How are these medical assessments for DLA going to work then?

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Is anyone else worried about this? My son's "medical" needs are not in your face but exist and are significantly time consuming. A stranger looking at him would say he's fine, healthy. But thats because his problems are well controlled through a lot of hardwork. Are they going to do an endoscopy everytime we apply for DLA to make sure our dr isn't lying?

Also, his other needs are learning needs, not medical needs. Alot of people on DLA don't have medical needs but have significant learning needs. How on earth are they going to do a medical assessment on these people and these people get their entitlement?

Plus, my ds already has a large number of appointments. He's under 14 different health and support professionals. So we need to add another appointment and this assessor is going to claim to know and understand him when specialists in their field struggle with my DS on some of his problems?

Its all crazy if you ask me. Why can't there be letters from all the specialists for our children?

I can live with all the other stuff, 20% vat, housing benefit and ctc cutbacks, etc. But attacking the disabled, sick sick sick

Squashi, I've just asked my mum, she seems to think I'll be fine because there IS something there, but my worry is if they need to save money, they're going to stop DLA for those that only have a small need, ie: me. I only have to pay for taxis, trains etc because I cannot drive. They'll think "Oh she can get a job and cover that cost." But when you're earning £80 a day (approx what I'll be starting on come the end of uni when I get a job) that's got to cover rent, food, bills etc. Oh I think I could cry too!

Well, I'm a 20 year old student so not really a child but still aargh why mess with something SO many people rely on?!!

This is when organisations like NAS, SCOPE, cerebra etc need to show their worth and make sure they have input in to the process.

Riven, might you share Dave's mobile no??

DLA isn't paid on abllity to wokrk so would be amazed if just adults tbh.

I have resigned my memebrship of teh LD's, NC promised me he would not support amendments to teh DLA system that amde it ahrder for people with SN to claim, or tehir carers.

Absolutely no faith left.

my ds is nearly 7 and have just sent off his renewal application. i am concerned though because alot of his needs are not soo much physical but learning difficulties, things like he has no sense of danger so can't go out on his own because although he will tell you you have to look before you cross the road he actually doesnt understand it! and will do just that, we have at least one hospital appointment a month for check up etcf and dla pays the cost of the travel as probably like many we dont always go to the nearest hospital - one is even about forty minutes drive unless you get caught in rush hour and then it takes two hours! he has a chromosonal deletion which no one has ever heard of and even some doctors have never heard of it so how is someone going to assess him! are they going to look after him for a week/month to see what i have to go through - i think not. this time for my renewal i attached loads of additional information for them to read but will i be able to do this at an assessment? let hope gov use their common sense

My twin girls turned 16 this month and their DLA hasnt yet been sorted out, ds has his until 2013 and dunno how it will work, i think DLA should send someone round to our house for tea, that should work!
i don't get carers (never have) cos i get incapacity, i also dont get widowed parents allowance cos i get incapacity, if they stop my in cap then i will get carers and widowed parents allowance.
whats going to happen about having to go back to work when your youngest it at school will there be something different if you have a child (oe 3) with a disability?

Onlyjoking, at the moment lone parents have to go on JSA instead of IS when their youngest child is 10. That was due to change to age 7 soon anyway but now it's been changed to age 5 in the Budget.

At the moment lone parents on IS can remain on IS if they have a disabled child, regardless of age, so I don't think the changes will affect those with disabilities. They do call you in for twice-yearly Work Focused Interviews but there's not a lot of pressure to seek work as they do understand that demands of a disabled child are different.

I suspect it will be focussed on those who are deemed capable of work in same way as incapacity benefit changes. ie with maybe short term problems etc. There was suggestion Cameron would do some stupid voucher system where disabled children get services rather than cash so we all get one big assessment and a HV then decides all the services we need for us and we don't get DLA at all.

I am sure I have read Cameron in past saying that those with serious permanent conditions will be supported but those with temporary conditions or ones that change over time subject to more frequent checks.

I think that there alot of people approaching retirement age who perhaps start claiming disability / carers etc rather than go back to work properly eg people have an operation and claim during recovery (fair enough) but then just sit on benefits until they get their pension when they probably could do some work.It would be interesting to see how its broken down age wise. I've certainly through work have seen some older couples where one claims incapacity / DLA and the other carers allowance as effectively an income / supplement pension when their needs weren't that high. Especially if we have to work to 70 you can see vast swathes of people in their 60s claiming DLA / Carers rather than staying in work. I am sure it will be a crack down on people who they think could be capable of work.

it took years for dd4 to be diagnosed with asd and gdd. years! .(And that was with every test going,loads of peadi/genetisists looking at her.
I am worried about this , as she has always looked like a NT child, abet much younger than she really is....dont think she`ll get the dla again, even though shes still in nappies , and on melatonin to make her sleep (not that it works all night)...dont even know how to explain how she is with "dangers"...

exactly, this new scheme is going to punish the hidden disabled section heavily

if they ask pick up a piece of paper 99.99 people who are not quadrapligic can manage that using that as justification to tell em to go to work is bad

i hope not lolipop 3 years away well 2.5 and im already panicing like i need more stress

god willing someone will clarify the situation before too long or ican see them having a riot

also look at where there was no taxation increase booz and smokes.

My 5 year old ds has autism and can not follow instructions, due to processing difficulties and receptive language delays. My 7 year old ds is hfa and can not follow instructions, either. Will that count as not being able to pick up a piece of paper or is it more of a physical test.
How long will the medical assessment be? Long enough to make a thorough medical evaluation, or will it be rushed to fit all of the assessments in with limited number of assessing doctors?
The long form may be difficult, but this is not the solution.

I don't think it will affect me big time as dd's cp is visible and obvious.
but I feel for the people who's dc's have "hidden disabilities" as it will make it harder for you imo

DS2's claim has a renewal date of Feb 2012, just before his 5th Birthday.

I need our DLA and carers allowance to fund his diet, the extra washing and we are in the process of hiring a private SALT as the 1 visit a term is not enough for a child with very little receptive language.

But if you look at DS on his own, or listen to him you would think that he was a NT child. He has lots of Echolia, so talks non-stop, but its all nonsense, mainly copied from Mr Tumble. Like another poster said, he might well be fine in a room, but you add the sensory stuff in and you hit problems straight away.

This is so shit! DC should be ashamed of himself but I also think NC has screwed everyone that voted for him over.

SoV NC has screwed people and both of our emmebrshipc ards are being returned today.

DS1's DLA is up in a year so he will no doubt be a testc ase for hidden disability! It will cost the government though- no longer will I delvier every therapy for free and keep quietly outside the system- CA os for ds3 anyway so not as if I am 'paid' to do it. Every niggle, pain etc will go to GP, we need a medical file as thick as a log.

For many of us with kids with DLA it is because of issues arising during the night - that is often quite a big influence on if / how much DLA you can get. How the fuck are they going to assess that then?

The sad thing is that I can see the logic of hammering DLA claimants because we all know that this ( like all other benefits ) has been vastly abused and there are plenty of adults claiming this who should not be. The problem is, it is unlikely to be the fraudsters who are ferreted out, instead the parents and genuine claimants are going to go through hell.

Also, I suspect this is going to completely fail as a cost saving measure, because it will be costly to assess us all and then we will all troop off to appeal against what some untrained disinterested no-mark has decided on the basis of half an hour's stupid question. And that will soct plenty too.

it's actually key, night care, in awarding HR DLA.

yes there's abuse but you know, I don't think it's that widespread- certainly not compared to IB / EMA, JSA / IS (people claiming whilst working), child maintenance avoidance. The forms are pretty thorough and if assessments take all teh avenues they should- contact with schools, medical personnel, etc- then it should be fairly robust.

My two both have DLA renewals due next year. Something else that bothers me about these assessments is that presumably they will have to be done with the child in the same room.

My 10yr-old would be devastated if he heard me discussing his incontinence issues with someone in front of him. Not to mention having to go through a long list of reasons why he's not like other children of his age.

My 7yr-old already takes everything very much to heart. I can imagine the effects of this will be even worse in a year's time if I have to go through all his issues in front of him too.

Actually CT that did occur to me yes

We ahd a SSD assessment with ds1 recently adn he was upset at similar stuff being mentioned- such as being dependent on bed sharing (mainly with ds2) at 10, it's not fair on them at all.