SIR – After listening to Dame Tanni Grey-Thompson I would like to draw your attention to the following:

Disability Living Allowance is one of the least abused benefits – less than 0.5 per cent. It is also one of the most difficult to get. The claim form alone is 40 pages long. It requires medical, sometimes specialist and, in the case of learning difficulties, educational psychologists.

The people who are most threatened and fearful are those on “indefinite” DLA. These are people with a clearly-defined medical condition and are a small minority of the total.

Many of the people in the above point will not understand why they are being asked to reapply or be interviewed. Some with severe autism may even think they have done something wrong. This will mean their parents or carers may find things very difficult to manage behaviour.

I pose this – when does Down’s syndrome disappear? When does cerebral palsy or autism become cured?

Being carers or parents is sometimes a lifetime commitment and indeed saves the government, NHS and local authorities hundreds of millions of pounds.

I would like to emphasise I am talking about DLA alone.

Finally, I know that the benefits system needs overhauling, but not at the expense of the most vulnerable.

Barry Thorne, Harewood Road, Oakworth