preparation cutting board and electric vegetable cutter and other aids

1984cathy

do any aids get more points on the PIP score,as i live on my own and struggle all the time,all the elements in the PIP affect myself,has anyone had a good score from preparing food from scratch.I have the items shown above please help

poppy123456

HI,

It's very unlikely that an electric vegetable cutter will be classed as an aid for preparing food. An aid for this would be a perching stool, that you can use for sitting while preparing/cooking food. Points can be scored whether you use one or not, if they determine that an aid is needed and for this is will be 2 points. Although it will depend on the reasons why an aid is needed.

Chloe_Scope

Hi @1984cathy, I hope your application is going okay.

mikehughescq

I’m confused @poppy123456. Why do you think a cutter wouldn’t count as an aid? If it improves, provides or replaces the function then it scores. Provided it’s needed in consequence of a physical impairment which impairs the ability to cut then it would score every time. 

poppy123456

mikehughescq said:

I’m confused @poppy123456. Why do you think a cutter wouldn’t count as an aid? If it improves, provides or replaces the function then it scores. Provided it’s needed in consequence of a physical impairment which impairs the ability to cut then it would score every time. 

I was thinking that because it's used by people that don't have a disability then it wouldn't be classed as an aid. Thanks for the information, i'll remember that next time, if anyone asks.

1984cathy

i had my telephone conultation yesterday was 2 hrs long.I was ask how and can i prepare a meal from scratch.I told them i have a chopping board.i found the board useless because when i tried to run the peeler over it it came out of the jaws,this was used for potatoes and carrots and I have arthritus in both hands,I found holding the peeler tiresome .I mentioned I had a perching stool alsol.The lady then went on my weekly/monthly shopping and i advised her i do a shop on line with Asda or Tesco at over £40 pounds a week .the main areas of my food bill are milk, bread, eggs,breakfast cereals,the £40 plus pounds does not go very far.I told her i try and watch my diet as i am type i diabetic and i tend to select the healthy option meals that are placed in the oven,I dont like using the top of the cooker as I am scarred of knocking the pan off .All my activities like these are done on a perching stool including washing the dishes.there is not much to wash after having a ready meal.We then moved onto mobility around the house and explained that i furniture and wall walk,was asked how far  my upstairs steps were from where i was seated in my lounge i said 5 to 7 short steps but holding onto things while i moved.I was asked also how far my kitchen was from where i was sitting i said about 15 short paces and again wall and furniture walking.I have a small dog a jack russell which was barking in the background i was asked if the dog was mine i said yes.I was asked   if i took the dog for walks i said no i let it out in the back yard.Theb asked who cleaned up the dog mess.I said i go down the steps 4 of them with a sweeping brush and a long handled shovel made of plastic i dont think i should have mentioned the sweeping brush etc but how do i keep the yard clean as i live on my own,


     THERE I MORE TO FOLLOW WATCH THIS VSPACE

mikehughescq

poppy123456 said:

mikehughescq said:

I’m confused @poppy123456. Why do you think a cutter wouldn’t count as an aid? If it improves, provides or replaces the function then it scores. Provided it’s needed in consequence of a physical impairment which impairs the ability to cut then it would score every time. 

I was thinking that because it's used by people that don't have a disability then it wouldn't be classed as an aid. Thanks for the information, i'll remember that next time, if anyone asks.

Ah right. This is something that’s gained a bit of traction because of a common misreading of a prominent piece of case law about the use of a bed for dressing. It could be read as saying that a bed doesn’t count as an aid because it’s fairly common to use a bed for dressing. However, that’s a fairly simplistic reading of it which gets translated as “ordinary everyday items cannot be aids”. That’s not quite what was being said. If it was then perching stools could never be aids. Magnifying glasses could never be aids and so on. 

What was really being said was more akin to “if an ordinary everyday item is used for an ordinary everyday purpose then it cannot be an aid”. Thus, a perching stool counts as an aid because for most people it’s a social item and not essential for food preparation. A magnifying glass counts because it’s normal use is to look at things which are hard for the eye to see whereas someone with a VI is using it to look at things which are relatively easy for others to see. A day lamp used for reading counts because most people with similar lamps dint use them for reading in broad daylight.

A bed doesn’t count because most people use a bed to dress in the bedroom. 

An electric veg cutter is on the margins because you’re using it for exactly the same purpose as a healthy person. It really turns on the facts of the case i.e. if you cut a wider range of veg than it was intended for or than other people would then it likely counts. If you use it for one meal whereas the intended purpose was for economies of speed and scale it could also be argued for. 

@1984cathy you ought to score straightforward points for the perching stool but maybe not much else is available to you on prepping food. Being scared of knocking pans off isn’t relevant unless you have an example of it happening. 

poppy123456

@mikehughescq thanks for explaining that, much appreciated. It was actually along the lines of the bed i was thinking of as that's used daily by those who don't have a disability.