I had a productive day yesterday. In the morning I was visited by a doctor from Atos who was assessing me for my PIP claim. I’ve been on indefinite DLA since 2005 and had the dreaded brown envelope telling me that was ending back in July and that I had to claim PIP from then on.
These assessments are generally negative and stressful, not only because the staff are either from Atos or Capita, who both have bad track records, but also because they focus on what you can’t do rather than what you can.
However, the lady who visited was lovely – warm and friendly and put me at ease within minutes. The assessment went well I think, though I won’t know until I get the decision.
In the afternoon I visited Sheffield College. Back in February I gained my level 1 certificate in BSL with Sense in Rotherham, but they don’t offer level 2. I signed up at Sheffield and am looking forward to continuing to learn this fascinating language. Like my first BSL tutor, the chap running this course is deaf and there will be no spoken language in class so this should be interesting.
The train journey to Sheffield was straightforward and on arrival I snapped this picture on my phone:
Which got a great response on Facebook. I was surprised as it was just a snap and I couldn’t actually see properly when I took it as the sun was in my eyes.
The train journey back after registering at the college was eventful – I had to get off the train at Meadowhall, just one stop before Rotherham, because there was a train stuck at Rotherham with a passenger waiting for an ambulance. This wasn’t a big issue as the next train to Rotherham arrived just a few minutes later so I was back on track.
It was nice to have had a day off work and to have managed to get stuff done without too many issues.
Journeys In Words And On Wheels 