Chris and Carole

Carole: I decided to apply on his behalf, because I was supporting him financially, 100%. We did it online to start with, which you’re allowed to do, but then they made him phone, which is one of the difficulties that he has with the communication. So, they made him phone them and then they started the process all over again, answering the same questions which were on the website, which also said that he had Asperger’s or high functioning autism but they didn’t take that into account. They made him talk on the phone, they wouldn’t speak to me. There wasn’t even a letter to say they’d stopped the benefit, they just kept writing asking for a medical certificate and now I’ve rung them and I’ve written to them and say, ‘We’ve sent you a diagnosis letter, what more do you want?’ They didn’t reply, there’s nothing on a personal level. There should be someone there, personal attending to it, rather than standard letters, because all we get is standard letters.

 
Chris: Being too sick to work, we said no to that. So, I didn’t actually see why a certificate was necessary at all.

 
Carole: I don’t think it was very helpful, having a face to face medical. That was a complete waste of time.

 
Chris: Which wasn’t even a medical.

Carole: It wasn’t a medical.

Chris: I’d say it was a bombardment of questions.

Carole: Right from day one, they’ve got to understand that that person has a disability in communicating and they must be trained to speak to that person correctly.