All Change! (Part One)

Well I hadn’t planned for my follow up instalment to take quite so long to materialise but unfortunately there has been rather a lot going on that has kept me away from my keyboard. As with everything there’s a long version and a short version of events but this would be a pretty rubbish post if I just went with the short version so I’m going to try not to bore you all with too much waffle and break this epic down into bite size chunks over the next few days.

One of the main things that happened is that I have moved house from my tiny little first floor flat in Essex, just 30 minutes from London, to a larger ground floor place in a sleepy market town in Shropshire, just a five minute hobble from my parents. Oh, I hear you cry, that must be lovely, rural bliss in the bosom of your family! Well you’d think so wouldn’t you? But in truth, while I love my family dearly, my new flat is really lovely and much more suitable for my needs, this move wasn’t really my choice. I’m sure that in time I will adjust, settle and probably be very happy but while I’m waiting for my happy ending I have to get my head round the circumstances that got me here and deal with all the other consequences of that life changing event.

It all started with a letter. 

Back in early October last year I received a letter from the villain of this piece, the DWP, stating that my claim for Disability Living Allowance (DLA) was due to end in February 2016 but as the government were making huge changes to the benefits system I would not be able to renew my claim.

Instead I would need to reapply for the new Personal Independence Payment (PIP) that is replacing DLA. At this point I should mention that I had been claiming DLA for a number of years with the higher rate mobility component and low rate care component. After moving from London to Essex in 2010 I finally plucked up the courage and got my driving licence (mainly out of necessity as accessible transport is not a big thing in Essex and in order to have any semblance of independence I really needed to be able to drive) and with my shiny new license I used the mobility element of my DLA to reclaim my mobility with a car leased through the motability scheme. This car totally changed my life. Suddenly after years of having to rely on others to get me to hospital appointments, supermarkets and everywhere else I could now get to places myself, this newly rediscovered freedom had a huge effect on me. I started to get my confidence back after years of feeling dependant and isolated, I finally started to feel  like myself again, believing that maybe I did still have something to offer the world. 

Now back to the story so far, I had heard plenty of unpleasant murmurings about this new PIP benefit, but I tried to silence the alarm bells and stop the panic as I followed the instructions in the letter to begin my claim for Personal Independence Payments, naively believing that PIP was designed to live up to its name and help me maintain my independence. 

To be continued...