I haven't dealt with Centrelink in this sort of capacity, but I did have a review successfully made in my favour for special child care benefit. The important thing is to connect the dots for them. So statements like X causes Y (where X is your symptom & Y is centrelink's criteria) work best. Also the supporting evidence is pretty important. The statements you have made in this letter would be much stronger if they were in a letter from your psychiatrist/psychologist. Plus a letter from your GP which would provide context like dates (eg I first saw Bumperstump in 2010, her condition deteriorated significantly in 2011, resulting in ...). Any medical certs or letters from that time will be helpful too. As it reads now, is based very much on your personal experience, but your psych may have other language for those same symptoms that better meets C criteria. And times & dates will provide stronger evidence than just describing your current state too.

ETA the irony in all of this is that the more debilitated you are, the less likely you are to be able to deal with all the frickkin paperwork that is needed. Do you have contact or access to anyone who works in the social work sphere who would be able to help you coordinate all of this?
I know, right?! I've never appealed before, simply because I couldn't cope with the process.

I agree, that's why I've used their impairment table and scoring system. Maybe I should send the letter to my psych and ask her to write her own letter, either as well, or with the info I've provided in it?

I haven't had anything to do with DSP either, but my first application for carers payment was turned down.

I was advised by a person in the centrelink office to appeal, so I did. This time I was specific about simple things. Not only costs of medication, pediatrician appointments & ot therapy, but how it all affected MY life. How it is hard to ask people to look after DD because of her meltdowns & activeness. Really just the simple things the person in the office won't think about, because they don't live it day to day.

The appeal worked & payment was backdated to when it was first lodged.
I'm actually fighting for 2 payments, DSP for me and Carer Allowance for Professor. I think the one letter will fix both, that's why I've been putting in how Professor has to help me. We worked out the other night that as of this fortnight, if even just the CA was approved and backdated, we'd get just under $3k That's why I'm still fighting! It's causing so much stress though :/

The psych only told me on Friday that she can organise a welfare officer to help me with the appeals. I was like AWESOME, coulda used that information 3 months ago!