More disabled to suffer under UK budget travesty.

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I think I will enlist social work if I have to appeal or attend a tribunal. Afterall, I have nothing to explain other than what they already know and my circumstances have not changed.

Consider looking up the exact requirements for eligibility for DLA, because whilst YOUR circumstances will stay the same, their requirements will probably have changed, meaning by default that you are not as disabled as you think they are, according to their requirements. Also, consider taking just about anyone with you. They don't have to be knowledgeable or anything, they simply have to be there to witness, so if (when?) the ATOS employee attempts a fraudulent manoeuvre you have someone to confirm your side of the story. It may not help much but it all helps a little.

This site may be of help in that regard:
http://www.benefitsandwork.co.uk/

Perhaps you can get an advocate to accompany you. They can also speak for you and/or help you say what you need to say. A quick google search brought up this charity which provides advocates:

http://www.afmh.org.uk/index.php?option ... &Itemid=13

or you could ask you local Citizens Advice Bureau as I know they can do it too. They represented me when sorting out problems with the tax office which I couldn't handle myself.

http://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/

Thanks English, I will have to study what advice they give.

Thanks Mother, I have little time to organise an advocate, the appointments offered to me today were for next week.
Last time I had a tribunal [10 years ago] the lead social work advocate I was put in touch with was based in a psychiatric hospital and didn`t want to represent me because the tribunal panel would assume I had mental health issues [when I didn`t and don`t].
I ended up taking 2 social workers to the tribunal and really doubt if resources are available for even one accompanying me to a medical when I have had no contact with social work for a decade.
I will have to phone around, I am becoming distressed.

That's not a problem. You can call ATOS and tell them that you can't confirm an appointment until you have an advocate arranged. Even if you've already agreed an appointment, you can cancel it and say you need to make an appointment when you have an advocate.

Which is one of the main reasons why this initiative is cruel and unproductive. The most vulnerable sector of society used as a quick fix for bad budgeting. Record your experiences and then write to your local MP about it. It might also be constructive (or at the very least counter-productive for ATOS) to complain to them and the DWP the very moment they do anything that you find distressing. Definitely don't let ATOS dictate when you should see them. You have the right to advocacy and they cannot prevent that. If they DO, complain. Make sure you are supported in this interview. If the oncoming interview is making you ill, make damn sure that your GP and Social Services know about it.

I will be going to the ATOS appointment next week and will post an update then.

Further to this: In the news, a wounded soldier is denied benefits. Perhaps ATOS healthcare should employ more disabled "healthcare specialists" so that they can grasp exactly what it means to have a disability..any disability.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-10741638

A pretty detailed description of the wholesale mess this man's legs are in on a radio interview.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... c-leg.html

Written article (yes its the mail, but as the BBC are carrying it too, I think it can be safely verified as a genuine story.)

This can hardly be buried as "just another scrounger" or even as an "invisible disability." This guy was working, paying taxes, and fighting for Queen and Country, and has a clear and obviously provable disability. The DWP seriously needs to re-evaluate its targets (those it aims AT, not those it aims to meet) and start looking for genuine fraudsters instead of using the provably disabled to claw back cash. (I hate that phrase. Claw back. The media insist on using it over and again as if the poor bloody DWP have to fight and struggle to regain every single brass farthing that they gave out so charitably to these thieving pikey bastards with their million kids, as opposed to what actually happens when they cease a benefit without warning then only explain AFTER the fact that they have moved the goalposts again. Add this to the "war" on benefits and its only a matter of time, syntactically speaking, before they "invade" council estates and "crush all opposition in a spirited campaign of lightening strikes". Perhaps then they can euphemistically "relocate" the disabled to "labour camps"?

Perhaps the DWP should remember that wounded soldiers are still soldiers, and that if they push enough people hard enough, people will push back. They should already have learned this lesson after the raft of tribunals following the introduction of ESA, but clearly they are going to rush headfirst into this DLA re-working with the same tact and deftness and promptly cost themselves a boatload more cash in a second round of tribunals.

I would call on the Dave New World to not be one where the most vulnerable are the first to fall, and where the healthy and able don't ensure their own economic survival by using the disabled as a firewall.

That descendant of one of King William IV's bastards is bringing great evil to his country.

Here is what happened to me at the appointment.
I arrived at the centre by car and gained access to a pre-booked blue badge space via an intercom and automatic electric gate.
A security guard came to my car and gave me a pass, held all door open for me as I made my way to the lift. I went to reception in an otherwise empty floor and booked in, proving my identity and filling in a form for mileage expenses. It was ten minutes before my appointment time.

60 minutes later the doctor called me in. I said I thought they had forgotten about me and I made my way into the examination room. He asked me if I read books, watched tv and how long I spent at the supermarket and how I managed shopping, how I managed going upstairs to a toilet in a house of a friend or family member and how long it took me to shower.
He then took my blood pressure and said he would not examine me as I was in obvious pain from sitting/standing for over an hour ! So after about 20 minutes I was escorted from the building by the receptionist who saw me to my car.

3 days later I got a letter saying I had enough points to continue being awarded Incapacity Benefit. I have been bedridden since as my back spasms have been difficult to control, no doubt due to the added stress. They plan to review again July 2012.

uote="CosmicRuss"]Here is what happened to me at the appointment.
I arrived at the centre by car and gained access to a pre-booked blue badge space via an intercom and automatic electric gate.
A security guard came to my car and gave me a pass, held all door open for me as I made my way to the lift. I went to reception in an otherwise empty floor and booked in, proving my identity and filling in a form for mileage expenses. It was ten minutes before my appointment time.

60 minutes later the doctor called me in. I said I thought they had forgotten about me and I made my way into the examination room. He asked me if I read books, watched tv and how long I spent at the supermarket and how I managed shopping, how I managed going upstairs to a toilet in a house of a friend or family member and how long it took me to shower.
He then took my blood pressure and said he would not examine me as I was in obvious pain from sitting/standing for over an hour ! So after about 20 minutes I was escorted from the building by the receptionist who saw me to my car.

3 days later I got a letter saying I had enough points to continue being awarded Incapacity Benefit. I have been bedridden since as my back spasms have been difficult to control, no doubt due to the added stress. They plan to review again July 2012.[/quote]

Good going Analysis of your process shows up all the pointers of a classic ATOS interview. Sounds like your local office is a little tricky to get in to. (Imagine trying it with various ailments and see how trialling it is.) The lengthy wait and the procession to the interview room are both designed to allow ATOS to observes you at length without your knowledge. They like to check for things like: If you claim you cannot comfortably sit in a chair without arms, have you chosen one WITH arms in the waiting room, or do you appear to be in comfort.

You may have observed that unlike most buildings, DWP buildings used by ATOS have many more camera bubbles in the ceiling than are necessary for security. This is again to assist in their scrutiny. Questions like: Do you read books/watch TV are designed to prove that you have "useful" skills, or that you have lied about your inabilities. They work on the principle that if you can watch tv/hold a book, you could probably read a PC screen or some paperwork.

Personally I find the "bathroom capability" questions to be disgustingly intrusive. It would not be hard to introduce a much greater dignity to DWP proceedings if they simply drew a veil over that part of life, and sensibly decided that whether you can take a piss is none of their business, and should not be used to gauge your abilities. They ask, because your showering ability (or lack thereof) helps them to decide how employable you are. Grotesque and undignified it might be, but if more people went to these inquisitions smelling of piss and covered in s**t in their grubbiest clothes, they would probably pass easily...which is what makes the whole concept so laughable, because if you are wiling to act fraudulently, then you can run rings around them.

It sounds like either your disabilty/pain is very visibly manifested, or that you also managed to find a sympathetic ATOS employee with a degree more perception than most. This story shows what happens when they aren't.

http://www.thestar.co.uk/headlines/Term ... 6458010.jp

A TERMINALLY ill man with a crippling lung condition has blasted Government medical tests after his benefits were stopped when he was declared fit for work.
Michael Walker, aged 58, was diagnosed with pulmonary fibrosis, incurable scarring on the lungs, in March and given two years to live.