Audiobooks as a 'visual aid' ?

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IeyeIeye

I am currently doing my PIP review form and am explaining my problems with Activity 8 - Reading. Following a stroke, I have various visual difficulties. Nystagmus (involuntary eye movement), some diplopia, horizontal lines slightly askew. When I read I quickly become very tired. I also tend to read very slowly. In the past I have received no points on this activity, but possibly I should.

When on a computer, I always use screen magnification, so perhaps this can be considered as an aid - I will mention this.

Also, I prefer to listen to audiobooks or audio formats of articles. So I am thinking this could be considered as aiding someone with the various difficulties I experience.

Perhaps I should get some points for this activity? I believe fatigue should be considered with every activity, with some activities, this appears not to figure…

Rosie_Scope

Hi @IeyeIeye, I'm afraid I can't say for certain whether you could get points for this activity, but with fatigue symptoms, sometimes it's useful to look into how you can explain your conditions under the regulation that deals with 'reliably' doing the activity.

There's a regulation that says they must consider whether you can do the activities safely, to an acceptable standard, repeatedly and within a good amount of time.

Regulation 4(4) of the main PIP regulations says:

"safely” means in a manner unlikely to cause harm to [the claimant] or to another person, either during or after completion of the activity;

“repeatedly” means as often as the activity being assessed is reasonably required to be completed; and

“reasonable time period” means no more than twice as long as the maximum period that a person without a physical or mental condition which limits that person’s ability to carry out the activity in question would normally take to complete that activity.

It can be a little difficult to make this clear in your forms but if you can explain with some real world examples of what happens when you're reading things and what the consequences are, then they may take that into account.

If you explain your aids and give examples of how you use them, perhaps also with what happens if you don't use them, hopefully they can take that into account too 😊