Hi, just wanted some advice about my sons DLA I was lucky enough to have my claim processed and completed within 4 weeks and I have been given a decision. I have a few quiries though. They haven't taken my sons autism into account and have only taken his heart and lung problems. However, they have awarded him high care which I can only assume is good as I have met a few parents lately who have very sick children and cannot get high care. My problem is they have awarded him low mobility and i am wondering if it is worth challenging. Obviously the extra money would be good but I dont want to risk loosing the high care element through appealing. Also, I do not have to reapply until 2015 which is 5 years from the original claim. Is this normal to get five years or should it be sooner or longer until we should reclaim?!

Any advice would be good, thanks.

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Will I EVER stop having to fight for my son to have what he NEEDS!?

it is very hard to get high rate mobility for autism, it might be they didnt take into account his autism because the result would have been the same, you could try phoning and asking how they came to the decision as you had been led to believe he would get high rate mobility but it could be something like the decisionmaker not thinking that refusing to walk is a good enough reason (i not saying thats all autism mobility is but unfortunalty some ppl simplify it) as a lot of children will sit on floor and refuse to move even without the autism.

have u contacted tax credits as you will now be entitled to severe disablement component and it will up your child tax credits quite a bit

He doesn't not walk because of his autism although that causes problems. He uses a wheelchair full time because of heart and lung problems and he can't walk far due to stamina and health issues. He goes blue and gets breathless and he cries and screams and can't cope he passes out sometimes so that would be why i would apply for high mobility because he uses the wheelchair basically all of the time. The wheelchair also helps him with his autism as he is a lot less stressed when he is strapped in and feels safe etc. So is being asked to reapply in five years time normal?!

Thanks

sorry, thought u were saying u were thinking he got low rate mobility because they hadnt taken his autism into account. if he is in a wheelchair full time due to his heart probs then he should be on high rate and i would phone up and ask them to take a look at it again as you want to know how a child in a wheelchair isnt classed as high rate.

i dont know about the 5 years as they give different years depending on disability i think and not all reasonable ones, have a friend whos son has severe cp and when he was 12 they had to get mp involved as they only gave it to him for 2 yrs meaning they couldnt get mobility car because they said he might get up and walk by then!!!

Thanks for replying. I'll try and ring them tomorrow see what they say i just don't want to appeal and then lose the high care because I need that more then the mobility. Im sure if i asked to council to look at him they'd give him a blue badge even without having high mobility. He uses the wheelchair most of the time but not full time so I will have to see what they say.

Thanks