ive read this and im now really scared, my esa is due to stop in april 2015, ive already been told by the esa department that they will get me back into the wrag group from the support group, ive now started panicking and started stocking up on food so when they do shaft me and i loose alot of money that i wont go hungry, i already have alot of mental health conditions aswell as ms and this isnt helpin at all. http://www.snp.org/media-centre/news/2014/oct/dwp-cut-degenerative-condition-sufferers-benefit how do i recover from having ms? is there a cure they havent told me about yet? are they going to tell me im a liar again and fail me with the next lot of forms i have to fill in again? i havent put in for pip yet as im too scared coz of what atos did to me last time, im too scared that they will fail me because i have ms
Well, in the absence of any replies, JBK, here is mine for what it is worth …
OK, so you are scared. This is stressful. Biggest cause of stress is fear of the unknown. You don’t quite know what is going to happen.
OK (again), so lets try to take some bits of the unknown away. You have made a start by stockpiling food.
Don’t put much faith in the SNP statement - they are still recovering from having lost the Independence vote, and looking for ways of putting pressure in the Camoron and his chums.
It will not be ATOS this time. The did get a bad press, and I don’t think the Government want another load of bad publicity coming up to an election.The last process seems to have been geared to having a lot of failures, followed by a lot of appeals, followed by losing almost half the appeals. It did look to me like someone had done a very cynical calculation, and assumed a certain percentage of appeals would win.
Who told you that you were going back into Work Related?
There is no way that anyone can predict how MS will develop for any individual. So, no-one can say that you will get better. There is no recovery from MS, only unpredictable remissions. So you need all the medical people on your side.
Then there is a simple trick to filling in a lot of Government forms - copy them, fill the copy in in pencil, watch out for trick questions (usually the same question asked in different words about 10 pages later. Get the answers right, then fill the form in. Then keep the copy so that you know what you said. DO NOT be tempted to fill a form in on line - ever.
Make sure you know what you put on the form - you don’t want to give a different answer in an interview. Take someone with you to any interview - and let them do all the moving chairs, closing doors, picking things up, etc. That demonstrates that you cannot do it easily, and provides you with a witness to any comment made.
Above all, keep in your mind that you are going to appeal any decision that goes against you. Don’t say it - think it. You know that - they don’t. Now you are one jump ahead,
And remember we are all here for each other. I hope that there will be some others with a different take on things to give you some more help.
Geoff
Hi
In addition to Geoff’s excellent advice, it might be worth going to your GP so the effect on you of all this can be recorded.
Good Luck. I am sure it won’t be as bad in reality as you are imagining.
Anne
when i called the esa dept to find out how long i’ll be on the support group for, a lady on the phone said…oh, your only on it for 18 months, then we’ll get you back into the wrag group after that, i told her i have rrms and alot of mental health conditions and i was just told that she will be putting me back into the wrag group, now with this on top im scared that some jobs worth will shaft me just like atos did with lying on my report n making things up
it doesnt help stressing about not getting on dmd’s, been told by 2 neuros over a year ago i need to go on dmd’s, the ms team were told but they did nothing…then i find out the next neuro app that the ms nurse left and no one can put me on dmd’s only a ms nurse (thats wat the ms team told me) then wen they have a ms nurse started the first week of june, they tell me i cant see a ms nurse as hes too busy setting up his clinics im gona have to wait…still waiting, then i get told they didnt know i needed dmd’s LIARS, then i get told to just wait as im on his list, now wen i need a ms nurse, i cant get anyone to call me back at all, its disgusting, its like its too much for them to bother with helping me with anything, now wen i see the bham neuro ill still have to tell him im not on dmd’s coz i cant even see a ms nurse at all as his list is months n months long n hes the only one who can sort out dmd’s…ive had enuf n im sick of it