thanks for the offer, i may well take you up on it in the future :o) i think everyone i had in mind has got their cases sorted now though (after much wrangling, appeals, intervention from advocates and even local MPs - phew!). i dunno, i think the fact that the specialist mental health employment advice service in this area had its funding cut a couple of years ago left a lot of people up the swanney really - i don't know what kind of agency you were working for so you might not know this, but i'm not sure how much training DEAs receive in disability awareness? the feedback i've had isn't that great :o( (both from people with mental & physical health probs) it's heartening to know though that there's probably a few around who have been there & bought the t-shirt etc - if you need somone who has a true grasp of what disability is and how it's likely to affect you in the workplace, ask an expert! :o)