Mobilisation - the invisible hypothetical wheelchair

I will assume that if you are reading this you know in principle what it is about.  The WCA descriptor changes were surreptitiously introduced around March 2011 and since they came to light (they were not exactly well publicised for obvious reasons), I have been pursuing the justification and logic through a series of FoI requests to DWP.  The one I have in part reproduced here is available in full at where it can be downloaded as a zip file too.

http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/limited_capability_for_work_acti#incoming-253469

This extract is just my final annotation following DWP’s last “answer”.  They will say no more, so the request is closed, but I have a funny feeling this will crop up again . . . .

See also http://tia-junior.blogspot.com/2011/12/atos-hcp-or-dwp-dm-who-decides-what.html?showComment=1324999446974#c8712299517901923476 and the useful comments that have been added and for the supporting detail:

http://benefits.tcell.org.uk/forums/2011-ukut-449-aac-ce-1217-2011-whether-tribunal-right-assess-claimant-though-he-normally-used

 and

http://www.osscsc.gov.uk/Aspx/view.aspx?id=3364

Just a final annotation for anyone reading this FoI Request This is of course not the way you would like your responses summarised, but this EXACTLY your position on this matter. You state that the “Decision Makers role is only to make decisions on benefit matters, nothing else”, but at the same time they can along the way decide (despite having no medical training) that a claimant’s capability to work would be improved by being in a wheelchair.  As Iain Duncan-Smith has stated that working improves one’s overall well-being, it naturally follows that you feel that the person’s overall well-being would be enhanced by being in a wheelchair and that my GP may well have overlooked this opportunity when planning my recovery programme. Moreover, you can draw the same conclusion even though my GP has specifically advised against using a wheelchair and despite the far reaching consequences of your decision, you feel under no specific obligation to discuss it first even with me, let alone my GP. You can do this and still claim that you are not in any way interfering with my treatment, even though you may be completely contradicting my GP’s opinion.  If I follow his advice rather than yours, I immediately run the risk of removing my right to claim ESA.  If I attempt to follow your line of thinking, you will allow me no time to arrange the necessary wheelchair assessment etc.  For however long it takes me to arrange a wheelchair (assuming I pass the test), you leave me in limbo – no longer entitled to ESA and being unavailable to work, not entitled to JSA.  If I fail this assessment, you will not automatically reverse your decision and you will leave me high and dry with no ESA and no way of getting a job. You do not accept that there are any contradictions in your position and, to repeat, you can decide to do all of this without any form of medical training.