Hearing Aid and PIP

KG100

When I applied for my disabled bus pass I was told that only NHS hearing aids count, and not privately bought ones.
I would think that perhaps this is the same for claiming PIP and getting 2 points.
I sent PIP my hearing aid letters from my hospital consultant. 

KG100

Buying hearing aids now is so easy and cheap, especially with Ebay and things, but it's having proof that you need them that counts for the 2 points. 

ATHOMPSON13

Hi my hearing aids are NHS as my hearing is borderline for cochlear implants. I put together a letter describing how it effects me daily. Just wondered if anyone gets PIP for hearing loss, that was all. 

poppy123456

Possibly not for hearing loss itself but how it affects your functional ability then you may yes. People are affected differently by these conditions are you can't compare 2 people.  PIP isn't about a diagnosis. Have you read the link i posted above?

ATHOMPSON13

Yes, I have already this before thank you. 

yanni

@ATHOMPSON13

I have severe - profound hearing loss and was awarded PIP  but had to go to tribunal to get it.  

Assessors and the DWP both seem to think that hearing aids magically restore our level of hearing loss to normal hearing. Fortunately the tribunal understood that it doesn’t work like that.

At the assessment bear in mind that the assessor will know that you can’t hear very well, they may ask if you lipread and they will speak clearly.  Also the assessment room will be quiet. If you appear to hear the assessor in this environment they seem to assume you can hear everyone in real life!

We tend to bluff our way through communicating and pretend to understand more than we do but at the assessment you need to be very clear if you can’t understand the assessor – say ‘Can you say that again?’, ‘ What did you say?’ etc  as many times as you need to rather than trying to work out what was said. That way it should be obvious that you can’t understand what they are saying.

Do you rely on lipreading when wearing your hearing aids? If you do it is really important to state this as lipreading is not considered a reliable way to understand verbal communication.

Before the assessment think about what happens when people don’t know that you have hearing loss, don’t get your attention before speaking, don’t look at you when speaking, don't speak clearly, speak too fast, there is background noise etc and be prepared to explain these difficulties with some examples.

Think about how far away you can understand people speak from – can you hear someone across a room?

Do you ignore people because you don’t realise they have spoken to you?

 Do you have particular difficulty hearing men, women, children, the elderly?

How do you cope when there is background noise such as other people talking, TV, music, road noise etc?

 

Aside from the obvious problems with understanding verbal communication you could also be awarded points for:

Activity 9 Engaging with other people

How well you can engage with people you don’t know and in small groups? You can’t be awarded points for not being able to hear in social situations but you can be awarded points if you need prompting or social support to in order to behave in a “socially appropriate manner” and to “establish relationships”.

 I explained that I appear to ignore people because I don’t realise they are talking to me, I shout at them as I am speaking as loudly as I would need them to speak because of the background noise, I stand too close and seem to be staring at them as I need to lipread, I talk over people as I don’t realise they are speaking, I can’t join in the conversation or I get the wrong end of the stick and say the wrong thing etc none of which are “socially appropriate” and none of which help “establish relationships” so (I think) I look stupid, rude, bored or uninterested. Because of this I am reluctant to try to engage with people I don’t know and so need social support from someone I know to do so.

Activity 4 Washing and bathing

Points can also be awarded for washing and bathing if you would not hear a smoke alarm or someone entering your home because you have taken out your hearing aids to wash / bathe / shower. This was established by a Upper Tribunal decision but my assessor seemed not to know about this decision and wrongly tried to tell me points could only be scored if I had physical problems washing and bathing.

Mobility activity 1

Points can also be awarded for needing someone with you when following a familiar or unfamiliar journey. 

Can you hear traffic approaching or do you need to see the vehicles to know they are there? 

How do you cope crossing a road when there are obstructions such as parked cars or there is a junction, corner, hill, bend in the road, concealed exit etc?

Do you hear bikes or mobility scooters approaching you from behind on pavements?

Have you had near misses as you have not realised a vehicle is nearby?

If you need to see vehicles you can argue that you can’t do this activity safely without someone else with you.

If you got lost would you be able to ask and understand someone giving you directions?

If the bus / train was diverted, terminated etc would you know what you needed to do to resolve the situation and carry on with your journey?

You mention that you had support at your previous job. Would anyone there be willing to provide a statement saying the difficulties they saw you have and how they supported you? My former boss was happy to do this for me when I explained why I needed it.

I also wrote to my NHS audiology department explaining the problems I have with understanding verbal communication and asking if they would confirm that these difficulties are reasonable with my degree of hearing loss and they sent a letter saying they were. 

Good luck.

ATHOMPSON13

That sounds exactly like me. I can't follow a conversation without liip reading, I can't hear from behind  so crossing the road can be tricky. I ignore people and have to do the whole I'm hearing impaired with everyone I meet. I can't tell what the satnav says so have to watch the arrows, so get lost everyday, as I drive 1800 miles a month for my job. I live in Sheffield but my employer is in Birmingham, I can't sleep in a hotel room because I don't hear a fire alarm. I can't use a telephone without the Rodger Pen system. The list goes on...... Thank you , this was very helpful. I get by, but It's not easy and costly when you can't even hear the driver on a bus or ask for directions in a train station, go swimming without a partner or even hear the cashier in the supermarket. 

ATHOMPSON13

I have to use the government Access to Work scheme who provided me with the Rodger Pen, Rodger Pen Clip in Mic and deaf awareness training for the team. Maybe I should take along my assessment paperwork. Thank you

twonker

Me too!!!
Having been deaf for a number of years it becomes second nature to finish off something that you have part heard using lip reading.
I never thought of telling the assessor any of that and to be totally frank never thought how those descriptors could be used for being unable to hear. 
You have identified everything that a deaf person has problems with even appearing to be ignorant towards people who I dismiss when they are trying to talk to me. Well done it ticks all of the boxes for me.