iPod Dictates

Hello there, long time no read, I am currently testing out the free iPod app for Dragon NaturallySpeaking version 12 which works as a wireless microphone for the software.

I'm currently using both the app with the software to dictate this blog post. I'm quite impressed with it so far, but find that unless the room is completely quiet I need to hold the iPod quite close to my mouth to have it to translate accurately. Fortunately with my television muted I can place my iPod down on the table in front of me and talk normally.


On the health front I'm currently still struggling with the advancement of my disabilities, I am also currently under treatment for anaemia as well as the with the problems which are causing the foot swelling and foot pain I am currently having to live with. The doctor which I am attending believes that my veins are rupturing and leaking fluid which is accumulating on my feet and the fact that I am anaemic is making the problem 10 times worse.

Also the fact that I am coughing is greatly slowing down my being able to dictate this posting.

I am currently waiting to hear back the results of my second ESA 50 form which I completed and returned at the end of July. I was originally awarded two years of this benefit which the job centre advisor informed me of in November 2011 when I attended a work focused interview. I appealed against being placed in the work related activity group and won my appeal prior to be passed on to the independent appeal board when my case was reviewed at the head office of the DWP. I received a letter on 13 January 2012 saying my appeal had been closed and the decision had been changed to my favour.

I received no further communication from the DWP concerning my ESA claim until earlier this month when I received a letter which I should have received in April telling me my new rate of benefit at the beginning of the financial year. Two good things came from this brief letter, I had confirmation that I had been moved into the support group in April and would continue to receive benefit until early November 2012.

No information was provided about the second assessment which I had just been put through a month previous when I returned my second ESA form to ATOS health care. It has now been two months since I returned my second assessment form and I wait on tenterhooks for the result and decision of this assessment. I won't lie, I am worried sick everytime mail is delivered, and I dread the results of this assessment and having to possibly once again face another appeal.


No sane person, or disabled or ill person, would deny the need to be frequently reassessed for their eligibility to ill and disabled benefits. But to do so too often in too small a timeframe will not only have a detrimental effect on the ill or disabled person but it will naturally eventually cost the taxpayer are lot of unnecessary public money. Money which could be better spent elsewhere on public services and in other needed areas.

Also better use of actual medical records, most of which, from fully qualified NHS doctors and specialists could save a lot of time and money by providing medical evidence that can be used to either award or deny a claim more accurately.

Call me cynical but I believe that by ignoring the actual proven medical evidence provided by the actual doctors and specialists which deal with the claimant would result in most of those claimants being eligible for the benefits. I believe that the government knows this and this is why they prefer to solely rely on an obviously flawed computed based system.


Cynical I know but can you really blame me?

I dread the introduction of Personal Independence Payments when it comes then in 2013 to replace Disability Living Allowance as given the criteria I have already seen in the documents I will no longer be eligible for the higher rate, which is called the enhanced rate, as I am currently under DLA.

Also the fact that I could be facing yearly the assessments for both benefits in the future I am dreading the adverse effect this will not only have on my health but also on my mental well-being.