Thanks for your reply Margie.
We do use part of the Court of Appeal's decision in Fairey, that extra effort required to initiate or conduct two way communication with a deaf person could constitute qualifying attention for the care component. There have also been a number of Commsrs decisions on this issue which we use. I was looking for CDLA/8216/1995 in particular as it is referred to in a submission by a former colleague, and also in some training literature provided by the Newcastle Welfare Rights Service in 2002, and it is the only decision that I have not been able to obtain the full text of.
With regards to your points re. guidance for the mob component, the issue addressed in CDLA/14307/96 by Comm. Goodman about deaf claimants and guidance was clarified by R(DLA)4/01 which is now the leading decision on this issue.
A summary of the relevant caselaw on deafness and DLA/AA can be found in RNID's factsheet "Challenging Disability Living Allowance and Attendance Allowance Decisions" which is available on our website at www.rnid.org.uk.
If anyone does have/could point me to the full decision of CDLA/8216/1995 the request still stands, though I've just had a brainwave and will try the Newcastle Welfare Rights Service too!
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