Before & After A Disability Tribunal
I am EXTRA, EXTRA sick after the Tribunal.
The arthritis in my spine, neck and shoulders is TERRIBLE….but the lower back is worse:
To everyone with back pain…..it sucks…..you are my hero!
At PIP (Personal Independence Payment) Tribunals OR Assessments, they set up the location where there is CCTV, stairs and most importantly for this update…..the dreaded:
Yep, fire doors.
When I used to work for New Look, at the warehouse there are many, many fire doors…..and most of the time people would help me with them…unless I felt great or was making my life more difficult by not asking for help.
Well, at the Tribunal, I made sure we had someone open the doors for us…..there are about 8-10 to get to the room for the hearing. But, what I did not plan for was on exit.
The lady that briefs you on what will happen, left the room. So, only the Judge, the Doctor and the Disability Specialist were left in the room. I did not feel that we could ask them to help.
So, I got the doors. We got in a pickle….one zimmer frame, two crutches (Wendy)……a desperate Wendy wanting to leave…..it was a loud, none graceful exit LOL.
That was Wednesday…..I have been unable to get out of bed….until today….Saturday. (I have wee’d once every 24hrs…..which resulted in MAJOR pain and sleep again due to the steps required to get to the toilet from my bed - 12 small steps to get there).
Today, I 5x’d my pain relief so I could sit at my desk and write this. For my new career there is ONE basic rule….consistency….weekly uploads. I could not fail on this.
I should never have done the fire doors!!!! I was on an adrenaline rush from the Tribunal and wanted to make sure Wendy did not hurt herself!
I do get angry at how they specifically set up the location to test your mobility, and physically abilities with the doors/distance.
But, when we left we spoke to Security and they explained how often they see people come in for Disability Tribunals…..they walk in like this:
And walk out like this:
I was so angry with the Government about how they treat sick people, but unfortunately the issue is all of the people who try and take advantage of the system. The Security team said it literally happens all of the time.
So, I think I need to focus on a couple of things (when I am better):
There must be a change in process so PIP claimants are NOT treated like criminals
The number of people that falsely claim or attempt to claim PIP are reduced so the people in need can be treated like humans
I will update you on the outcome next week, we are waiting for confirmation.
Achievement of the week:
We were 100% prepared for the Tribunal, the Judge even said (something along the lines of):
‘With no legal training, this is the best submission I have ever seen in my career’
I have not received feedback on my PIP ‘approach’ before, so it was really fantastic to get feedback, and such positive feedback.
Actually it was an honour to get such amazing feedback from a no nonsense Judge who does this for a living. He said it at the start and at the end. Wendy even patted my arm LOL when he said this.
In my head I was thinking:
‘I should bloody hope so, it took me 25hrs to do that appeal document!’
I will be doing a vlog on the full pack I presented so anyone can use this as a template.
What has made me happy:
Wendy did AMAZING in the Tribunal!
Ollie has been great…..she has not been out for a walk since Wednesday am. She has stuck to me like glue…..I didn’t think I would be this extremely sick…it was defo the fire doors…..I changed my chair when I got in…so I had one with arms.
Also, Handsome…..the cat that I think lives with me….went missing for about a week….he is back…in one piece! And sooo affectionate….he is a dribbler when he purrs LOL (he is the one by the plug):
Books I have read:
None…..been asleep since Wednesday night.
I wish I looked that good asleep….my version involves more DROOL…..lots of cats….one dog….and this constantly playing in the background:
Even though its been a really bad pain week, this made me smile on the inside:
Arthritic update:
I had to call for help this week. My mum had a really bad urine infection that we got antibiotics for on Monday…..she got up Tuesday am…..went to sleep at about 10:00 and only really woke up properly yesterday (Friday). I have never seen her crash that badly before.
Its bad that we both crashed at the same time. I went down Wednesday PM…..but am waking up today…..Saturday (with the help of more pain meds than you would be given after broken bone surgery). Which is a bit scary.
My mum has dropped a lot of weight. Which she will gain back quickly due to the reason/way she lost it.
I knew I would be ill after the Tribunal but NOT this bad. Now I think on it…my bad kept falling off my zimmer and it had LOTS of paperwork in it, our drinks so it was heavy. I moved the chair (no wheels) at the desk in the Tribunal….plus the fire doors.
My body just cannot do things like that anymore.
The GOOD NEWS….is the additional pain is aftermath….it will reduce. I am going to move my meetings from next week…..to give myself another 2 weeks to recover. I am gutted its this long….but I would not have changed the day for anything. There is no way people should go alone to a PIP Tribunal.
What I am looking forward to:
I was due to go to the new Staffordshire Women’s Aid offices on Monday….I am going to move that to the end of September. So, I am still looking forward to that.
I am looking forward to less pain and being able to do one of my ‘walks’ with Ollie. But before I get to that point…..I am looking forward to editing the outcome vlog and working on more PIP vlogs as there is just not enough ACCURATE information out their for people.
I am looking forward to being able to WASH!
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This weeks vlog:
Take care of yourselves
Charlie & Ollie