Illiteracy - original cause vs ongoing cause? 

From what I understand it has been fairly well established that in order for PIP points to be awarded for illiteracy it has to have been caused by an underlying health condition, such as dyslexia, brain damage etc that has impeded the claimants ability to learn to read/write.

If it is difficult to evidence what originally caused the illiteracy, can we rely on what prevents the claimant from learning to read in present day?

In my current case, the argument would be that his alcohol dependency prevents sustained commitments, such as learning to read. He has been referred to Adult learning classes by the JCP in the past, but stopped attending.

The original cause appears to be a combination of behavioural issues at school, and possible dyslexia (identified by teacher), but I’m not aware of any diagnosis of the latter, so it would come down to a case of digging through old school/GP records. Can’t say I’ve ever had to go that far back (client in his 40s).

Dyslexia can be diagnosed as an adult, so is there anywhere local that does that.  Also the behavioural issues could be in gp records and does your client have ongoing mental health issues?
Your client can also provide evidence about their school history - ie any exams taken, what class they were in etc

Thanks Vonny.

Unfortunately a request for postponement to procure evidence was refused. Then on the other hand, my client was less than helpful during the hearing (not credible at all) so I doubt it would have made any meaningful difference.

Award continues at SRDL only, which I think he can be satisfied with.

At least kept SRDL
The bar of the level of reading is so low that people with even a documented history of even moderate to severe learning difficulties can struggle to be included in the descriptors despite low levels of real life functional literacy