The Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) defines a disabled person as someone who has a physical or mental impairment that has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on his or her ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities.
The DDA sets out the circumstances under which a person is 'disabled'. A person is considered to be disabled if:
- They have a mental or physical impairment
- The impairment has an adverse effect on their ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities
- The adverse effect is substantial and long-term (meaning it has lasted for 12 months, or is likely to last for more than 12 months or for the rest of the person's life).
DLA can be claimed for children up until the age of 16 - the award is based on whether the child
"requires substantially more guidance or supervision from another person than persons of his age in normal physical and mental health would require" for the mobility award and, regarding care needs,
"has requirements of a description mentioned in the condition substantially in excess of the normal requirements of persons of his age" - so problems with diabetic control or monitoring blood glucose would be more likely to lead to an award - depends on how substantial they are.
PIP is for post 16 and can be claimed whether you are in work or not, although your ability to work may have some bearing on your assessment. You must have a long-term health condition or disability and face difficulties with ‘daily living’ or getting around.
You must have had these difficulties for 3 months (at the date of claim) and expect them to last for at least 9 months.
You are assessed on 10 Daily Living Activities and 2 Mobility Activities. Some relate to physical problems and others to mental health and cognitive problems. You can score points if you need aids to help with activities (although the scoring on some activities is going to change from January 2017 regarding the use of aids - less points).
You telephone to make a claim and then are sent a form to complete. This is followed by a face to face assessment of your disabilities, then a decision is made. Although the form asks for details of your doctors and consultants they are unlikely to be contacted by the DWP so send in copies of any letters, tests and other evidence you want to be considered with the form - otherwise it will not be considered.
Once a decision is made you can ask for a mandatory reconsideration if you disagree - if you have any extra evidence now is the time to send it in.
If you still disagree after a mandatory reconsideration then you can appeal to the Tribunal - independent body who review the evidence and the law and decide if the DWP made the decision correctly. You can choose to attend or have it decided just on the papers. You are more likely to get a decision overturned if you attend. It's nerve wracking but the panel don't bite!
Hope this helps to clarify the process.
Daily living scores (until Jan 17) are here:
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2013/377/schedule/1/part/2/made
Mobility scores are here:
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2013/377/schedule/1/part/3/made
Edited: You need 8 points in Daily Living to get a standard award of PIP and 12 points to get the enhanced award. The same goes for Mobility.