Supporting Evidence

Boppy

griff11 said:

If your son at uni or going yo uni apply for Disabled Student Award.  They do an assessment & the report was very thorough for my daughter on what support she needed and why.  I used it as evidence for her first PIP claim and sent it again for second one. 

I've tried to get him to apply for that but he couldn't think of anything they offer that could be useful for him. I'll mention it to him again though. 

griff11

Boppy said:

griff11 said:

If your son at uni or going yo uni apply for Disabled Student Award.  They do an assessment & the report was very thorough for my daughter on what support she needed and why.  I used it as evidence for her first PIP claim and sent it again for second one. 

I've tried to get him to apply for that but he couldn't think of anything they offer that could be useful for him. I'll mention it to him again though. 

My daughter found the assessment supportive.  I know awards have changed in 10 years but she had laptop with assistive software, a recoding device for lectures, a taxi account for specified number of journeys a mentor & thry informed uni she might need extensions on deadlines. 

Boppy

griff11 said:

Boppy said:

griff11 said:

If your son at uni or going yo uni apply for Disabled Student Award.  They do an assessment & the report was very thorough for my daughter on what support she needed and why.  I used it as evidence for her first PIP claim and sent it again for second one. 

I've tried to get him to apply for that but he couldn't think of anything they offer that could be useful for him. I'll mention it to him again though. 

My daughter found the assessment supportive.  I know awards have changed in 10 years but she had laptop with assistive software, a recoding device for lectures, a taxi account for specified number of journeys a mentor & thry informed uni she might need extensions on deadlines. 

He's got a laptop already, can't think of any software that would help, doesn't have lectures but the taxi account could be a nice one. It's the only thing we could think of at the time but he didn't feel up to having an assessment. Disability services at his uni help him with extensions etc. We will reconsider though  

griff11

My daughter has OCD and couldn't take her laptop out of her room to uni plus  it couldn't accommodate the software which was linked to recoding device.  I think there was scanning device which would be converted to sound via laptop but she struggled touching books to scan.   OCD is intrusive thoughts which overwhelmed her so she recorded lectures as to listen to when calm.  She found the assessment itself very understanding & supportive. 

Boppy

griff11 said:

If your son at uni or going yo uni apply for Disabled Student Award.  They do an assessment & the report was very thorough for my daughter on what support she needed and why.  I used it as evidence for her first PIP claim and sent it again for second one. 

I've tried to get him to apply for it but he couldn't think of anything they could offer that would be useful. I'll ask him again though. See what he thinks. 

Amaya_Ringo

I don't know if this is helpful, but my enforced switch from DLA to PIP happened while I was doing my postgrad. I already had my original clinical diagnosis letter for autism, and my original paperwork I had sent for DLA from my autism support worker back before that service was cut. I asked my autism mentor and my disability officer at the university to write statements as well, which they did. I also used assessment reports from my disabled student allowance funding as they went into great detail and I had had two. I had two different mentors over my time there so that was two statements. And one of them got a statement from her supervisor as well on the clinical implications of my disability. My mentors were from the NAS. My disability advisor, who was an angel, was within the disability hub at the university. 

I don't know if your son has any of these in his history - you said he had an EHCP when he was at school, so I assume he was assessed for DSA? And even if he doesn't have a mentor at the university, someone in the disability office who has worked with him might be able to help.

My Disabled Student Allowance paid for my autism mentor, towards my PC and some organisational software, printing ink and paper, a printer and scanner and also qualified me for library assistance in finding books because of my navigational issues. It was easier for me to get support at the university with that also in place. It is true that it isn't as helpful as it used to be, but it is still worth applying for.

I should mention that in my switch claim I still ended up at tribunal because the DWP staff didn't really look at that evidence. But they did look at it at tribunal and it was a key part of getting my PIP award for 3 years.

When I had the renewal I was advised to have relatives also write statements to supplement what was already there and how my life was currently affected, so I did. Because of the tribunal, I didn't have to be assessed again, and my claim was extended to the ten year renewal (although all of this might render that null and void).

Boppy

Amaya_Ringo said:

I don't know if this is helpful, but my enforced switch from DLA to PIP happened while I was doing my postgrad. I already had my original clinical diagnosis letter for autism, and my original paperwork I had sent for DLA from my autism support worker back before that service was cut. I asked my autism mentor and my disability officer at the university to write statements as well, which they did. I also used assessment reports from my disabled student allowance funding as they went into great detail and I had had two. I had two different mentors over my time there so that was two statements. And one of them got a statement from her supervisor as well on the clinical implications of my disability. My mentors were from the NAS. My disability advisor, who was an angel, was within the disability hub at the university. 

I don't know if your son has any of these in his history - you said he had an EHCP when he was at school, so I assume he was assessed for DSA? And even if he doesn't have a mentor at the university, someone in the disability office who has worked with him might be able to help.

My Disabled Student Allowance paid for my autism mentor, towards my PC and some organisational software, printing ink and paper, a printer and scanner and also qualified me for library assistance in finding books because of my navigational issues. It was easier for me to get support at the university with that also in place. It is true that it isn't as helpful as it used to be, but it is still worth applying for.

I should mention that in my switch claim I still ended up at tribunal because the DWP staff didn't really look at that evidence. But they did look at it at tribunal and it was a key part of getting my PIP award for 3 years.

When I had the renewal I was advised to have relatives also write statements to supplement what was already there and how my life was currently affected, so I did. Because of the tribunal, I didn't have to be assessed again, and my claim was extended to the ten year renewal (although all of this might render that null and void).

Hi Amaya. He's not yet applied for DSA (despite being in his 2nd year, he didn't want to do it) but we've asked the Disability Services team for a statement and his tutor. We will also ask his private ADHD coach for something as well.

I've reached out to a few organisations regarding evidence and all say the more the better as long as it's good evidence. We will do some statements as well but I know the DWP often ignore them, they won't hurt and they will explain the support he needs with most tasks. 

He's quite stubborn at accepting help and sometimes will very much downplay his problems and also hide things. I've just found out there's a letter from the NHS ADHD team to our GP here they did a quick assessment as we went from private to NHS, you'd think he had no issues with his meds. Yet there's zero mention of the fact he forgets to even take them 60% of the time at least. Sigh. 

And yes, I ask to be in on these conversations/assessments but he says he doesn't want me there. It's quite difficult. Thank you for the advice though, it's super helpful!