Hi there
Had the tribunal for my sons DLA mobility claim yesterday-he is now 5yrs old and has autism and we are trying to claim high mobility under SMI law. After getting all worked up and nervous about it, I was only in there 15mins and they said that they would like to postpone due to the reasoning that the DWP had given for denying the claim. The medical evidence held by the DWP states that he does have 'arrested development of the brain' so the tribunal has asked that they either accept this now under SMI law OR state their case as to why they wont accept and attend a second tribunal? i'm a little confused by it all- has anyone had a similar experience of this or read anything like it in past posts?? Thanks for any help! :-)

(01-27-2012 12:29 PM)jwest Wrote:  Hi there
Had the tribunal for my sons DLA mobility claim yesterday-he is now 5yrs old and has autism and we are trying to claim high mobility under SMI law. After getting all worked up and nervous about it, I was only in there 15mins and they said that they would like to postpone due to the reasoning that the DWP had given for denying the claim. The medical evidence held by the DWP states that he does have 'arrested development of the brain' so the tribunal has asked that they either accept this now under SMI law OR state their case as to why they wont accept and attend a second tribunal? i'm a little confused by it all- has anyone had a similar experience of this or read anything like it in past posts?? Thanks for any help! :-)

Hi. We put our claim in for mobility for Jack last year when he turned 4 yrs old. He is autistic and has hypotonia so has a problem with mobility! They turned us down and when I asked for a reason we were told that basically he has two legs and can stand up and walk a very short distance. I was fuming and their answer was 'well you can appeal if you like'. I spoke to our local 'rep' from NAS and she told me that very few children with a diagnosis of autism are being awarded mobility. We're not happy at all but haven't bothered appealing and are just going to submit a new claim again this year - especially now he has his statement and is starting school in Sept.

Lots of luck with your tribunal and can I just ask - what is SMI law? x

(01-29-2012 07:01 PM)SusieL66 Wrote:  

(01-27-2012 12:29 PM)jwest Wrote:  Hi there
Had the tribunal for my sons DLA mobility claim yesterday-he is now 5yrs old and has autism and we are trying to claim high mobility under SMI law. After getting all worked up and nervous about it, I was only in there 15mins and they said that they would like to postpone due to the reasoning that the DWP had given for denying the claim. The medical evidence held by the DWP states that he does have 'arrested development of the brain' so the tribunal has asked that they either accept this now under SMI law OR state their case as to why they wont accept and attend a second tribunal? i'm a little confused by it all- has anyone had a similar experience of this or read anything like it in past posts?? Thanks for any help! :-)

Hi. We put our claim in for mobility for Jack last year when he turned 4 yrs old. He is autistic and has hypotonia so has a problem with mobility! They turned us down and when I asked for a reason we were told that basically he has two legs and can stand up and walk a very short distance. I was fuming and their answer was 'well you can appeal if you like'. I spoke to our local 'rep' from NAS and she told me that very few children with a diagnosis of autism are being awarded mobility. We're not happy at all but haven't bothered appealing and are just going to submit a new claim again this year - especially now he has his statement and is starting school in Sept.

Lots of luck with your tribunal and can I just ask - what is SMI law? x

Hi there
Yes we had heard that there was great difficulty in getting high rate mobility for autism-especially under the 'unable to walk' route-as our son is also hypotonic-which is why we went down the SMI route, it means trying to claim under severe mental impairment and severe behavioral problems-which my son definitely has-anyone who has these two is entitled to high rate mobility .I have a friend with a little boy who has recently claimed under this reason (he is 3 and 1/2yrs) and they accepted first time, no questions asked! We asked for the decision to be looked at again and included more reports such as the school statement and OT assessment as well as a recent school letter, but really I just wish we had put in a new claim with these things, as I think now they are just reluctant to have to pay the back pay too :-(.
It just feels so unfair at times, as i'm sure you understand, we are not trying to claim anything that we don't feel he is entitled too- It feels that the people working for DWP just see the word 'autism' and label them all the same, and not bother to find out the severity of the child's disability or really even read the reports properly!! Sorry to go on, rant over ! lol Thanks for replying, hope your new claim is more successful :-) x

I had the same problem but kept pushing on them .
Why ? We shouldn't compare two different disabilities but let's see cases like
physically disable child with struggle in walking wait beside the car until his parent open the door to let him get in the car. The parent actually don't worry about safety of his child because know that he will wait.
Different case with child "walking" who has sever learning disability staying beside the car . Will he wait for parent to open him the door? No! parent need constantly holding his hand , otherwise he might jump in front of other car.
little girl who don't walk due to her condition. mum put her in the toilet and leave her there until she finish. Mum don't need to worry about her , can even leave her alone.
Child with autism or global sever developmental delay who could be even older that that girl would never sit on the toilet, or while changing would smear stool with his hands while I'm changing him.
in DLA claim in part about highest rate they say that to highest rate are eligible people with physical disabilities, blind, and .....and people with sever learning difficulties who VIRTUALLY can't walk. so it clearly states that people with sever learning difficulties are eligible to this help.
they just try to discourage people. I was fighting although that was very humiliating.
they put us in doubts make us feel guilty but in some cases we are struggling but in a bit different way.

I totally agree with all you've said-everyone who has a disabled child faces difficulties, and they all deserve help and the benefits that they are entitled to, but the DWP don't seem to understand a lot of the problems faced by parents of children with autism and severe learning difficulties. It seems that once a child can walk, even if thats not with great stability, they completely rule out the higher mobility claim, never mind all the added problems that go with their disability. Its just very frustrating but I am going to persist, i've come this far and feel very determined!

I rang the tribunal service today as its been 4 weeks since the first hearing, and guess what? the DWP have not even responded!! they were given three weeks to send in further info on why they didn't accept that my son has SMI and entitled to higher mobility and they have done nothing. So now it has to go back to the judge who will give the ok to arrange another hearing-with or without their representative-so i'm guessing it will be another long wait until we know more.
Just wondered if anyone else has experience of this, or can give me an idea of how long it takes the DWP to reply normally? thanks.