After much convincing, I decided to apply for Personal Independence Payment.
I get a text last week saying I had an assessment today at 1pm.
I planned my day around it to make it work, with my next appointment being at 2:30pm.
Yesterday I get a call saying the PIP assessment is actually at 1:30pm. That’s still ok, so long as the assessment ends at 2:15pm.
Today I was quite tired and feeling overwhelmed but tried to plan everything around this assessment, including getting my thoughts in order and trying to have lunch quickly ahead of the assessment, which is even more difficult when I’m feeling tired and overwhelmed.
About an hour ago, I get a call saying the person doing the assessment is running late and it will start at 1:45pm. I tell the person on the call that I need to finish at 2:15pm. She says that should be fine.
I join the assessment again, the assessor turns up at 1:55pm and says:
‘I understand you need to go at 2:15pm. That’s not enough time for this assessment so someone will call you to rebook.’
No apologies, nothing. And they end the call.
Cue the meltdown.
So next time someone thinks the disabled claim too much in benefits, or we somehow get economic benefits, then bear this in mind.
I’m not sure I want to go through this process again, so I’ll continue to struggle on, paying more for noise cancelling, first class trains, and generally struggle to manage with tasks that others take for granted.