It's not an easy form because they honestly don't care what your health condition is; it's how it affects your daily life. So DSD was born extremely premature at 25 weeks weighing less than 700g. She had retinopathy of prematurity (too much oxygen at birth which causes retinas to detach and poor vision - fortunately not as common these days) and two brain haemorrhages, one on each side. And many other conditions associated with being born so early.
All of this ought to be sufficient to say she needs additional support because she can't hold down a job or work more than four hours a day. But they want demonstrations that it interferes with daily life.
She is essentially brain damaged which means she struggles in social situations and people think she's autistic. But she doesn't have other autistic symptoms. She appears to be fine and then you realise she has big gaps. So she can't retain information unless she repeats it eight times. She can't cook so the Walrus makes her hot food. She can't change her bedding and she has to be reminded to take her medication and to shower. But she is lovely and friendly and loyal and if she's given simple things to do for not very long, you wouldn't know she has a problem.
These are small examples of how difficult life is and we have had to focus on these to fill in the form.
It's not enough to say she has been permanently brain damaged, we have to go through all the daily living stuff she can't do. And we have to provide evidence from birth through school to now. This isn't easy because she lived in Spain for 16 years.
The evidence we have is difficult for her to read - letters saying how dependent she was on her mum at 21, performance plans from jobs where she struggled to do basic tasks, and medical reports. We've discovered she's not taking her medication properly because she made assumptions about it and that her hygiene has been poor at work. All of this is great evidence for her application but obviously upsetting that we are now finding out.
Many people filling it out would say I’m brain damaged or I can’t see well and leave it at that, but they require what that means when she gets a bus or train. It's very difficult to write it all down in a way that gets accepted. I feel I've done a good job but she has struggled doing it in her own.
It's like the least able people have to fill in the most difficult paperwork to show they need support.