Currently people who receive Incapacity Benefit (IB), Income Support (claimed because of a disability) and Severe Disability Allowance are being reassessed for a new benefit called Employment and Support Allowance (ESA).

Almost everyone claiming these old benefits will be reassessed, around 1.5 million people. The only people excluded from this process will be those who are due to reach state pension age by March 2014.

To be eligible for ESA, a person will first fill in an application form and will usually have to undergo a Work Capability Assessment (WCA). This is a face-to-face assessment with an independent healthcare professional, usually a doctor, nurse or other qualified person.

Sense is campaigning to ensure that:

• The assessment identifies the barriers to work faced by deafblind people, especially in relation to communication, mobility and access to information
• Written evidence from medical, social care and other specialist professionals is collected before any face-to-face assessment
• Deafblind people avoid having unnecessary face-to-face assessments where there is sufficient written evidence
• The face-to-face assessment is accessible to deafblind people
• Assessors have access to specific information and training on deafblindness

Tell us about your experience of the ESA assessment

We are keen to hear about the experiences of deafblind people as they are assessed for ESA.

We would like to follow people through the whole process from when they receive the first letter about this change to when they hear the decision following the assessment.

Please contact us if you are happy to share your experiences.