Posted by Meri-Tuuli on May 14, 2006, at 16:27:45
In reply to Re: Anyone here claimed incapacity benefit? » Meri-Tuuli, posted by NikkiT2 on May 14, 2006, at 15:39:02
Well its good from the sound of things that your friend got DLA! Man, I can't believe its so hard to get!! And what exactly do we pay taxes for?? Well, depression can be very very severly debehiliating (sorry my spelling's off!). It angers me that they don't take it seriously enough. I guess they're trying to have as little people as possible meet the criteria, but still. But then, I guess its hard to gauge the line of where depression becomes a disibility. I mean, I'm just begining to accept that I will struggle with it for the rest of my life! Hmmm.
> DLA is notoriously difficult to get for non-physical disabilities. An advocate (from somewhere like PALS, or CAB) would be able to guide you through the form (heck, I completely failed at this!) and also help you appeal when they say no (they *always* do.. *always*!).
>
> I understand your situation. When I was off sick, for the first year I was still legally employed by my company, but had used up all my sick pay, so I couldn't claim *anything* from the government, as my partner earned over the threshhold.. yet, he didn't support me financially what so ever.. so I had to live on credit cards and over drafts and loans paying off each other for a year, and ran up huge debts.Wow, I'm soo sorry that sounds pretty bad. But then, if you weren't sharing your finances I would argue that you weren't living 'as a married couple' which is the criteria of 'partner' in this sense isn't it? I don't know. I mean, you could be roommates or flatmates.
Yeah its really not very fair the system, particulary when it comes to mental illness, plus they seem to view depression as not 'serious' like schzioprehnia, or bipolar.
BTW my mother used to be one of those volunteers at the CAB. Not sure I could take advice from her you know. Although she does know her stuff. Might be abit outdated as she's lived in Finland for the last couple of years (she's finnish).
Anyway....
Take care
Kind regards
Meri
poster:Meri-Tuuli
thread:643904
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20060513/msgs/643970.html