Disability Living Allowance (UK)

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Does anyone here get DLA for Aspergers?

I'm not in the UK but in Ireland you can get it, if you've little or no income and produce the relevant documents/satisfy the requirements you get a weekly allowance plus free bus and rail travel.

Yes, and a piss poor pittance it is as well. I was on it before my diagnosis. I reapplied for it just afterwards, and they had the nerve and temerity to tell me that they decided they ahd been paying me too much for the past 3 years, but that now they had my diagnosis, I was receiving exactly the right amount for having AS, so they wouldnt expect a refund. Its come to my attention that having a LIFELONG INCURABLE pervasive developmental disorder and neurological impairment is worth less (according to the state) than totally curable depression. (Despite the fact that depression goes hand in hand with AS.) Mind you, these are the same people who decided that you cant get a disabled parking badge if you only have one leg because you arent disabled enough. (No kidding, thats a genuine case.) After trying to deal with Doncaster mental health services and the Department of Work and Pensions (I dont work and I'm not a pensioner so why am I on their books, the misnamed f*cks, SS was a much more accurate name...) I've long since decided that the NTs who run these departments are the "ret*d happy morons who shout at plastic hammers for fun" (I know an autistic little girl who does that, and loves every minute of it). If only the Lunatics WERE running the asylum.. it would be faster, more efficient, and make some kind of sense, and we might actually GET PAID.

AFAIAA, there is no hard and fast rule on DLA for ASD and rightly so. They assess every claim individually and the level of DLA paid (if any at all) will be very closely linked to how high functioning you are and if there are any other conditions present e.g. depression etc. If you have been to university or held jobs before then I doubt that they would be likely to pay out DLA at all so if you were out of work it would probably mean applying for JSA.

Seeing as one of the main characterising features of AS is that it is a high functioning form of Autism, I can't imagine that many Aspergians get DLA unless it is for another disability whether related or not.

Some do - just on low/medium level.

It is a recognised condition which warrants its own allowance. Regardless of being high-function. Just because you are able to communicate or calculate really big numbers (just examples), does not mean you don't have a right to help.

And yeah.. Macbeth's doctor referred him as an OAP.. bloody NHS.

i get DLA, i watch my mum fill in that questionare/form thing.
some of the quetions are quite personal and embarassing

hi soph!
u ok?

I would bet that the ones who get it are either particularly low functioning or have other conditions as well which make them entitled.

I mean after all, most people with AS are capable of working and although most people with AS have difficulties with various things (e.g. social) most of these difficulties don't require that they have to buy special equipment or mean that they need round the clock nursing or anything like that.

In the US its called a "crazy check".

I disagree with that entirely. Why should someone deserve extra money just because they have a 'recognised condition'?

The whole point of DLA is that people who have disabilities that stop them working or create extra cost for them (e.g. nursing, mobility equipment etc.) get paid to cover those costs. If someone has AS but is able to work (even if it is more difficult for them then other people) then why the hell should they be entitled to money?

I mean take Bill Gates for example, it is often speculated that he has AS. If he were to get diagnosed, do you think he would be entitled to welfare?

The point of National Insurance is that it is a form of insurance; it is meant to indemnify people against costs, not give them a pat on the back in the form of money because they have a 'recognised condition'

Last edited by JakeG on 04 Jun 2007, 12:00 pm, edited 1 time in total.

My mum has to do a lot for me. I can't be left at home on my own overnight and have to be dropped off at university every day.

Its bad enough when someone else does the form for you. Its even more cheek reddening when you have to answer it yourself. Sadly the DLA forms are canted towards physical disability, hence all the questions about being able to get out of chairs and the ludicrous detail they go into about going to the toilet. No such detail in the psychologically driven questions I notice. The basic fact that someone might not be able to get out of a chair unassisted because they have a pathological fear of carpets seems to have evaded them completely. Another issue that has become evident is fluency of language and other aspects of high function disability. The more coherent you are in answering a question (be it to a doctor or on a DLA form) the less disabled you appear. I am a writer. I have what I hope is a reasonably good grasp of the english language, and an extensive lexicon. Thusly, I dont "sound" disabled. If I filled in DLA forms in crayon "lyk I are a ret*d whu carnt speel n I like sheeps and I are sikk" then I would probably do much better.

(And Im NOT a pensioner, nor do i look like one. Im 29 ffs (( )

Last edited by Macbeth on 04 Jun 2007, 11:58 am, edited 1 time in total.

Because it is difficult to do the "normal" things "normal" ppl do. I know I wouldn't be able to get a high-paying job on interview alone, because I freeze up and end up saying something stupid under stress. Or I go into a fit. It's happened before. It's not my fault.. so why should I have to go without even a little bit of welfare?

Yes, I want to be able to get a job so that the money I have is my money and not my family's etc. But I can't. There is no job I could do at my age without making a complete mess of it. I'd end up having some kind of breakdown or something.

But if you didn't have your mum to look after you, you would have to and I am sure you would be able to get into university alone.

If you have difficulties with these tasks, I bet that the cause isn't AS but rather another associated condition such as social anxiety; in which case my point holds.

JakeG, may I ask what your interpretation of Asperger Syndrome is?