aids and adaptations for descriptor 9 (as of Dec 2012)

Does anyone know any case law on the meaning of adaptations in this context?  Is it in the sense of ‘adaptations in the home of a disabled person’, or is just generally the act of adapting to something. 

The client in the appeal I am just dealing with has said that they manage to avoid accidents by not eating, or by not eating certain foods when they know they have to go out. The Jobcentre submission says that this indicates a good level of understanding and control of their condition.  Other clients have said that they make sure they don’t go out until after they totally emptied their bowels, or skip or delay taking their medication. 

Although both of this methods seems quite workable if you just have one or two appointments a week, I don’t think this would not be practical if you had to go out every day.  Would these precautions amount to adaptations for the purpose of the descriptor?

(These are all HIV clients with diarrhoea as side effects of their meds, in case you were wondering about my client group).

That is arguably more of a conduct issue than an aids and adaptations one and even then I think a DM would be pushed to call it misconduct.  I suppose if there was a particular type of food that brought about incontinence and there were plenty of alternative foods available then a claimant who persisted with the offending food might bring himself within Reg 157(1)(c) ESA Regs.

The causes of incontinence aside, the issue of whether it’s reasonable to use pads and such like is one that will often be raised by the Department.  On that, see CE/4000/2012 which has recently gone onto the UT site.  That case springs to mind because I acted for the appellant in it.

Would it really be reasonable to expect someone not to eat before leaving the house, or indeed to avoid taking their medication (presumably retrovirals) so as to avoid faecal incontinence on a regular basis? How practical is it for someone to wait, potentially quite some time, to evacuate their bowels? It would all depend upon fact and degree, and leaves out the more complicated task of interpreting the word.