The medical doctor who came to my home to do a Department of Works and Pensions assessment for DLA (Disability Living Allowance) in the UK, marked 0 points on every section of the form, and wrote on every section, 'significant disability unlikely'. I had the assessment at home because my GP had written a letter to say I am too ill to travel to an assessment centre and sit in a chair for the interview.
Because of his judgement, and the lack of detail in the doctor's letter they had received, as well as the fact that my consultant at the pain clinic 'doesn't do DWP letters at all' and because of the nature of my illness, I had a rough time.
I had to appeal and face a tribunal hearing which took place many months later in a building which was not equipped for disabled people. There was nowhere to sit or hold onto in the long polished corridors, a buzzer above my line of sight so that I was left standing leaning on the building in the cold waiting for my friend to park the car several blocks away before I could even go inside, as I was too short to see the tiny labels that show which buzzer to ring. There was a lift without handrails of any kind, and no signs in the corridors--only a signs inside the room, which could be seen through a small window in the door, so we had to try more than one floor and then walk the wrong way first to determine which was the proper room by process of elimination. This, I assume is for security reasons. Too bad it is a place where disabled people have to go to prove they are disabled! There were only lightly padded armless straight chairs in the waiting room. and straight chairs in the hearing room which had wooden arms on them. As I had been house bound for over two years and unable to walk without leaning on my walls and furniture, too unsteady and unpredictable in my balance to feel safe not to trip over a walking stick, and not having got any help with other aids to that point, I had to make my way in this building by holding onto polished marble walls and tables, taking a few precarious steps between gaps.
At the tribunal hearing, I was verbally abused and many things insinuated about my statements, especially by the doctor on the panel of three (which consisted of one legal person, one doctor, and one representative of the DWP.) For example: one of them asked, "If we had had a Big Brother camera outside your building during the last year, what would we have seen?" When I explained that most mornings I am in a state of pain and exhaustion near paralysis or actual paralysis and cannot get up to go to the toilet or get anything to eat for at least two hours, I was asked "So, are you able to get out of bed? Yes, or No?" Of course I repeated what I had just said. They reminded me that on the part of the form where it asked if I needed a hand rail or someone to get me out of bed, I said NO. When I had filled out that form with the help of a 'benefits advisor' who simply asked the questions and hurried me along, I'd thought about it and decided that a hand rail or someone to prompt me would be useless if I am physically unable to get up. That was my reason for the NO reply to that question. But they kept asking me "Yes or No?" I could not answer, as it depends on whether I am in this state or a better one. At one point, the doctor asked me in a voice full of sarcasm and anger, "What do you want from us, to go to your house and carry you about and put food into your mouth?" I honestly believed I might be in a nightmare and would wake up from this ordeal. I'd taken my only friend with me. She left the room in tears, and I felt even more alone. When she came back they actually asked her why she had left! After browbeating me for keeping them there more than an hour (All I had done was answer their questions) and telling me that it was my fault the next person scheduled after me had to be sent home as they were already at the end of their day, they let me go. I had been slumped in the chair most of the time, a position which, the doctor implied, was one of avoidance of looking at her during her questioning. It was the most horrific experience of my life. Two days afterward, I got a letter telling me I had been granted the low level rate of care and mobility benefit.
This was not the only time I've been accused of faking illness, but it was the worst.