"Evidence shows you have a good appetite and eat at least three meals a day..."

..."and snack"

...is a line that I've just received in my *zero points across the board* result

What evidence could that possibly be?

I said I often don't remember to eat and/or cannot bring myself to cook and will replace meals with a snack food or just not eat.

and what does AT LEAST mean?! At least three meals a day?! I feel slightly insulted - is she implying I'm fat? Evidence shows you have a good appetite. What does that mean?!

I have lost 3 stone in the last 2 years, eat 2 meals a day max and how on earth would that know that anyway? Are they in my house? Do they follow me in Sainsbury's buying strawberries and kitkats for my children's lunch boxes and think I'm bingeing at home?

My weight is right at the bottom of healthy BMI, just hovering above underweight

*

The other gem is - "you attended Oxford university" (20 years ago I might add) "so you are not intellectually impaired"

Well... I suppose academically I can pass an exam after 24 hours of cramming because I can retain complex info for about 24 hours before I lose it.

But I am autistic and I have ADHD, so while I might be able to recount my (very very specific) thesis topic - I can't manage complex budgeting decisions, remember to take my medication, cope with new or lots of people, I don't eat properly, don't sleep properly, and although I can read - do they know I had to re-read everything 2-3 times before I understood it at Oxford (and still do at work)? No. Because I've spent almost 40 years masking, trying to fit in, and burning myself out trying to hang onto a job.

But I guess as I have a job that means I must be able to manage *everything* just fine.

They said '"you are organised" "you have good focus and memory" - I really do not. I have to take a hefty dose of Elvanse and I still can't manage.
So... because I studied a very very specific subject to a high standard, 20 years ago, with a selection of strategies to survive which I'd figured out along the way without realising I was neurodivergent...
And because I could just about manage my needs when I was 21 and studying, they think I should still be able to now that I'm nearly 40, single parent to three, burnt out from ASD, and struggling to manage to look after myself.....

Based on something I achieved at 21, I can't possibly be anything other than capable at almost 40? Make it make sense.

"You engaged well with your assessor" - what assessor?? The lady who called said she wasn't really part of the team and she didn't work for DWP and that she was just calling to confirm where I went to school, if I passed exams and went to university and what I did for work. Which I confirmed. The impression I got was that she was filling in a few details on a form BEFORE an assessor called me. Maybe that's my naivety - failing again on the social understanding - but she asked *nothing* about how I manage the activities on the assessment sheet.

She asked me if I was diagnosed - I confirmed I was and uploaded the diagnostic reports on the portal when she hung up.

I suppose the ASD report may have confirmed that I am detailed focused - but what that actually means is detail focused on Shakespeare's sonnets - not remembering medication or managing money.

I don't think I have the energy for this. I know these reports are mostly wrong when they're written up - I knew it going in. But I am still genuinely surprised when it happens again.


Curious to know if anyone else had anything like the food comment though... "Evidence shows you have a good appetite and eat at least three meals a day..." I'm still furious at the cheek of it

Hello,

Try not to take these comments too personally, as they sound very similar to the comments made after my son's first PIP assessment six years ago and again when his award was reviewed last year. I think it might even be a standard assumption assessors make if there is no clear evidence to the contrary. My son's report said he appeared well-nourished and there was no evidence he could not recognise when he was hungry, but this is a very complicated area for neurodivergent people with memory problems. PIP assessors don't seem to understand autism or ADHD very well, and although the DWP decision makers occasionally seem to have a better understanding, they usually follow the assessor's report, at least in the first instance.

Maybe by now one of the moderators will have seen your post, as they are more knowledgeable and better able to advise you than I am, but if you wish to apply for a Mandatory Reconsideration, which is the next step, you need to ring the DWP and ask for a copy of the assessment report (I think it's called a PA4) as soon as possible, then go through it carefully and make a note of your counter-arguments which you can put in a letter or M/R application.

It can be very difficult to explain the problems faced by neurodivergent people and fit them to the PIP criteria, which seem to be better suited to people with physical disabilities - or maybe it is just easier for an assessor to understand how a physical disability might affect someone's ability to perform the required tasks. You need to study the PIP guides on this website - there are a couple specifically about M/Rs and PIP appeals and one on how to challenge a PIP medical report - and try to work out how your problems might fit the PIP criteria. Even then it will require a bit of lateral thinking and a lot more detail than you might expect would be necessary. It can seem like an impossible situation - if you manage to suppress your autistic/ADHD traits in an assessment long enough to appear coherent, then it will be assumed you can manage at all times. However, if you are having a bad day, when none of your speech is intelligible and you make no sense during the assessment, the assessor might decide you are deliberately failing to engage with the process.

Regarding the preparing food question, there is a very detailed and helpful post at the top of the forum which you should read.

If you decide to request an M/R, don't delay - it needs to be done within one month, but you can add any extra evidence you receive later, as long as you do it in good time, before they look at your case again. Even a letter from a family member might help, if it gives an accurate picture of your difficulties, especially if they actually help you with some of the activities and can say so. Often the moderators will suggest keeping a diary and there are templates here on the site to help you do this.

I hope I haven't given any misleading information - if I have, I apologise in advance and hope one of the Mods will correct me. This is only advice based on my own experience of the process, acting as appointee for my son. I was prompted to reply to your post because I sympathise with your situation, having received two very similar reports based on the same flawed assumptions. My son did eventually receive what we felt was the correct award each time - perseverance is the key. We also received a lot of help and encouragement from the B & W community - thank you all.

Good luck and best wishes,

Wendy Woo

Thank you for taking the time to reply, I appreciate it and you certainly seem to know a lot about it so thank you for your insights.

I will ask for a PA4 and then see how resilient I'm feeling and whether I can push forward. I'll go back to read some of the guides - although I studied them and applied them to my first application in what I had thought was quite a detailed way. And as you say, this is exactly it - I pull all my focus whenever the phone rings - I present as coherent and because I feel vulnerable, I take comms with any sort of authority seriously and do my absolute best to stay focused.

I did include a letter from my mum about the help she gives daily, like phoning every morning to ensure I take meds, texting every night with a run down of the next morning, cooking meals and bringing them round, labelling Tupperware with 'lunch - eat between 12-2pm' on a sticker etc.

I appreciate the reply, thank you

Hello again,

I'm afraid I can't add anything more to BIS's good advice because it sounds as if you've done everything you can already, but if you have time - it seems to me you have a very busy life with three children to cope with as well as everything else - you might like to search for a series of posts from another member, Anji, who successfully challenged the system on behalf of her son. We aren't all as tenacious or as persistent, but she is quite an inspiration and shows it can be done!

Best wishes,

Wendy Woo