Hi all!
My son lost his DLA when he transferred to PIP. They repeatedly said that even though he told them he couldn't do x,y & z, because he turned up, dressed appropriately, attends mainstream school without the assistance of a classroom assistant, has no significant restrictions in his intellect, information processing and working memory & has a qualification in sailing (!!) it is therefore likely that he is capable of being independent and only awarded him 2 points for mixing with people, which I imagine is standard for ASD.
In my extra evidence for the MR I went through each descriptor explaining the issues he had - which they acknowledged he had said in his f2f - and highlighted the level of support he required from myself. I submitted a supporting letter from a medical Consultant who is a family friend and knows my son well.
I asked them that if they are going to uphold the original decision, what experience & training re ASD do the assessors have has it appears they have an alarming lack of insight. I also specifically asked them why these were the only things they kept referring to and why no other areas of executive functioning were given any credence or even mentioned. They appear to have little understanding of the condition.
Needless to say the MR came back saying the exact same thing as the initial decision. They did not address any of the questions I asked.
I am going to put in a formal complaint about the assessment process. As a healthcare professional I know no other assessment that totally disregards the history given by the client and goes entirely on assessing someone across a desk for less than an hour. It is total painting by numbers and I fail to see how any accountable practitioner can stand over it.
Everyone is saying oh it's just the system but the system is flawed and unless people challenge it nothing will change!!!
