Cheated

It’s very subdued here. We were starting to feel in festive spirit. Somehow, between hearing of the death of Ellie & the news that it looks as though I shall have to go through the appeal process with my benefit, it has all gone. I know I’m feeling depressed. I suspect the Fox is too.

On Friday I got a phone call from Welfare Rights. I had contacted them about my uncertainties concerning the letter awarding me (Employment & Support Allowance). I explained my problems. By the end of the phone call, they said they would be posting information about the basis of an appeal & how to go about it. They reckoned that someone with my level of disability, entitled to my level of Disabled Living Allowance (DLA) should be in the Support group, not the Work Related group.

The man from the charity that helped me fill in the initial application form is due to be come on Wednesday. I shall wait to see what he says. Hopefully he will agree with Welfare Rights & undertake the appeal on my behalf. I certainly don’t feel in any state to undertake the ordeal of an appeal.

I feel cheated. That phone call I got from the Department of Works & Pensions told me I had won the award. Now I realise they did not say what level of award. As a result I was pre-programmed to assume I had got it to the level I hoped for & there would be no further difficulties. If I had not read the letter carefully - & many wouldn’t have done in the circumstances – it would have been too late to appeal. That has to be done within a month of the date of the confirming letter. I feel as though I’ve had something taken away from me. I felt so relieved & now the anguish of realising the truth of the situation & of gearing myself up for an appeal, seems all the worse, the depth of fall all the greater. I feel I have enough to worry about at the moment with my own health without this added pressure.