Severely sight impaired/deaf waiting on claim, some questions.

notsteviewonder

Hello,

Firstly thanks for all the contributors on here, I've absorbed a lot of useful info and your time is appreciated.

Long story short: I have usher syndrome so I am losing my eyesight (I am now registered as severely sight impaired) and I am moderately deaf too, although that's stable and shouldn't get worse. I do not yet use a cane as it's a mental hurdle i am yet to overcome.

I submitted my PIP form on the 20th November and have yet to hear anything, I know the waiting process can be a long one. My question is for those who have similar disabilities to me:

1. With your visual impairment, were you asked for an assessment? This one confuses me, I'm literally nearly blind and have a medical certificate stating so. An assessment almost feels cruel and unnecessary, and I basically sent them an essay on my PIP form detailing everything including supporting evidence.

2. Is it worth chasing them up over the phone as to how my claim is coming along, or best to just leave it? 

Thanks so much. I have used the search tool but it's tricky as I use a screen reader for a lot of text. 

Alex_Alumni

Hello @notsteviewonder thanks for your query, to help our members advise you I've marked it as unanswered and changed the title slightly. 

I think it's really up to you, if you feel it will help reassure you, but I can't be certain if they'd by able to give you much more information, as there's a lot of large backlogs at the DWP at the moment. I'm sorry I can't be of more help!

If you do have any other questions, please don't hesitate to ask, and we'll do what we can to help.

Alex

notsteviewonder

Thank you Alex

poppy123456

Hi,

You haven't really been waiting that long to be honest. Going by other threads on here people are still waiting after several months. There are huge backlogs affecting most of the country. Most people do have assessments but paper based assessments are possible, just rare.

Nothing more you can do really but wait.

notsteviewonder

Libby_Scope said:

Hi @notsteviewonder  

Thank you for your query about the PIP process.

I see @Alex_Scope has offered some fantastic advice, and I also think the resource below could be helpful for you in relation to experiences of PIP for people with sensory loss. A few research studies have been conducted in association with the Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) looking at these types of experiences:

• Experiences of Personal Independence Payment (PIP) for people with sensory loss - RNIB - See differently

I hope the above link helps and if you have any further queries, then please let us know.

Libby

Thanks for that link, though it only further highlights the difficulties with PIP and sensory impairment, but it's good that attention is being focused on the issue

notsteviewonder

poppy123456 said:

Hi,

You haven't really been waiting that long to be honest. Going by other threads on here people are still waiting after several months. There are huge backlogs affecting most of the country. Most people do have assessments but paper based assessments are possible, just rare.

Nothing more you can do really but wait.

Yeah the waiting time I can completely understand and it's not something I really take issue with as like you say, i've not really been waiting that long. Thanks for the input 

janer1967

Hi and welcome to the community 

I am severely vision impaired too my last pip review was a paper based assessment however I know its rare 

This was a review not a new claim I am also an amputee 

I would expect an assessment and if you don't have one that will be a bonus 

notsteviewonder

janer1967 said:

Hi and welcome to the community 

I am severely vision impaired too my last pip review was a paper based assessment however I know its rare 

This was a review not a new claim I am also an amputee 

I would expect an assessment and if you don't have one that will be a bonus 

janer1967 said:

Hi and welcome to the community 

I am severely vision impaired too my last pip review was a paper based assessment however I know its rare 

This was a review not a new claim I am also an amputee 

I would expect an assessment and if you don't have one that will be a bonus 

Useful to know thank you, I will expect one so it doesn't come as a surprise.

notsteviewonder

Username_removed said:

It’s routine to have an assessment and very rare for someone with sight loss to not have one, especially on a first claim. All over this site you will find posts saying that PIP is not about your health condition. It’s about the consequences. That’s no different for someone with a VI or indeed someone potentially dual sensory via Ushers. 

It’s important to remember that “nearly blind” doesn’t really mean anything to a DWP DM and similar with a HCP doing an assessment. What feels nearly blind for one person absolutely isn’t for another. Saying you have Ushers and have a CVI or are registered also tells them nothing. Ushers develops at different rates for different people and it’s easy to forget that things like having a CVI or being registered are largely voluntary. Many people who are registered have far better vision than those who chose not to be registered so registration in itself tells DWP nothing other than your diagnosis is real, which they won’t have doubted anyway, and that you chose to accept the offer of a CVI and registration. 

Whilst being registered implies a certain level of functional loss it also doesn’t paint any kind of useful picture. I am registered but my visual acuity would look normal to most people. The issues I have with light, colour, focus or speed of focus. None of those are recorded in my CVI or acknowledged in my registration. Telling someone I am registered tells them that fact and no more. There is nothing to be deduced from registration for PIP purposes at all. 

The key here is no more than your ability to reliably perform the 12 PIP activities and to demonstrate that using detailed anecdotal evidence of recent incidents when you attempted each activity. Medical evidence is of negligible use for VI cases. It would be helpful if you told us the kind of things your “essay” contained. Whether the focus was on what Ushers is or on detailed incidents. Whether you said “I can’t do x because”, which is assertion and thus poor quality evidence or “Last week I attempted to do x and y happened. It took place at z and was witnessed by a and c who did f.”

It very much depends on where your vision is currently at but you should be aiming at an ongoing/10 year award and looking at enhanced rate mobility and a minimum of standard rate daily living. You will get a short award if you have not used your PIP claim pack to request a specific award length. There is a lot of BS spoken about the complexity of PIP for people with a VI but once you understand what matters then it is relatively straightforward. 

This was so helpful to me and exactly what I came here for, you've clarified a lot of things for me and I've learned a lot too, thank you. 

In regards to what I wrote on my claim, I gave several incident examples but now I realise they leaned more towards being what you said, assertions. Though some specifics were made, like incidents with wheelie bins on a familiar route, whoops. 

I guess like many I am just a little nervous about the process as I've not made a benefit claim before, but you've eased that a bit so thanks again.

notsteviewonder

Username_removed said:

More wheelie bin incidents are what’s required in essence. Two detailed incidents over points scoring activity and then you’re in business. It seems hard at first but we all have them in such numbers it’s often hard to recall. Likely you’ve told those stories to other people. Time to ask them what they remember you saying. 

As you’ve not been asked to an assessment as yet you have some time to put something together detailing these incidents bad making clear what award length is required.

Many more of those incidents I can recall, lol. I am sure you can relate! 

Do you suggest I edit my claim to include more incidents? I also do not recall being asked to detail anything about an award length on my claim.

poppy123456

Any extra information can be sent to the assessment providers. There isn't a specific question related to award length, this would be something you would add at the end of the form which say "additional information" Or could have been include in any extra sheets, which i assume you sent because there's never enough of room for everything on the forms.