Hi,
I don't post very often but I'm sat here alone feeling physically sick after my DLA tribunal this morning. I was basically made to feel like a liar as they took everything the school said about my boy as gospel even though it was contradicted by my account, my Mother's statement, my gp's letter, a private speech therapy assessment, an NHS speech therapy assessment and the continence nurses assessment.
The Legal rep was ok, the Doctor seemed pretty neutral but the lady representing the disability side seemed hostile from the outset. How am I meant to answer: "if your child is soiling himself at school why didn't they notice it before you informed them?" How am I meant to answer that? She just kept making me feel like she thought I was lying. All I could do was answer honestly, I don't know how they didn't notice it because we as a family did every day as soon as he got into the car!
The school report said he "presented as a normal child"! Yes they actually used the word "normal". I pointed out that in a class of 30 children it's easy to miss if a child is struggling especially if he isn't making trouble.
I applied for DLA for my DS over a year ago and it's taken this long for the appeal to be heard. I was pretty confident as I'm well aware that he need substantially more care than a typical child of his age and that he is a danger to himself when out and about. I know that he masks at school but this was not asked about, there were no questions about his behaviour at home or his communication issues as the school had stated that he had no communication issues even though both the private and NHS SLT stated that he did, as did I.
I don't understand why they've dismissed the other evidence and favoured the school's report?
Now I've got to wait for a letter confirming their decision as they said they would need to discuss it. This is my last port of call and if they don't believe me there's nothing more I can do!
I'm left feeling like I've let my son down and failed him. We manage on the money I have coming in so it's not about that, I need another adult when we go anywhere new/busy and so I need a larger car because I have four children, if he was awarded the higher rate mobility I would at least save on the road tax, even if they didn't grant me the money and just said I was entitled to it I would be happy. Also it would be safer if I had a blue badge for him so I could park closer our destination.
How do I come back from failing my boy?