You may or may not have heard of the walk 20 metres rule in the news or on social media. Let me explain this for you. Once you have filled in the extremely lengthy form and listing everything that doesn’t work when applying for Personal Independence Payment (PIP), a form of support offered by the UK government, you then have to undertake an assessment to prove that things don’t work. Part of the assessment is to see how far you can walk. If you can walk one footstep more than 20 metres, you do not qualify for the higher level of mobility support from PIP.
It is not the greatest experience to undertake an assessment for PIP. You have someone pulling out your limbs (my limbs fought back), pushing you around to see if you fall over (which I did) and a walking test to see how far you are able to pull your body on that given day. And that’s after you fill in a rather lengthy booklet listing everything that doesn’t work, which is actually one of the most depressing things ever.
Some illnesses have good days and bad days, so if the assessment falls on a good day you may be able to walk more than 20 metres which puts you at a disadvantage because this would mean that you are not entitled to the level of support you need. If you are lucky enough to be having a bad day on the day of assessment, then you may have nothing to worry about.
MS is an illness where there are good days and bad days. For example, if someone has Relapsing and Remitting MS, they may have recently had a big relapse which has caused some difficulty with mobility, but with the help of the physiotherapist, they are now back on their feet and starting to get some strength back. It takes such a long time to get around to the assessment phase of the PIP application that the applicant may be at this stage however another relapse could be round the corner, the support from PIP is still needed.
Let’s put the 20 metre rule into perspective, 20 metres doesn’t get most people to their nearest bus stop. You can be using a walking stick or a walker but if you get one footstep over 20 metres, less support for you.
I am fortunate (?) enough to be a full-time wheelchair user so this rule does not apply to me however it does not sit right with me that someone with my condition does not receive the support that they need because they are able to walk a very short distance – around 30 footsteps. If you feel the same, and would like the government to know that you are unhappy with this rule too, there is a petition that you can add your signature to.
It’s important that we stand up for each other, to support one another when unfair treatment is happening. Please, sign the position and make someone’s life easier today. Visit this link:
You can tweet and mention this on Facebook using the hashtag #ScrapPIP20m
My take on life with MS 