i have a client who suffers from epilepsy,asthma,LVH.and is waiting to go to appeal having been turned down for dla, on the grounds of:Mr__becomes breathless after walking for a few minutes. i consider that he could walk a reasonable distance in that time,stopping to rest and usre his inhaler as needed. he is not virtually unable to walk. he prefers to have someone with him when outside for reassurance in case he has an epilectic seizure or chest pain,but this is not a need for guidence or supervision. medical evidence indicates that mr___epilepsey is controlled by his medication,and that he is able to self-care and get around unaided.he has normal insight and awereness of danger. i accept he may need supervision when having an epileptic attack, however,continual supervision is not required. i am unable to award any rate of benefit for mr____. any help on this please.

Dept has to consider the walking ability before severe discomfort. Would chest pain and breathlesness not count for this? would look at the dist that the client can walk before he becomes short of breath and how long it takes for him to recover. With regards to epilepsy you would need to find out which type it is. Also looking at the pattern and freq of these attacks how he feels after the attack. He may come round quickly but many suffers needs help for hrs afterwards because of weakness and confusion and will need someone to keep an eye on them at this time.Due to the fact that his condition is controled by his medication it may be difficult to over come this but it could still be worth going to the appeal and see the detail within GP notes.

his epilepsy is controled to a point but not totally by his medication,he still has unpredictable attacks, having seen his gp's report to the dla,which was not very helpful to his claim mr___staited that the gp who wrote the report is not his normal gp but some one that he has seen only twice before and therefore does not know my client well enough to actualy have writen it or make asumptions eg:she wrote ("i am not able to predict prognosis but i feel").i have advised him to write a letter to his own gp and to try to support his claim for dla,failing this i will make a point of this at the hearing.

Commissioners Decision R(M) 1/83 deals with mobility and breathlessness.

You'll find alot of help in Bonner if you have a copy, has lots of useful commentary and commissioners decision for just the scenario you have described.