Hi everyone I'm liv ,

I'm just wanting some advice on DLA , my son bradley who suffers from autism used to be on high rate care and high mobility but about a yr ago he was put down to middle care lower mobility , while he was on high rate i got a blue badge which is due to expire soon and as he is no long on high i cannot get it renewed ! I have reapplied quite a few times to get his dla re looked at as i still do not understand why it was lowered.

I am now confused as to if he should eva of been on higher rate ? before my health visitor at the time of first applying help me fill out the forms and then just before it was put down i had filled them outmyself as it was up for review , so i am guessing i just didnt manage to put on asmuch detail as her!! ,

My son can walk BUT he offen refuses too ,he throws himself about and recently while trying to get him into school he threw himself infront of a moving car , No harm was caused thank god but he has no idea that cars are dangerous no matter how much i explain this to him! I am dreading my blue badge expiring as i find it so usefull at supermarkets and in town as i can just park up and nip into where i hate to go and not have to struggle quite so far!
As far as the care part goes , nothing has changed since his application yrs ago his just older! i still bath him wash him , dress him brush his teeth clean his bum , he still wets the bed alot and he is on melitonin at night also otherwise he will never sleep! his recently turned very violent which i am finding really hard and am offen in tears as i hate seeing him like this
I find it really hard filling in these forms as just like writing this post it feels so negitive and like i am moaning about him , which is soo not true he is my world and all the touble is worth it just to have him ..
Anyway does anyone no if theres anychance i could get it put back up if i reapply agian ?? i dread filling in the form and could really do with some help but dont no if there are any organisations that do that??

Thanks so much for taking the time to read xxx
Liv

I dont understand why the benefit was dropped hun, and i know the forms are dreadfully long and quite hard to write as you have to put your children down soooo much and state all the bad points but, my only advoce to you would be..
re apply for DLA and write down everything as good as possible and explain how each disabilty effects him eg, doesnt understand dangers and sometimes walks infront of moving vehicles, needs encouragement to walk etc etc..
Also some questions do seem to repeat them selves quite often but just be sure to list everything and describe why it effects hes daily needs in every question you come across (it can be long and daunting.. i know as recently filled em all in again but im sure if you go deep in detail even though it can be hard to sit and think then its possibly worth it) also if you have recent reports from you paed or any practioner your child is under then be sure to send these with ur application to support ur claim.
Hope this helps
Lea

hi bradleysmummy,
my son has autism as well and i have had high rate mobility and care from the beginning. the mobility part doesnt have anything to do with how far he can walk when it comes to autism it comes under severe mental disability and high rate care so it might be because they dropped your care that meant your mobility had to be dropped. i would go to cab as they can help fill the forms in and depending on where you live there is usually disability solutions type place that can come out to your home and help fill the forms in. you have to put down your worst days which is very hard as you dont like to think of your child like that ( matt can go to sleep at 11 until 7 dream but quite often he is awake till gone 12 and can still wake in the night so i put that down not the rare good sleep) what you ahve described sounds like you should be back on high rate if he is still wetting the bed and melatonin only helps them to settle not stay asleep (i have tried it a couple of times)
just try to look at it like every parent moans about all their Children its human nature lol its just we have to write it down as well. will have to leave off here as just been told its bedtime hehe

corinne

Its a key point raised there Corinne about Melitonin and sleeping patterns.
I would possibly advise on filling the form out on the basis of a night without the melitonin because they do very specifically state within there forms about your childs needs being greater than a child of there age without there condition.
My argument would be the child without the condition would not be on melitonin and therefore be expected to sleep without the melitonin whereas your child although does sleep with melitonin but not all the time.
Another important thing to note is Night time care is generally accepted as when the house closes down and the adults are in bed,in me and Lucys case this is 8pm
Therefore Euans care needs at night begin here.
Therefore your child does have greater care needs over a child without the care needs at night.
Liv,
You mention that you have to change your son in the night because of bed wetting how frequent is this and for each time you do this how long would it take you and you really have to break this down for example in theory getting the fresh bed sheets,taking the old sheets off the bed,placing the new sheets on the bed and then having to settle your son afterwards and then once he was settled then having to place this sheets in the washing basket downstairs,this alone could take around 30 minutes assuming your son settles straight away to 1 hour or more dependent on how long your son takes to settle down.

Also in regards to the Mobility as Corinne rightfully said higher rate should not be an issue although it is very hard for children with autism to get an award without a fight and Corinne you were very lucky to get it first time.
However many of the staff who decide on Mobility and DLA are unaware of court rulings which have defined caselaw they have to consider.
For example Liv you mention your son can walk but refuses to do so and this was defined in a northern ireland court ruling which stated:

choosing not to walk

C/34/98(DLA) (Northern Ireland decision) states that someone may still satisfy the test if he or she is "so disabled physically or mentally that ….it would be completely unreasonable to expect him to walk out of doors without guidance or supervision".

And then another ruling in regards to guidance and supervision defined the terminology as follows:

guidance and supervision

CDLA/42/1994* (109/94) looks at the meaning of guidance and supervision.

Guidance - Directing or leading a claimant by physical means or oral suggestion or persuasion (See also R(DLA)3/04 (formerly CDLA/4438/2003).
Supervision - precautionary and anticipatory yet never result in intervention. There had to be some element of monitoring of the claimant's physical or mental or emotional state. This could include monitoring the route for obstacles, dangers or places or situations which might upset (or be a danger to) the claimant. Encouragement, persuasion or cajoling could also be supervision.

And then also another ruling stated and defined about Mental disablement when it comes to mobility and this found:

physical and mental disablement

CDLA/3612/2003 concerned someone who had both physical and mental disablement but who could not satisfy the test for high rate mobility component because her physical problems were inadequate and her mental ones irrelevant. States there needs to be a current "organic abnormality, objectively verifiable, which is a necessary link in the causal chain which restricts the claimant's walking to the required degree."

" a claimant may for example have physical back problems and also depression. If depression is due to her physical condition, at least in part, or if her physical condition is a material cause limiting her walking, albeit exacerbated by unconnected depression, then a tribunal is entitled to find any resultant walking difficulties are due to her physical condition as a whole".

CDLA/4125/2000 suggests the test will be satisfied if mental difficulties lead to physical disablement. C8/00-01(DLA)* (49/01) suggests that it is wrong to conclude that failure to walk is not due to physical disablement just because a claimant's condition was predominantly due to his or her mental state.

R(DLA)4/06 discusses the correct test to be applied in cases where claimants have mobility problems arising from a combination of physical and mental factors. The commissioners settled on a "material cause" approach.

"116. In our judgment, therefore, even if a decision maker or appeal tribunal considers that mental or psychological problems are the substantial cause of a claimant’s walking difficulties, it should award the higher rate of the mobility component if it finds that a physical disorder contributes to the claimant’s inability or virtual inability to walk to more than a minimal extent."

It was a majority view of this Tribunal of Commissioners that this would "not include the situation where at the date of the decision the walking difficulty is entirely due to psychological problems, even if those arose from a physical problem which has abated."

Paragraph 120 cites an example where someone may pass the test if the claimant's problems with walking were mental in origin, which in turn led to problems of a physical origin.

Also the wording Virtually unable to walk was definded and this is the best bit they used a 3 year old boy with Autism as an example this was as follows:

4.3.2 Virtually unable to walk
behavioural problems

R(M)3/86 is a decision of a Tribunal of Commissioners. It considers that behavioural problems arising from a physical source can constitute a "temporary paralysis" as far as walking is concerned and therefore be seen as a "virtual inability to walk" See also R(M)2/78, CM/98/1989 and CDLA/3839/2007. CDLA/4565/2003 (below) discusses some of the problems contained within R(M)3/86.

CDLA/4565/2003 Discusses "could not" versus "would not" arguments i.e. can a child's refusal to walk be resolved by the threat of punishment or promise of a reward. Defers to R(M)3/86. because it is a decision of a tribunal of commissioners but believes their approach was too generalised. Children who suffer from conditions such as autism, Down’s Syndrome, and William’s Syndrome may have a raft of symptoms which are relevant to their ability to walk but which may make them not wish to walk including clumsiness and lack of coordination, high levels of anxiety and fearfulness, short sightedness, poor balance muscle weakness, tiredness, lack of endurance, breathlessness and embarrassment. To say that a child who can be persuaded or coaxed to walk further (after being promised a reward or threatened with punishment) is not suffering from problems which stem from a physical disablement must be wrong and be based on a generalisation without reference to the evidence of the particular case." Cites CM/98/1989 as a possible approach to the problems caused by R(M)3/86. The decision directs a tribunal to pay careful attention to medical evidence.

CM/5/1986 considers virtual inability to walk in the case of an an autistic child. If the child's reaction to walking was to run, stop, lie down and refuse to go any further than these were relevant factors. The tribunal then had to consider whether there was virtual inability to walk and If so, how did it come about - conscious volition or physical disablement?

CSDLA/202/2007 concerned an autistic child, age three, with behavioural problems. The commissioner states that the higher rate mobility component can be satisfied on grounds of being virtually unable to walk, provided the walking problems stem from the claimant's physical disablement and his physical condition as a whole.


Sorry to Bamboozle you with all legal jargon here for most of this is relevant to your case.
So on average answer the following:

• How many times a week do you provide evening care?
• How many times a night do you provide this care?
• How long does this care take from begining to end?
  

With the above i should be able to give you a answer about higher rate care.

Ill come to mobility questions once i get these.

Once again sorry to bamboozle!!!

Daniel..
Why dont you jsut become a profesional agony aunt.. lol
Or even better.. go work in the decesioners office at the DLA as im sure you talk more sence then some of them i have spoken to over time lol!