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baratronToday I have been filling in the paperwork regarding a) claiming money back from last year's Disabled Students Allowance, and b) getting it for next year. Claiming money back is ridiculously tedious, because I haven't been able to set up an account whereby a taxi firm invoices Student Finance England directly, due to living in Kingston and going to university in Bloomsbury, and having an electric wheelchair. Apparently none of the taxi firms who can invoice SFE directly can deal with the fact I live "so far" away from College, even though I only ever get taxis to and from Waterloo station anyway.
And filling in the DSA form is stressful because SFE are stupid, and you have to fill in a new DSA form every year as if you've never received it before - with all the details and documentary evidence. This is Hard, and I would like congratulations for getting it done.
Having procrastinated that all day, I finally got round to downloading the form to apply for Disability Living Allowance. I have been entitled to this for years, but have never got round to applying for it because of the fact that they reject 90% of applicants first time and you have to go to an appeal - and I don't have the spoons for that. Currently I am broke enough to overcome both my middle-class Fear of Benefits and my gut feeling that I shouldn't get DLA because I have a husband with a good job. Oddly, filling in the Disability Living Allowance form is easier than the Disabled Students Allowance form, since they ask you lots of questions rather than the vague "Please give full details and provide evidence of your disability, mental health condition or specific learning difficulty." Also there are lots of large boxes for you to write mini-essays in, which helps with a severely fluctuating condition like mine.
And I've booked an appointment with the person at the Students Union who does legal and benefits advice.
Now I am eating "chocolate cheesecake cake", which appears to be chocolate cake, with cheesecake-flavoured icing, chocolate chips, and bits of biscuit like the base of a cheesecake, while debating whether or not to wash my hair (which is even more likely to crawl off my head at any moment) before bed.
And filling in the DSA form is stressful because SFE are stupid, and you have to fill in a new DSA form every year as if you've never received it before - with all the details and documentary evidence. This is Hard, and I would like congratulations for getting it done.
Having procrastinated that all day, I finally got round to downloading the form to apply for Disability Living Allowance. I have been entitled to this for years, but have never got round to applying for it because of the fact that they reject 90% of applicants first time and you have to go to an appeal - and I don't have the spoons for that. Currently I am broke enough to overcome both my middle-class Fear of Benefits and my gut feeling that I shouldn't get DLA because I have a husband with a good job. Oddly, filling in the Disability Living Allowance form is easier than the Disabled Students Allowance form, since they ask you lots of questions rather than the vague "Please give full details and provide evidence of your disability, mental health condition or specific learning difficulty." Also there are lots of large boxes for you to write mini-essays in, which helps with a severely fluctuating condition like mine.
And I've booked an appointment with the person at the Students Union who does legal and benefits advice.
Now I am eating "chocolate cheesecake cake", which appears to be chocolate cake, with cheesecake-flavoured icing, chocolate chips, and bits of biscuit like the base of a cheesecake, while debating whether or not to wash my hair (which is even more likely to crawl off my head at any moment) before bed.