disability living allowance (dla) & agoraphobia

[gary_2.0]

My neighbour (whos daughter gets dla for epilepsy) has told me that you can claim for the cost towards a gardener in the summer, and her daughter can get a free travel pass for buses and trains, funny thing is she has no problems going out all weekend clubbing it and has frequent visits to Theme parks where she goes on all the rides, seems the system is so unfair !

- There will always be those who know how to work the system. There's a lot of money to be made out of Government 'hand-outs'. Some businesses positively thrive on them and possibly wouldn't exist otherwise.


Glad you've made progress though. Sounds like you've got a pretty good grasp on things. Even when one knows what to write it can still be quite arduous.

Good luck Christine

[Angel64]

Hi, I feel the problem is with me is that I look so 'normal'.

I was chatting to a lady with a walking stick yesterday and she was so shocked to realise that I had a 'disability'. I was dressed in clean clothes, hair brushed even a little lippy !! and when I explained that my car was parked across the road and I had problems on a saturday because the parking was worse than midweek and I only felt safe when parked within sight of the car, she said "but you don't look like you have a single worry in the world".

How deceptive looks can be !! She obviously was unaware of my jelly legs and my heart that was trying to jump out of my chest lol.

Christine xx

[gary_2.0]

Hi, I feel the problem is with me is that I look so 'normal'.

I was chatting to a lady with a walking stick yesterday and she was so shocked to realise that I had a 'disability'. I was dressed in clean clothes, hair brushed even a little lippy !! and when I explained that my car was parked across the road and I had problems on a saturday because the parking was worse than midweek and I only felt safe when parked within sight of the car, she said "but you don't look like you have a single worry in the world".

How deceptive looks can be !! She obviously was unaware of my jelly legs and my heart that was trying to jump out of my chest lol.

Christine xx

Yup, that's one of the biggest misconceptions for those without personal experience of mental illness in that often it can be 'invisible'. It's as the old cliche goes, 'If I had a broken leg in plaster there would be nothing to explain'.

Like everything in life it's a question of education. Of evolution. We'll get there. Eventually.

One thing I will add on a personal note though is that I'm not really happy with this division between Metal and Phsyical ilness. After all the brain is physical mass too.

[Trixie]

My daughter suffers from OCD, agoraphobia, social paranoia, depression and anxiety etc.

She never leaves the house, she get mobility allowance and the middle rate of the care component also she gets incapacity benefit.

She is 23 and was going to be a architect before she was taken ill.