Hi
Has anyone else had to complete one of these forms from ATOS for their partner?
Early onset dementia means that my wife, who is only 59, has lived in a nursing home for almost two years now. Meaningful communication with her is almost non-existent and she needs two people to help her with almost everything. She is unable to feed herself and is doubly incontinent. Her only income is the £25 or so per week that she is allowed from incapacity benefit as the rest goes towards paying for the home.
Now she has been sent this questionnaire to prove that she can't do some work. If it wasn't so tragic it would be laughable.
The address that it was sent to is the nursing home - how many people in nursing homes are capable of any work?
I've been trying to discover if there is an easy way to avoid having to answer all the stupid (in this case anyway) questions - surely just saying that she has early onset dementia and communication is all but impossible should be enough. Having to answer questions like: Can you lift at least one of you arms high enough to put something in your top pocket? seems to be an exercise in futility to me.
So far, the 'experts' at various places - Age UK, Alzheimer's Society, Jobcentre Plus while admitting that it is pointless say it all has to be completed. But no one will give any guidance as to how. I feel like writing: 'she has dementia and is unable to communicate or do anything for herself' in the first box and 'see answer to first question' in all the rest.
As if this crappy disease inflicting my lovely wife isn't enough, and then having her taken from our home so that other people can look after her isn't enough, we then have to justify every little thing to the nth degree. Don't any of these faceless, officials understand that we would love it if she had any capability to do anything approaching work? Instead of understanding, they want to look at seeing if they can take this little bit of money from her, not enough that she can no longer do her job that she used to enjoy and be good at that contributed towards the mortgage repayments that I now have to meet on my one salary instead of our two. But I have to keep her share of the property for her, which I obviously don't mind, but when I want some contribution towards getting a more reliable vehicle so that I can continue visiting her (the home is thirty miles from our house), I can't - not allowed to use her money for that.
Sorry, I'm feeling angry again. Ranting into the internet is helping no one, thank goodness for antidepressants. Ignore the previous paragraph.
Has anyone else had to complete one of these forms from ATOS for their partner?
Early onset dementia means that my wife, who is only 59, has lived in a nursing home for almost two years now. Meaningful communication with her is almost non-existent and she needs two people to help her with almost everything. She is unable to feed herself and is doubly incontinent. Her only income is the £25 or so per week that she is allowed from incapacity benefit as the rest goes towards paying for the home.
Now she has been sent this questionnaire to prove that she can't do some work. If it wasn't so tragic it would be laughable.
The address that it was sent to is the nursing home - how many people in nursing homes are capable of any work?
I've been trying to discover if there is an easy way to avoid having to answer all the stupid (in this case anyway) questions - surely just saying that she has early onset dementia and communication is all but impossible should be enough. Having to answer questions like: Can you lift at least one of you arms high enough to put something in your top pocket? seems to be an exercise in futility to me.
So far, the 'experts' at various places - Age UK, Alzheimer's Society, Jobcentre Plus while admitting that it is pointless say it all has to be completed. But no one will give any guidance as to how. I feel like writing: 'she has dementia and is unable to communicate or do anything for herself' in the first box and 'see answer to first question' in all the rest.
As if this crappy disease inflicting my lovely wife isn't enough, and then having her taken from our home so that other people can look after her isn't enough, we then have to justify every little thing to the nth degree. Don't any of these faceless, officials understand that we would love it if she had any capability to do anything approaching work? Instead of understanding, they want to look at seeing if they can take this little bit of money from her, not enough that she can no longer do her job that she used to enjoy and be good at that contributed towards the mortgage repayments that I now have to meet on my one salary instead of our two. But I have to keep her share of the property for her, which I obviously don't mind, but when I want some contribution towards getting a more reliable vehicle so that I can continue visiting her (the home is thirty miles from our house), I can't - not allowed to use her money for that.
Sorry, I'm feeling angry again. Ranting into the internet is helping no one, thank goodness for antidepressants. Ignore the previous paragraph.
