This post is hard for me to write. I do not like discussing my health, or the ins and outs of my benefits with anyone. But this government, and in particular this document http://www.dwp.gov.uk/docs/m-1-13.pdf is forcing me to.. Please share so at least its been worth it.
I have an interesting (well thats one way to call it) impairment. I collapse, without warning and for however long. It takes a long time for me to recover from these. Last summer I also starting fitting, alot.
After referal to the hospital and various tests for epilepsy it was concluded that this physical health problem resulted from stress. Or that is it at its most basic level. I have dissociative seizures.
Last summer I filled out my ESA50. Quite rightly I put all the information about the collapses in the box about loss or altered concioussnes. Quite rightly, because of the severity of them, I was put into the support group for a year.
However, the document I referred to above states this:
18 From 28.1.13, when assessing the extent of the claimant’s LCWRA, it is a condition that the claimant’s inability to perform
1.
physical descriptors arises
1.1 from a specific bodily (i.e. physical) disease or disablement or
1.2 as a direct result of treatment by a registered medical practitioner for such a condition and
2.
mental descriptors3 arises
2.1 from a specific mental illness or disablement or
2.2 as a direct result of treatment by a registered medical practitioner for such a condition
So, where does that leave me?
It would appear down a massive black hole created by the government to save yet more money. My needs, condition and ability to work wont have changed from last summer, and I was lucky to even get into the support group in the first place. However, now, that would seem highly impossible, what the hell is going on?
I have to admit this is the same with my bus pass. I get this because of the same condition, and when i went to get my form I was asked if I needed the physical or mental health bus pass forms. In the end I was given both, because neither of us could decide.
The problem, the BIG problem is, that one thing has an impact on the other. It is impossible to split the two areas up and think that they wont impact on each other. I am currently sitting here, snowbound. Whatever the reason behind it (whether phyiscal or mental health) it still leaves me feeling depressed and isolated, a mental health problem).
It is simply impossible and stupid to try and do this, unless of course they are trying to save money. And heres me thinking that the benefit was there to help people who cant work because they are sick.
damn those boxes they want to put us in are getting smaller huh?
Hi Lucia, I totally agree with what you have said and I'm sure plenty of other people would too. That it just isn't helpful to split up 'mental' and 'physical' into such discrete categories, as if we exist as totally separate mental and physical beings without there being any interaction!!
ReplyDeleteOne clearly effects the other and its so frustrating how this isn't understood. So it leaves people that have a condition that might have both mental and physical effects/causes to be lost. Argh I'm so frustrated by it too and for you.
Katharine
The problems with ESA all seem to arise from the "Descriptors"! They are so vague it's unbelievable, the seem to repeat themselves, but because it's all done on a computer, if you tick the lowest of three options (as it's the first you are presentred with) the others don't show up on the screen.
ReplyDeleteIt's like being given a small box of eggs - the one's with two rows of three eggs inside (you'll see why I'm not saying it the normal way)
Select one from the following two options that describes this box of eggs, you may only choose the truthful one:
This is half a dozen eggs []
This is a box of six eggs []
You may only give one answer!
As both are right, how do you answer the question?
I fully understand this. When I dare to enter a busy shop or walk into a crowded street my brain becomes fogged. I have to concentrate on every step I take because my neurological condition means that every time I lift a foot off the ground to move, I am thinking about it. I have proprioceptive loss - my feet and legs do not know where the ground is. I dare not turn my head when I am walking as I will lose my balance. Even placing a foot on level ground when taking a step, I miss. Or else, as I have observed, one foot turns inwards without my feeling it, hits the ground in the wrong place, my knee gives way and I fall. Moving around is extremely fatiguing, even in my home, hence I nap a lot. A short time ago I used a cash machine in a local branch of M&S. I feel less vulnerable doing this than using ATMs in the street. The machine doesn't make the usual beeps. Having lost fine motor skills in my hands I tend to fumble with my bag, and walking stick. Concentrating hard on putting my debit card away safely - without audio prompts I walked away without the cash I had withdrawn. The fluorescent lighting, and its reflections on the floors sends all the wrong confusing signals, as do shadows and puddles outside, not to mention the dark. I rely on my vision for my movement. Changing direction is difficult, as is changing level - I miss when I step off a kerb, either the ground comes up to hit me in the foot, or I think I have correctly placed it only to find that my foot is suspended in the air. I was also considering what I had to do next to leave the store - pain and fatigue are a big factor here, not to mention dodging the other shoppers. Fortunately, someone had found the cash and handed it in.
ReplyDeleteWhen I arrived home - as is frequently the case I was horrified at what had happened. These events just make me want to curl up for a day or two in the place that I feel safest, where no one can observe me, or make comments such as 'You should be more careful,' on observing me fall, or 'You should take more water with it,' when they see me stagger as my feet cross over.
This event at the cash machine was a massive wake up call as to how much my condition affects me, as is the times when, fatigued from reduced everyday living activities at home, I fall asleep at lunch time, desperate also to forget for a while. One friend said that I manage my day like an old aged pensioner and that it is wrong to have that mindset and sleep during the day. I have no choice but to do this to eliminate the pain and discomfort of a neurological condition, and a degenerative spinal disease. My brain is fatigued and just switches off. One of my consultants explained this to me. But then, others judge you by their own yardstick.
So does all this render me mentally ill, to get uptight and anxious about the prospect of going out? To want to retreat to the safety and comfort of my home - away from the annoyed stares of passers by that are inconvenienced by the fact that I have stopped dead in their path because I cannot physically move my legs any more because my dead sensory peripheral nerve endings can't send the right signals to my brain, and on to my motor nerves to make my muscles stretch? Also, the pain syndromes of shooting sciatic pain, and muscle spasms all caused by normal activity because my electrical wiring is shot.Neither can I circumnavigate the couples who, rapt in each other, so sweetly hold hands and take up all of the pavement.
My walking stick helps - it doesn't give me any physical support, and the use of it is difficult to co ordinate. My arms are affected in the same way too. My legs still cross or drop. The up side - since I have started using it - people give me a wide berth - and smile at me!