Diagnosis Letter for MR
mercedesbd
Community member Posts: 109 Contributor
Hi everyone, as you all know I’ve had the assessment been scored 0 & requested MR, although it’s how the condition affects you and not the diagnosis that matters.
I’ve sent in my ADHD, Anxiety & Conduct Disorder letter. I’ve got a letter of the psychotherapist today - to say that I meet the criteria for a Autism diagnosis will this be enough? I haven’t got the full report and obviously on the report is very personal and upsetting information that my GP won’t even be seeing. So can I send this of will this be enough proof? It’s NHS letter and everything’s headed
I’ve sent in my ADHD, Anxiety & Conduct Disorder letter. I’ve got a letter of the psychotherapist today - to say that I meet the criteria for a Autism diagnosis will this be enough? I haven’t got the full report and obviously on the report is very personal and upsetting information that my GP won’t even be seeing. So can I send this of will this be enough proof? It’s NHS letter and everything’s headed
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Comments
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Hi,A letter saying you meet the criteria for Autism won't be enough. The full report would be better because it goes into more detail. As only 19% of MR decisions change expect to have to take it to Tribunal anyway. Good luck.0
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poppy123456 said:Hi,A letter saying you meet the criteria for Autism won't be enough. The full report would be better because it goes into more detail. As only 19% of MR decisions change expect to have to take it to Tribunal anyway. Good luck.0
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ilovecats said:mercedesbd said:Hi everyone, as you all know I’ve had the assessment been scored 0 & requested MR, although it’s how the condition affects you and not the diagnosis that matters.
I’ve sent in my ADHD, Anxiety & Conduct Disorder letter. I’ve got a letter of the psychotherapist today - to say that I meet the criteria for a Autism diagnosis will this be enough? I haven’t got the full report and obviously on the report is very personal and upsetting information that my GP won’t even be seeing. So can I send this of will this be enough proof? It’s NHS letter and everything’s headed0 -
@Antonia_Scope @Sam_Scope do you have any advice?0
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My advice is to still send the full report, i'm not even sure why you would choose not to send it. My daughter has autism and her ASD assessment report is one of the reports i sent this time for her review.
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Username_removed said:ilovecats said:I’m telling you how a late in life diagnosis is perceived. I would suggest that anyone who is able to post on an Internet forum is unlikely to have any serious cognitive deficits.
I think, to put it mildly, that’s one of the more unhelpful and inaccurate comments I’ve read on this forum by some distance.
No research has been done by DWP; anyone on their behalf or anyone independent of them on how late diagnosis is perceived. To start with there’s no definition of what is late!
Your suggestion above is not only wrong but also potentially offensive. There are plenty of people who post here where it’s possible to potentially discern quite profound cognitive issues. They may be hugely articulate but post repeatedly; late at night; the same questions in different threads and so on. They may post barely coherent or short sentences. Most people are able to communicate in some form. However, the same things I’m describing may just be a reflection of education or preferred style. The fact that the internet is one form of communication is essentially meaningless. It tells you nothing about cognitive deficit.
Your inference is that inability to communicate indicates cognitive deficit is not supported by evidence, research and more importantly case law. There’s already good case law on the fact that, for example, someone can go to the pub or a shop does not mean they can socially engage. Following your logic anyone able to describe the consequences of their own condition would not score PIP points. Clearly that’s not the case and it never has been.
To deal with the question from the OP. The evidence of diagnosis is irrelevant and there’s no point in sending it in for MR. That’s partly because no-one appears to be disputing your diagnosis and partly because only 19% of MRs succeed. What you really need is to send in the report as described but to, more importantly, work with a member of your family who knows your symptoms and decide which activities you should score points on.
List those activities in the MR and come up with 1 or 2 detailed examples per activity to show what happened last time you tried that activity. That forms your MR and can be used as the basis for any subsequent appeal. if you can’t find activities which total 8 points or can’t find examples then it’s likely you do not qualify at this stage.4d. Cannot engage with other people due to such engagement causing either –(i) overwhelming psychological distress to the claimant;
I can not interact with people without getting severe anxiety attacks and harming myself by biting or punching myself.
The woman man at the assesment said ‘ there’s no cognitive impairment so it’s reasonable to state this can be done unaided ‘
I think them seeing my new diagnosis will override this & they’ve never written to my doctor nor have they my medical records to hand. My doctors know nothing about the autism as it was a self referral (suggested) & DWP know nothing about the diagnostic assesment as I was hoping I didn’t have autism .
Do you think I’m valid or wrong?0 -
To score 8 points in this activity you would have had to have shown overwhelming psychological distress during the assessment. If you were just anxious then in my opinion this won't be enough to score so highly (8 points) in this descriptor.They also very rarely contact anyone for any evidence, the onus is on you to make sure you send it to support your claim.
Descriptor D (8 points): Cannot engage with other people due to such engagement causing either:
i. overwhelming psychological distress to the claimant; or
ii. the claimant to exhibit behaviour which would result in a substantial risk of harm to the claimant or another personOverwhelming psychological distress means distress related to a mental health condition or intellectual or cognitive impairment which results in a severe anxiety state in which the symptoms are so severe that the person is unable to function. This may be as a direct result of a mental health condition, or as a result of another disability such as cognitive or developmental impairment.
PIP isn't about a diagnosis so having a diagnosis confirmed after the assessment took place won't help. Sending the full report may help but it depends on how you're affected.
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I think it's worth pointing out here that ilovecats is an experienced assessor with no autism experience who still feels they can make a fair assessment of someone with autism. This goes a long way to show why a lot of assessors are incompetent at assessing autism difficulties.
Autism should not be classed as a mental health issue as it is a developmental disorder and people with autism may struggle a great deal with day to day activities without any of it being mental health related.
It is unfortunate that the DWP training that is provided to ATOS/Capita/Maximus provides no information whatsoever on the effects on abnormal executive functioning. This is the biggest reason why adults with autism are routinely failed by the PIP assessment services.
I also feel I need to point out that overwhelming psychological distress does not have a proper system to evaluate someones difficulties, no matter how overwhelmed someone may be, it may never be overwhelming enough for some assessors.1 -
Hi @mercedesbd
Have you tried getting assistance from MENCAP? Give them a ring on their helpline tel: 0808 808 1111. I have always found them very helpful over the years.
Another point to mention, MIND Scotland have just taken cases to the Supreme Court on this very subject.
The case has not been published yet, I will let you know when it has been.
Have you tried getting a local advocate, to assist you? Well worth a try.
Keep us updated, so we can give you as much assistance as possible.0 -
ilovecats said:bigglesworth said:I think it's worth pointing out here that ilovecats is an experienced assessor with no autism experience who still feels they can make a fair assessment of someone with autism. This goes a long way to show why a lot of assessors are incompetent at assessing autism difficulties.
Autism should not be classed as a mental health issue as it is a developmental disorder and people with autism may struggle a great deal with day to day activities without any of it being mental health related.
It is unfortunate that the DWP training that is provided to ATOS/Capita/Maximus provides no information whatsoever on the effects on abnormal executive functioning. This is the biggest reason why adults with autism are routinely failed by the PIP assessment services.
I also feel I need to point out that overwhelming psychological distress does not have a proper system to evaluate someones difficulties, no matter how overwhelmed someone may be, it may never be overwhelming enough for some assessors.
I know it isn’t a mental health condition. PIP classes it as such on the list of condition.
Your posts seem to indicate otherwise, maybe working with mostly severe cases has clouded your judgement when dealing with really bad or terrible autism cases (or anyone on the spectrum who isn't severe enough).
There are lots of autistic adults out there that manage to get through their structured childhood fine and then the wheels fall off when they reach adulthood.
Your comment about posting on the internet being linked to cognitive impairment is another which simply points to your lack of understanding in this subject.2 -
ilovecats said:bigglesworth said:I think it's worth pointing out here that ilovecats is an experienced assessor with no autism experience who still feels they can make a fair assessment of someone with autism. This goes a long way to show why a lot of assessors are incompetent at assessing autism difficulties.
Autism should not be classed as a mental health issue as it is a developmental disorder and people with autism may struggle a great deal with day to day activities without any of it being mental health related.
It is unfortunate that the DWP training that is provided to ATOS/Capita/Maximus provides no information whatsoever on the effects on abnormal executive functioning. This is the biggest reason why adults with autism are routinely failed by the PIP assessment services.
I also feel I need to point out that overwhelming psychological distress does not have a proper system to evaluate someones difficulties, no matter how overwhelmed someone may be, it may never be overwhelming enough for some assessors.
I know it isn’t a mental health condition. PIP classes it as such on the list of condition.-1 -
As a community champion here on scope i'd like to remind you to please be mindful of your comments. We are a friendly community here on scope and would like to keep it that way. There's really no need for bad language.
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@mercedesbd please edit your post and remove your use of profanity. We encourage our members not to swear as we do have younger readers. Thank you.2
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ilovecats said:bigglesworth said:
Your comment about posting on the internet being linked to cognitive impairment is another which simply points to your lack of understanding in this subject.0 -
mercedesbd said:ilovecats said:bigglesworth said:
Your comment about posting on the internet being linked to cognitive impairment is another which simply points to your lack of understanding in this subject.0 -
@mercedesbd Unfortunately it is very difficult to get PIP for Autism related difficulties at the present time, the DWP can come up with any number of excuses to invalidate or ignore your evidence. It is basically a dice roll on whether your evidence is seen by someone who has some understanding of autism. The other side of this is that if you persist to tribunal your chances of getting support are much higher as it is out of the DWPs hands at this point.
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bigglesworth said:@mercedesbd Unfortunately it is very difficult to get PIP for Autism related difficulties at the present time, the DWP can come up with any number of excuses to invalidate or ignore your evidence. It is basically a dice roll on whether your evidence is seen by someone who has some understanding of autism. The other side of this is that if you persist to tribunal your chances of getting support are much higher as it is out of the DWPs hands at this point.0
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Not directly myself i'm afraid, but a family member attends a local drop-in for adults diagnosed with autism. I think about 20 or so attend and they have all managed to move from DLA to PIP, but only a couple of them managed it without having to go to a tribunal.0
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ilovecats said:mercedesbd said:mercedesbd said:ilovecats said:bigglesworth said:
Your comment about posting on the internet being linked to cognitive impairment is another which simply points to your lack of understanding in this subject.ilovecats said:mercedesbd said:mercedesbd said:ilovecats said:bigglesworth said:
Your comment about posting on the internet being linked to cognitive impairment is another which simply points to your lack of understanding in this subject.ilovecats said:mercedesbd said:mercedesbd said:ilovecats said:bigglesworth said:
Your comment about posting on the internet being linked to cognitive impairment is another which simply points to your lack of understanding in this subject.0 -
mercedesbd said:ilovecats said:mercedesbd said:mercedesbd said:ilovecats said:bigglesworth said:
Your comment about posting on the internet being linked to cognitive impairment is another which simply points to your lack of understanding in this subject.ilovecats said:mercedesbd said:mercedesbd said:ilovecats said:bigglesworth said:
Your comment about posting on the internet being linked to cognitive impairment is another which simply points to your lack of understanding in this subject.ilovecats said:mercedesbd said:mercedesbd said:ilovecats said:bigglesworth said:
Your comment about posting on the internet being linked to cognitive impairment is another which simply points to your lack of understanding in this subject.
So we have joined the ranks of certain African countries where 'children' are trained as soldiers.
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