DID and benefits

This is regarding being on the benefits system (UK) or your countries equivalent if relevant.

We're in the UK and wondered if anyone else was on PIP or ESA? Have you got the full amounts purely for having DID and the impact on your daily life? particularly if you have it so severely you are unable to cope with going out to work and having (what they consider) a 'normal' life?

We're also interested in anyone who has an alter that has different health conditions/disabilities to other alters in their system? (as we do) Do you claim for that 'alters' physical condition? (because the physical body must technically have that condition even if other alters are in denial about it).

eg if one alter has asthma or can't see/hear or walk as well as others do you claim as that person with that condition full time? or do you claim for just having DID in general? Have you tried to explain that some 'alters' have conditions that others didn't and did they believe you or accuse you of fraud because they can't understand how someone ..say can only be asthmatic when one alter was in control of the body? or not speak when they are one alter (maybe its a 'little' & too young) yet speak normally as another (assuming the DWP person who assessed you have no idea what 'littles' are).

Thanks, we're just looking for ideas how to explain the dissociation aspect, (of the autism which Kit was diagnosed with years ago) without them misunderstanding that we're saying we've spent years pretending to have condition we didn't have. As all symptoms were genuine at the time, we just didn't understand where they were coming from until very recently.

Thanks

Kit & Thea

I would operate on the assumption they won't understand. I applied disability living allowance (I think that's what it used to be called) years ago for chronic pain I experienced at the time. I could barely move they invited me to an interview after I filled out the forms and that was extremely hard for me to get to. They decided I was well enough to work and it didn't matter what the doctor thought or how hard things we for me to do. So when my crisis started I didn't even apply but I have been able to continue part time work and Ozalces helps to support us.

i am on both PIP (daily living enhanced rate, no mobility) and income-related ESA (support group). i applied for both earlier this year. i'm currently not formally diagnosed with DID (current diagnosis is BPD, OCD, MDD) but my issues with dissociation and memory were included in my medical evidence and on my medical forms. my problems with dissociating and everything that comes with it (memory problems, lack of outside awareness, inability to focus/concentrate/etc) were the main focus of both my PIP and ESA forms, so i guess i can answer yes to your question of whether they acknowledge dissociation as a "valid" reason. i also included other symptoms to do with depression and anxiety.

my alters don't seem to have differing conditions, so i don't know how to advise you on that one. i didn't include anything to do with having alters in my forms at all, i focused on the other symptoms.

i would highly recommend that you get someone (e.g. social worker / support worker / care coordinator / etc) to help you phone to make a claim. you'll then receive a medical form. i'd then highly recommend you go to your local Citizens Advice Bureau to get help with filling the medical forms in. someone will sit down with you and either write in the form for you based off what you tell them, or they can help you fill it in yourself. you will need medical evidence from relevant people (GP, psychiatrist, CPN, etc). after you send the form off, you'll likely be called in for a medical assessment. they ask you about what was included in the form and go over the same questions (i.e. "on a given day, how well can you handle [task]"). you can bring someone with you to the assessment. after that they'll make a decision about your claim. if they reject your claim, you can appeal. if you have to appeal, i'd highly recommend going back to Citizens Advice as they can help with that process.

the focus has to be on how well you function, so stuff like preparing/eating food, washing, getting around outside, social interactions, etc. make sure you emphasise how it is on a bad day and use that as your standard. Citizens Advice can help you go through your symptoms and filter through what should and shouldn't be included on the form. sadly it's much more about meeting certain point thresholds than giving a fully well-rounded explanation of your condition(s), so it helps to have the help of someone who's filled in these kinds of forms before and knows what the DWP are "looking" for.

the benefits system is broken and a mess, but you can get help, you absolutely can. if you have a good medical/mental health professional supporting you and if you get Citizens Advice to help you with the forms, you should stand a good chance of getting help.

if you want to know specifics about what i put on my medical forms or more about the process of applying for PIP/ESA, please feel free to let me know.

ok thanks very much.

DID itself is not a disability. Persons with DID who are high functioning are, in general, not disabled and not eligible to receive public assistance.

So, to establish that you are disabled it might help for you have a formal diagnosis of DID but only if that diagnosis is in addition to documented disability. Disability as in unable to work, unable to drive safely, unable to live alone safely.

ESA states eligibility as whether you have "an illness, health condition, or disability" and "find it difficult or impossible to work". PIP states eligibility as whether you have issues with the following:

- preparing and cooking food
- eating and drinking
- managing your treatments
- washing and bathing
- managing toilet needs or incontinence
- dressing and undressing
- communicating with other people
- reading and understanding written information
- mixing with others
- making decisions about money
- planning a journey or following a route
- moving around

this is taken from the Citizens Advice official website. mental illness, if it affects your ability to function to the degree that working is difficult or impossible (ESA) and/or daily living and/or mobility is difficult to the degree that you would require help (PIP), is treated as valid criteria when applying for the above benefits.

you do not necessarily need a diagnosis, you simply need medical evidence (i.e. a letter from your GP) stating your symptoms. in the form itself, they ask what conditions you deal with and you're allowed to state "suspected [condition]" or something like "severe chronic dissociation", as an example. the symptoms you deal with are the important part, as long as you can describe it well enough it doesn't matter what diagnosis label it falls under, if any.

Just wanted to give you some advice, I'm a singleton but claim benefits primarily for AVPD as I can't work. They will attempt to sweep you under the rug if they can so play it cautious and record all phone calls and record your meeting. Make sure you let them know in advance that you will video record your face to face as they will turn you away on the day if you surprise them.
If you do have to go to tribunal its not as bad as you might think. I struggle with tribunals simply because it's one of my worst fears as someone with avpd in that I'm sitting in a room and everyone is actually judging me. But the judges themselves are nothing to do with esa or pip and so will actually look at you and actually care about you and will decide what you get on what you say and not what pip says.
It's stressful applying but worth the financial help.

ok we're already on them but at the time of assessment didn't understand we were more than one within and didn't understand the connection between autism and dissociation. If they wouldn't be interested in so much detail such as which alter did which job or had which part of the disability if it didn't fit their little checkboxes for what they had to look for, we won't bother then.