Re: disability living allowance
 

The walking distance question does specify 'before you feel severe discomfort'. It's just that I was recently told that the Decision Maker's ignore the severe discomfort aspect along with most(if not all) of the Law, the contents of their Decision Maker's Guide, evidence given to Commons Select Committee, House of Lords rulings etc. So it would appear that the rule of Law is ignored and whether you are awarded DLA is down to the whim of the Decision Maker.

Link to offical DWP Decision Maker's Guide (DLA is Chapter 61, PDF document)
Link to other DWP guides which might be useful which include all the legal rulings, including appeals.

Re: disability living allowance
 

The DLA form is quite daunting. Fortunately I have a wonderful Macmillan nurse who has completed the form for me. I wasn't even claiming DLA that I was entitled to until she suggested it!!!

I receive the lowest level of care allowance - about £70 per month. It is not means tested but I'm sure that will change in due course.

As has been mentioned before, subject to additional criteria, being in receipt of DLA can make a major difference to the WFTC payments.

Re: disability living allowance
 

What is WFTC ?

Re: disability living allowance
 

Working Families Tax Credits Paul :)

If you are on the lowest rate of DLA you can claim up to an extra £48.00 per week. Provided that your disability affects your working day in accordance with their guidelines.

Re: disability living allowance
 

Nugget you can't just take the form on face value you have to try and think how you would feel filling it in as that is an important aspect. I am a typical male i am proud and stubborn and hate to admit my limitations and while all of that is my problem it affects how i viewed the form and how i filled it in and some of the questions are purposely formed in such a way as to play to that and that is not just my opinion but also the opinion of many medical people i have talked to and a chairty that i finally ended up going to to fill it in. Thats the best bit of advice for anyone thinking of claiming DLA get someone that knows you well to fill it in for you as they will see you as you really are rather then how you want to think of yourself and the form will then have a more realistic and truthful aspect to it.

Re: disability living allowance
 

Rizzy, very good advice.

Re: disability living allowance
 

So very true Rizzy. If it were down to my husband he wouldn't even have the disabled badge for the car.
He needs the walking sticks he has but won't use them in public, preferring instead to lean on my arm.
The only time he allows himself to be called disabled is when he wants one of the kids to make him a cup of tea :)
Very proud and stubborn man.

Re: disability living allowance
 

I still don't like using my guide cane out in public after being told by someone that he didn't want to go out with me and it as it was embarrasing.

But I nearly walked in front of a bus the other week (Natalie stopped me or it woul dhave been a splatted Dilli) so I try to swallow my pride and use it now.

Re: disability living allowance
 

What a plonker! :erm: (that person, not you Dilli)

Re: disability living allowance
 

I can suggest an alternate use for your cane that will come in handy the next time someone tells you that..... :mad: :D

Re: disability living allowance
 

Thomas you can get and i would bet have much better friends then that trust me as that doesn't sound like anything i would call a friend i had a couple myself but now happily only have people who are more then content to have me around as i am :).

Re: disability living allowance
 

I can think of a use for that cane. It'll need replacing after though.

---------- Post added at 20:07 ---------- Previous post was at 19:43 ----------

Dilli, I don't mean to sound rude, but are you sure they are really your friends? In my experience when you are friends with someone, you deal with any differences they have (such as blindness).

For example, I work with someone who is wheelchair bound. He doesn't usually go out after work, but when he does, we just make allowances (things like going to the bar for him when he wants a drink etc). It's not embarassing, it's just life. People have different abilities.

Also, a few years ago, a friend had a blind girlfriend. Even though I didn't like her particularly (never worked out why, but we just didn't get on), if we ever went anywhere and my friend walked off somewhere (he did sometimes), I always made sure she was OK, and would help her go to wherever she wanted to (not sure what I would have done if she wanted to go to the toilet though :D).

Sorry if it sounds like I am ranting, but I've known enough disabled people that I do find it quite irritating that people define people by their disability, and not by the person themselves.

Anyway, to get back on topic. The problem with the DLA form is that whatever it is designed for, it feels like it's designed to prevent people getting benefit. In fact, the whole system feels like it's designed to stop people getting benefit (while I don't claim DLA myself, I've dealt with the DWP a few times).

Take for example the example of the doctors mentioned earlier. A friend had an assessment for DLA. The doctor came around. Interviewed my friend. Now, the surgery my friend had years ago was experimental then, and still not that commonplace now. As such, it's not surgery your average GP would necessarily know about (although theirs does, obviously). The doctor who was assessing didn't know about the surgury and immediately concluded nothing was wrong, so recommend the DLA be terminated.

Luckily for my friend, they are still in contact with the consultant who performed the op (the consultant said at the time of the op that due to the experimental nature of the op, my friend was likely to be directly or indirectly monitored by the hospital for the rest of their life). My friend contacted the consultant who immediately wrote a letter to the DWP pointing out that my friend is disabled, is eligible for DLA and explained both my friend's condition and the op. The DWP reinstated the benefit immediately.

Re: disability living allowance
 

I do not tend to go anywhere with him now ;)

Anyway yup, moving on and all that....

Re: disability living allowance
 

i bite on this one

those explain do they ?

in that case which of these is the correct definition of when sever discomfort starts

.when the pain starts

.when to carry on would cause pain then

.when carrying on would cause the pain later

oh and as it is explained in the notes

.when does the short stop bit apply

.if you just need to rest momentary before carrying on

.when a short rest allows you to continue

.taking more medication allows you to continue

any one who says from reading the notes that they could clearly answer those questions isn't being truthful in their answers

this is one the most appealed sections of this supposedly easy form as neither side seems capable of understanding the rules or the form or even what they are supposed to be checking via the question

see these and see if any you are much clearer after some of the explanations lol they some time just make it even more unclear ;)

http://www.disabilityalliance.org/dlalaw.htm#Virtually

http://www.lawcentreni.org/Resources...le%20to%20walk

and as more that 50% of appeals are successful it seems to me the forms are just as confusing for those who should know them like the back of their hands as they will see many many more than those filling them in my assertio that the question especially this one are not properly explain i feel is more that justified )

http://www.benefitsandwork.co.uk/dis...29/dla-appeals

Re: disability living allowance
 

The guides are meant to be the basis upon which they make the decisions. I have been told by more than one person at the DWP they they are ignored. What is the point of the Law being made in the first place if it is going to be ignored. Is this ignoring of the Law, official policy and if so, how far up the chain did it come from?