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Originally Posted by weenie
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To be fair, they aren't too bothered by whatever the illness or disability you have. It's whether or not you can perform the simplest of tasks.
As I stated earlier the ESA50 form is designed to make people fail or to be called in to see an ATOS agent. This is why so many people win on appeal because that is when you are most likely to be represented by someone professional and they could/might include your medical history.
For those that haven't seen one of these forms, see here....
https://www.gov.uk/government/upload...717/esa-50.pdf
With example questions such as 'Can you reach your top pocket' to 'Can you press a button' and 'Can you pick up a £1 coin'. So even those with severe illness should be able going by the examples set out feel like they have no choice other than state 'Yes' or 'No problems'.
The trouble is they are always changing the questions. For the like of Crohn's sufferers, they've now included an answer to the question of bowel control which is 'Yes – but only if I cannot reach a toilet quickly' - Quite bizarre as if you tick that, then you fail as for that question you will not qualify for the support group. All the questions are loaded, and it's designed so you don't have the space to write anything either.
What people get wrong is that they don't seek help in filling out this form, it looks easy enough doesn't it, quite short too, but it is apart from DLA the hardest form to fill in properly. Also the form somewhere states if you have any info from any doc, specialist, consultant etc etc to send with it the form, but you only get 8 weeks dead to fill it and send it back. Getting info isn't easy, asking for notes isn't easy, some times you might have to pay and some times the info just isn't good enough. But you have to do it! Ask you GP for a thorough medical letter outlining all your probs, medications, and get them to explain in the letter how it affects you. Get a copy of your medical notes, I paid £50 for my life history and shows all the info I need if and when I need it.
And to 'Weenie' I too suffer from severe Crohn's and take B12 jabs every 12 weeks, been on all the liquid diets, all the meds from preds to the bigs guns that are immuno suppressants (chemo drugs, anti rejection drugs), MTX, 6MP etc