell GP that irritating man thinks he is a more of a doctor than the dr (may make him cross enough to offer to sign blue badge forms for every asd kid on his list lol)

Don't bother with Town Hall or Council is my advice. Try your hardest to get higher rate mobility DLA. Apart from Blue Badge you get payment or motability car, exemption from road tax, congestion charge in London etc. Much better option.

tried to get high rate mobility, ds is only 4 but still think should get it, the only reason the put on the statement o decision is that when ds refuses to walk he is making a concious decision. how do they bloody know. anyway doing appeal to be in by next wed. found a case law about refusing to walk and concious decisions, so gonna do my best. the system isnt there to help its there to cause get stress and upset think.

There is lots of advice and info on MN about getting hr DLA for behaviour. It is a category in the official DLA documentation. See if you can work out how to use the search facility on here, it was posted not long ago. Good luck.

i got told that asd was not a disability when filling in forms at sure start

Talk to him again and say so 'just to clarify, you are saying that autism is not a disability? Can I have your name please?' That normally puts the wind up jobsworth types. Take it further and complain.

I's ask him what his medical training is, and ask to speak to his direct supervisor or get their name. Say you will be taking it further as he is not qualified to make the decision on what's a disability and what's not - that's the job of a doctor. I'd also refer him to the National Autistic Society and suggest he brushes up on his knowledge.

spoke to the appeal department yesterday and they said, on the gp's form the first question is something like do the person have a disability which makes them unable to walk, and the gp ticked the no box, the 2nd - is the persons disability severe, moderate or mild, gp ticked severe, 3rd - is disability permanent or temp gp ticked perm, 4th - does the person need wheelchair and then does person need walking aid gp ticked no to both (even though ds has major buggy off wheelchair service and i gave gp a letter telling him this) and 5th - how far can the person walk before getting into diffculty 50 metres or less, between 50 - 100m or over 100m and gp ticked under 50 meteres.
so if the gp had ticked 1st question yes would have got it apprently, they faxed letter back to gp to see if he wanted it changed to yes and he said no. Then the appeal lady said that in certain circs they can over turn this, but that the regulations set by government say that autism and adhd do not qualify for this, and also the fact that ds can run would disqualify the conditions also.
she said that government have been reviewing the regulations for blue badge for 2 years now because these rules were last set in the 1970's and that could be another year.
i tried to explain all diffi culties using a normal parking space with the difficulties ds has and that i find it hard to be able to take him out because of this and she said nothing she can do and advised me to appeal the dla mobility award, which i am anyway.

so pisssed of at this and it is discrimination against children with asd/adhd/learning difficultis etc.

Well if ASD isn't a disability HOW COME they are paying higher rate mobility to so many with it? I know its hard to get and I know quite a few who have been turned down, but I also know MANY who do get hr mobility for ASD. Its bollocks, they can't just look at one ticked box and ignore the rest ffs.

Its not just a question of parking spaces, a lot more comes with hr mobility DLA and there IS provision in the UK for it to apply to people with behavioural issues and non-physical disability.

coping inside a shopping centre - i do my best and try to cope and sometimes its fine but most of the time it ends up a nightmare thats when i head back to the car and by that time he can sometimes be uncontrollable, these situations cannot al the time be avoided, shopping needs to be done and loves going into shops with lots of toys and we stay there for about half hour and he gets treat and goes to same cafe for lunch, i cannot stay at home all the time just because it is difficult, that would be easy, and just because i might beable to cope inside the shopping centre does not make it easier when we go back to the car and there is a tiny space for me to open his door try and transfer him from buggy to car seat (ds 3foot 9 and 3.5 stone) whilst he is punching and kicking and archinghis back, if i had a wider space it would be made easier.

Mine was refused because my arse of a GP said that DS' autism was a variable condition when the criteria says it has to be permanent.

I was going to leave it but this thread has given me the will to appeal. Good luck pokhara