Appeal for blue badge - help!

aseg31

My sister's blue badge expires on 26th June and she relies on it to work, get to doctors appointments, attend university and access any public spaces. I am her carer/support.  

She is diagnosed with fibromyalgia (chronic pain), ME (chronic fatigue), IBS (irritable bowel syndrome), autism (which restricts her from using public transport) and she suffered a spinal injury in 2015, which caused temporary paralysis and regularly flares up causing her immense pain and very limited mobility. She often struggles to walk for more than two-five minutes due to her pain and fatigue.

Her telephone assessor was very dismissive, accusatory, and constantly interrupted her. Her autism leads to her struggling with extreme anxiety, which meant that in this situation on the phone she became unable to advocate for herself. The assessor said discriminatory things such as ‘you can’t be that autistic if you can drive a car’ and ‘you must be high functioning’ (functioning labels are not used clinically anymore as they are considered discriminatory). 

We think she is absolutely eligible for a blue badge under their criteria that she has ‘a permanent and substantial disability which causes very considerable difficulty in walking’, and she has ‘a hidden condition, which causes her to severely struggle with journeys between a vehicle and my destination’. (we are in England)

She sent an email appealing the decision with all the medical evidence requested. She then called following up about the email and was told it would take 12 weeks before the appeal will be considered. As you can understand, we are absolutely desperate to make sure that she does not have to wait 3 months before she is able to leave the house for work, for appointments etc. We believe that her application being unsuccessful is wholly due to the ableist attitudes of her assessor and it is absolutely unacceptable for her life to be affected by that for many months.

Does anyone have any advice for how to put pressure on the council to solve their mistake/deal with this discrimination issue?

janer1967

Hi there 

I am sorry to hear the trouble your sister is having 

Does she get pip mobility at all ? 

I would contact her local mp who may be able to assist 

aseg31

Hi, 

She doesn't currently get PIP, although I'm pretty sure she would be eligible. 

Thank you, I will try the local MP

janer1967

It may be worth applying for pip not only for the payments but it also opens up other entitlements like blue badge if awarded enhanced mobility 

aseg31

Yes, I agree. Do you have any advice for applying?

janer1967

I would first of all look at the descriptors to see if you think they would apply you can find them in our pip section 

Read up from our info but don't get hung up on the negative comments people come on forums to get help when things don't go well but lots people do claim successfully me included 

Have a good read and ask if you have any questions 

Cher_Alumni

Hello @aseg31 and welcome to our online community,

I'm sorry your sister had such an unpleasant experience during the telephone assessment.  The sentences you mention indicate a lack of understanding and I absolutely understand your frustration.  I hope the appeal goes in your favour, please do keep us updated.

Have you had any more thoughts about applying for PIP?  Here's a link to the Citizens Advice table of activities, points and descriptors and if you think your sister could score 8+ points on either component (daily living or mobility) then it would definitely be worth applying.  While, to be awarded the enhanced component, your sister would need to score 12+. 

Just to let you know, I've deleted a duplicate of this thread so we can keep all replies in this one space

Good luck and all the best to you and your family.

calcotti

janer1967 said:

It may be worth applying for pip not only for the payments but it also opens up other entitlements like blue badge if awarded enhanced mobility 

Doesn’t need to be enhanced mobility for PIP, 8 points in the moving around descriptor are sufficient.
in England the rules for automatic entitlement to a Blue Badge based on PIP award are included here
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/blue-badge-can-i-get-one/can-i-get-a-blue-badge#people-who-automatically-get-a-blue-badge