Possability People is a local charity that supports disabeld people and people living with long term health conditions. And we are very pleased to announce our new East Sussex Advice Service is now open and ready and waiting for your calls and emails.
Our skilled, helpful and very friendly team can advise you on lots of issues relating to your being disabled or living with a long term health condition. If you have family or friends who are disabled and you want advice, we’re here to help you too.
We have a great deal of knowledge and experience. Last year alone, we took over 4500 calls from people wanting our support. Many of our staff and volunteer team are disabled or live with long term health conditions themselves, so they are very well placed to talk to you.
The sorts of things we can give you information and advice about are: advice on disability benefits; welfare benefit entitlement checks; blue badge form filling; general form filling: Personal Independence Payment (PIP) & Work Capability Assessment; advice on attending a medical assessment or welfare benefit tribunal; support with appealing a welfare benefit decision.
This last year has been incredibly challenging for us all, but disabled people have perhaps faced more challenges than others. And of course, some people will now be coping with the after effects of having Covid-19 (long Covid) and trying to make sense of new circumstances. The team can talk to you through what some of your options might be with benefits and allowances, for example.
Sometimes a phone call is all you need to put your mind at rest, but if you need more in-depth support, we can do that too.
Janice’s story
61-year-old Janice found it very difficult to get around and to manage day to day. With chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and severe back pain, she has breathlessness, chronic pain and is unable to stand for long periods. When she walks, it’s slow and painful and she needs to rest often. Coupled with depression, anxiety and insomnia, it’s easy to see how her motivation to look after herself is low. She lives alone and has few visitors; her low mood can be so severe that she can’t get out of bed or function at all in any meaningful way.
When Janice was recently reassessed for the benefits she relies on, even though there had been no improvement in her condition, the medical assessor decided that she was no longer eligible for them and they were stopped.
It took almost a year for Janice to contact us to ask for help with an appeal. We discussed her options with her over the phone, and she decided to make a late appeal and also a fresh claim.
We helped her through the process gave her advice about obtaining medical evidence. A few weeks later, in another phone appointment, we helped her to complete a new PIP application.
Janice’s late request for appeal was accepted so we helped her prepare her grounds for appeal. When her new application for PIP was also refused, we supported her to appeal against that decision. To have two appeals running concurrently was particularly confusing and stressful, but our advisers reassured Janice that this was the best course of action and supported her through the complex process.
We attended the subsequent tribunal for her first appeal with her. Considering all the evidence put to them, the tribunal agreed that Janice should have been awarded the standard rate of both the daily living and mobility components of PIP; they were backdated to the date her benefit had stopped.
Janice said: 'I wouldn't have got through it without you all”.
If you or someone you know needs advice, please contact us our pass on our details.
The team can be contacted by email: esussexadvice@possabilitypeople.org.uk or phone: 01424 234460 and we can talk to you on the phone, via Zoom or through emails.
Photo by Ravi Patel on Unsplash
