Disability/ESA question

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Those who are on disability because of problems sustaining work, how did you do this? In England we have ESA, but it's normally for people with *diagnosed* (a diagnosis of which, especially for complex physical conditions, can be very difficult and long winded as I'm sure some of you living with complex physical conditions know) physical or mental conditions. Do yall have diagnosed conditions as well as autism, or did you just use the autism? Last time I checked, autism isn't enough to secure disability/ESA. For me personally I'm also reluctant to use it even if it was enough. This is because I'd feel like I was perpetrating the ableistic belief society has that people "suffer from" autism. I don't suffer from it, I suffer from ableistic society and employers.

As people in several online disability communities have relayed through the years, be it in UK or USA the only way to get on disability is to play the government's disability game by the government's disability rules.

One could say the "first rule of disability" is: No Diagnosis and No Documentation, well then, You get no disability.

You will need to find your government's rules for applying for disability.

Googling, how to apply for disability in UK, would be a good start.

As a number of people have found out, your feelings about the government's rules are meaningless, either you satisfy the government's rules exactly as written or you are guaranteed to get no disability.

Here in the US there are a number of people who apply, get rejected, appeal, finally get approved.
I want to remember that similar happens in UK as well.

The Two Most Important Things in applying for disability are, drum roll please, Diagnosis and Documentation.
1. What is/are the documented Diagnosis?
2. What Documentation is there about how that diagnosis prevents you from working?

Just keep in mind that you are dealing with hardnosed stingy accountants who work for an unfeeling monolith and you'll do fine.

Last edited by kitesandtrainsandcats on 20 Feb 2022, 1:15 am, edited 1 time in total.

When I got disability in the 2005-2009 period an autism diagnosis had not yet been given so we used the existing psych diagnosis & the obvious physical problems which had been developing for a few years and had taken a sharp turn for the worse.

I do remember the Judge at the appeal hearing in 2008, 2009, or so asked which caused more trouble with maintaining employment, the physical or the psychological?
At this point on the calendar I do not exactly remember what I said but want to think it was along the lines of that in function they were about even but eventually the stress from the physical problems becomes strong enough to be that proverbial final nail.

The terms for diagnosis and disability in the UK versus the US, are worlds apart?