Hi all 👋
Been silently following for many threads now. Severe social anxiety plus being incredibly busy with four DC (including 12yo with ASD and 3yo on ASD pathway) has prevented me from joining in the conversation earlier (literally never post anything online!) but really been wanting to chat to you guys as you all seem so lovely and the anxiety is absolutely crippling me at the moment. Have applied for my 12yo daughter, scan date 24/1 so almost 16 weeks for me.
I just wanted to say… you ladies are amazing and have all contributed to making such a wonderful space where we can all chat/read about the extremely long and stressful process of applying for DLA and support one other which I think is incredible. It’s so tough mentally and there is not enough support out there for this kind of thing. Personally you have all really helped me to cope and not feel so alone just reading, thank you all so much 💗
Just filling out the form almost gave me a mental breakdown and took me several months to complete so sent off pretty late 😕 Having to deal with DDs extreme behaviour and all the regular appointments/meetings etc is enough to cope with and I’m sure a lot of people who apply are in similar situations. Why do they have to make it so hard for people who are already going through a difficult time?
Got me thinking... it’s as if they make the entire process as difficult as possible on purpose, more than likely in an attempt to put people off applying which is just awful when they are often in dire need of financial support, it certainly put me off for a long while. Filling out a huge paper form with some excruciatingly difficult questions/lots of evidence needed is daunting and the fact that we cannot complete the form/track the process online or anything seems ridiculous in 2024.
Always hearing of call handlers getting annoyed when people call to ask for an update even when it’s past the 15 weeks it states on the letters 🤨 not quite sure what they expect when there’s no other way to find out how it’s progressing other than waiting for a text that may never come or a letter which can take several weeks to arrive once a decision is made!! They really need to move the system online so we can check ourselves then surely they wouldn’t be receiving so many calls for updates and it would save both our time and theirs it’s honestly daft!
I’m really trying not to pester them but called earlier today for the second time as I couldn’t take the waiting any longer after seeing many people around my date had called and found out they’d been awarded. Took me hours to build up the courage to call and was shaking like a leaf. I was told bluntly that I will receive a text if awarded and no text if declined (which I know isn’t always true from reading up on here) and to wait for a text or letter, a polite way of saying don’t call I guess…
Phew, rant over! so sorry for the absolute essay ladies, as you can see I’ve had a lot to say for a while 😂 Thank you so much if you made it this far 💗 Think things are just really getting to me now.. seems every aspect of getting support for our children is such a long and hard battle, a diagnosis alone took 3 years for us and my daughter has missed out on so much support 😢 I’m sure most of you guys will know what I’m going through.
Good luck to all of you 🍀 Ive been following your stories and really hope you all get some good news soon, I know some of you have been waiting even longer than me it’s unacceptable really!!