Making allowances

Bad form
Communication problems
Application and persistence
Questions for the minister
Help and info

Did you know that you might be able to claim Disability Living Allowance (DLA)? There are things you have to pay for just because you're deaf, right? So why not apply?

According to a survey by the Royal National Institute for Deaf people (RNID), only 9.7% of profoundly deaf adults receive DLA, compared with 30-70% of people with other disabilities.

VEE-TV set out to discover why.

Bad form

Daniella Hayes is an 18-year-old student from London. She didn't know she could apply for DLA until someone at her school told her. But when she got the forms from the Benefits Agency, they seemed really complicated.

'There were five different booklets I had to read through,' she says. 'I am profoundly deaf and BSL is my first language, so my English isn't fluent. I found the books very difficult to follow. There were so many questions and documents to read that it took me several hours to go through it all.'

Daniella isn't the only one. Duncan Rowley told us: 'When I looked at the form it was hard to read and understand because the language is so difficult. So I had to go to Social Services and get my parents to support me to fill in the form.'

In fact, according to the RNID survey, 93% of deaf claimants found the 37-page DLA form difficult and over two-thirds had to get help.

Another problem is that a lot of the questions don't apply to deaf people. 'They asked questions like "Can you dress yourself?", which of course I can,' Daniella says. 'The booklets looked like they were written for people with mobility disabilities.'

Communication problems

Duleep Allirajah explains what the RNID is campaigning for: 'We're asking for something very straightforward, and that is that every deaf person who needs help filling out that form should have that help provided by the Benefits Agency. At the moment, the form-completion service that the Benefits Agency provides is telephone-based, which is no use for deaf people. So we want a face-to-face service.'

Half of DLA claimants in the RNID survey said the Benefits Agency's ability to communicate with deaf people was 'less than satisfactory' or 'very poor'.

Filling out the form is not the only problem. Applicants have to demonstrate that they need communication support, which can be difficult. A statement from the British Deaf Association (BDA) explains: 'Doctors sometimes visit people at home and they often say that they can communicate with the deaf claimant, but this will be based on a few words or pointing to things – no real communication – but they tick the form stating that the deaf person can manage to communicate with anyone.'

In the RNID survey, 76% of deaf people who were assessed by a DLA doctor said that it was difficult to communicate with them.

Application and persistence

The BDA is also concerned that people don't realise they can appeal within four weeks of a negative decision, and that they're put off by the idea of the appeal and tribunal procedure. 'They think a tribunal is like a big court case and need to have someone explain exactly what is involved.'

Luckily, Daniella hasn't given up and is on her third application now.

Brian Lamb, RNID director of communications, told VEE-TV: 'The process of claiming DLA is failing deaf people... We want the government to take steps to ensure the DLA claims process is deaf- friendly.'

Questions for the minister

So what action is the government taking? VEE-TV presenter Nikki met Maria Eagle, the minister of state for disabled people. Maria said the government was providing deaf awareness training and disability awareness training to all their decision-makers.' On the subject of face- to-face help with the forms, she said: 'We do try to ensure that those who need assistance get it, and our Disability Benefit Centres have textphones. We'll try and make any arrangements necessary for interpreters. We usually need a bit of notice to get an interpreter, but we do try and do whatever we can to ensure that those who are filling in the forms or involved in the process get the help that they need.'

What about all those unnecessary questions? Perhaps the 'D' in DLA should stand for 'Deaf' instead of 'Disability'? 'I certainly don't think it would make our benefits system simpler if we started designing benefits around specific conditions in that way,' Maria Eagle says.

So, for now, the form will stay the same, but the government has said it will investigate making some improvements for deaf people. In the meantime, the RNID believes that deaf people should be encouraged to claim DLA, because as many as 130,000 deaf people may be missing out.

If you didn't know you could apply, if you've tried and failed or if you've just got something to say, go to the messageboard and get it off your chest! And check out the following sources of help and information.

Help and info

Disability
www.disability.gov.uk
Run by the Disability Unit in the Department for Work and Pensions.
Aims to help disabled people find out about their rights and about legislation designed to protect those rights.

Disability Living Allowance
www.dss.gov.uk/lifeevent/benefits/disability_liv_allowance.htm
Government website explaining what DLA is, who is eligible for it, how much you can expect to receive and how to claim.

DLA and Deaf People
www.rnid.org.uk/html/info_factsheets_benefits_
disability_allowance_and_deaf_people.htm
RNID factsheet about DLA and your rights.

DLA for Deaf Students
www.rnid.org.uk/html/info_factsheets_edu_benefits_
for_young_deaf_people_in_full_time_education.htm
RNID factsheet: if you are a young deaf person aged 16-18, you may be entitled to DLA even if you are still in full-time education.

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