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ESA
- Tim
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Thanks Tim
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- Gordon
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Tim wrote: Hi Bro58, i had my first medical report from my doctors saying i was incapacitated by my mental health and also my spine , in my records it says 9H8 code ( on severe mental health register ) and says i have limited walking ability due to chronic degenerative disc disease ( 15 years ) , is this a good start for supporting evidence , i have my psychiatric report to follow
Thanks Tim
These are both very important pieces of information but do not in themselves entitle you to ESA as they describe the severity of your conditions not the limitations that result.
As an example, your limited walking ability is relevant to question 1 on the ESA50, however, the question is about your ability to mobilise, not walk. Mobilising includes walking but also looks at your ability to propel a manual wheelchair over equivalent distances, it may well be that this is not feasible for you, also due to your degenerative disc disease, the danger is assuming that the ATOS assessor and the DWP Decision Maker will understand this, when our experience is that they often do not.
So you need to go through the ESA Claim guides, Bro has already provided a link, and look at how your conditions affect your ability to complete each of the ESA Descriptors (tests).
Gordon
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- Tim
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- slugsta
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Nothing on this board constitutes legal advice - always consult a professional about specific problems
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- Tim
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- slugsta
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ESA claims and appeals
As we have said, this descriptor deals with mobilisation rather than walking and the Decision Maker is entitled to consider whether it would be reasonable for the claimant to mobilise independently using a self-propelled wheelchair. In practice, it is the case that it will be assumed that such a mobility aid can be used unless the claimant shows otherwise

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