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Letter: I’m Still Disabled, But Now Stripped of My £240 a Month Mobility Allowance, And My Bus Pass
Published on: 11 Oct, 2020
Updated on: 11 Oct, 2020
From: Amanda Creese
In response to: County Council Care Should Not Be For Profit
I’m an amputee. Am I disabled? In some contexts yes, I am, I cannot manage some tasks on my own. I find walking over rough ground difficult, stairs without bannisters terrify me and if I fall I need assistance to get back up again. Bathing and dressing is a chore and takes time.
Being an amputee incurs additional expenses such as clothing and shoes subjected to excessive wear and tear by the prosthetic, additional medications and prescriptions for skin and nerve irritations etc. These are expenses disability benefits are supposed to cover.
Under the old disability benefits system (DLA), I was considered sufficiently disabled to receive the full mobility allowance. Under the present system (PIP), I am not entitled to any mobility allowance.
My leg is never going to grow back and my needs increase as I grow older. With the decision not to award me mobility allowance I have lost £240 a month from my income plus the additional benefit of a bus pass, a huge loss because I do not drive.
In some cases, withdrawal of mobility allowance has meant individuals lost access to Motability (disability vehicles) and therefore the ability to continue working, and contributing.
Disability doesn’t mean an individual is idle or incapable of feeling they want to live a full and useful life. An effective system of financial support for the disabled allows them to live that life and contribute more to the Exchequer than they take.
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Responses to Letter: I’m Still Disabled, But Now Stripped of My £240 a Month Mobility Allowance, And My Bus Pass
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M Durant
October 12, 2020 at 12:12 pm
Sorry to hear this has happened to Ms Creese. I advise getting legal advice from the Citizens Advice Bureau and appealing the decision.
Sadly what has happened to her is a happening to many disabled across the country. The person that made the assessment is getting paid between £35,000 to £40,000. They get paid to reach certain targets, so their target is not to help you but to remove recipients of benefits from the system. They have people not qualified to assess certain disabilities.
The whole disability system should be looked at and changed. For example, an autistic person, normally assessed by a psychiatrist is being assessed by a physiotherapist or a nurse. What does a nurse or a physiotherapist necessarily know about autism? Also in the current disability system, they don’t accept letters from your own qualified specialist or a GP, they prefer their own overpaid unqualified specialists.
Also, a lot of people with invisible disabilities can’t get any help on the current system. Some disabled people have appealed this and won in appeal, but it is a tiring, long process.
I think the government is wasting more money going to court than actually rectifying the disability system and making it more inclusive and fair. At the moment it is punitive. My disabled friend lost his bus pass for the same reasons explained, and is currently stranded; he doesn’t have a family to help. And while some disabled people in need are not getting the right support at the moment my healthy self-employed friends got loads of money from the Chancellor.
Richard J Terrell
October 12, 2020 at 11:39 pm
You must seek an expert, CAB may know who in Guildford.
My late friend Robert did succeed and was finally awarded both the disability and mobility elements. The points awarded were in excess of what was required to pass.
He suffered severely both manic depression and heart, becoming housebound, 24/7 care needs.
Please, please seek advice, I cannot assist myself, maybe someone reading this whom now lives in Guildford can advise, it is clear to me, as it was with Robert, you must cut the through the rubbish and seek help to formally appeal.