Martin's Personal Independence

Hello, I’m Martin, I’m disabled and have started to recover from my life crashing. But my recovery is slow because I have been let down by the Government at every turn. Due to my age I'm running out of time.

I lost nearly everything by 2006 because my disability wasn’t diagnosed in time to help me cope; it's pernicious as it can look like other things; I often thought I was "just unlucky" or "no good", or it was like that for everyone.

DWP advisors suggested applying for DLA but because of how my disability affects my thinking, it seemed like saying “2+2=5”. I needed to be guided into it with careful explanations; instead they just said “OK, don't bother”.

I feel so let down. If only they had helped me understand how I could have got DLA! The PIP tribunal judges later on were understanding, but their hands were tied by the Law. PIP is much harder to get and if there is no direct help for a disability, they can’t award anything, even though money spent on overall improvements to a person’s situation would help.

Oher benefits for disabled people are only available if one has PIP. To this cruel and heartless government, merely being disabled isn't enough. They didn’t consider disabilities that have many subtle effects over a person’s entire life. It’s so unfair that if they had explained it properly I could have at least had DLA at the time and converting to PIP would be much easier.

So why do I ask for anything now? In a word, time.

At least now, I have a job and a bit of money. But not enough to pay off debts that with DLA would not have happened. Not enough to rebuild my life. Not enough to buy furniture, a deposit and rent in advance to have my independence. Not enough for specialist dating websites to find a similar partner, like someone I know like me but lucky enough to keep their job.

The housing department are as uncaring as the government; my constant anxiety and distress are only a “mild” medical need. If I had a bad leg they’d be bending over backwards to help me! Autism, apparently, isn’t severe enough even though it ruined my life and makes me suffer every day.

Now I have acquired some of the social and life skills that normal people take for granted and want as much of the rich and full life, the life that many other people have had at least had a fair chance at, as I can get from here.

But while I am still young enough to enjoy it. Yes, I have a job. And if I were 30 I wouldn't be bothering you with this. But at 50 I am running out of time.

At 50, "eventually" is too late.

So why £20191.49? A back-of-an-envelope calculation gives that as the amount of a typical PIP award of three years. It includes PIP standard rates for care and mobility, plus working tax credit and a small discount on car tax.

I could ask for enough to have the life I might have had, but that would be a lot and there are people worse off than me; I even donated to one or two myself, though only a few pounds, as that was all I had at the time.

So I'm asking only what the Government would give me if it weren’t so heartless. A fair chance to be back on my feet and independent again, debt-free and with enough money that I can pay my own way from then on.

I have always paid my own way, but this disability caught up with me and robbed me of that.

So I hope to be able to fend for myself in the future, but in order to do it before old age catches up with me, please help me to repair the damage of my past

Thank you for reading.


You must have many questions and I am putting together something more detailed that should answer the ones I can think of; it will include an edited version of the evidence submitted for my PIP appeal.

But whatever you do, please think of we who lost independence or never had it because we are "nearly normal" but not quite "normal enough"; we who are are disabled enough to struggle, but not disabled enough to get any help until our lives have collapsed or we have given them up, as some sadly have.