That's just mean.
I know it's another letter, but I think you need to complain to the manager and to send a copy with a covering letter to your MP. They do act on a letter from the MP.
Hi harissa
How disheartening for you. I agree with sparklinglime, do write another letter, copying in your MP. It is not fair that you should be made to feel like this.
However, this is their problem and I want to you push it to one side for the moment and enjoy your weekend. Meanwhile have you heard of http://www.deafparent.org.uk? I wonder if they can give you any support or advice on this issue?
Hi harissa
I will leave Sally C to answer your question as she is all clued up on all these things, hopefully she will be on the boards Monday or Tuesday.
Try not to worry too much, I won't change anything. I know it is easier said than done, but try and remember that.
Take Care of you :)
Thanks for that, harissa. I have to admit that I was interested to see that all the pressure groups think it could be detrimental to children to force both parents to work long hours.....the children of two-parent families apparently "deserve" to have a parent at home for them. Lone parents, on the other hand, do the work of two people and STILL "should" be going out to work :x
There is a popular misconception that work equals the escape from poverty. Not so: http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2009/feb/18/child-poverty-research
The recent Benefit Busters programmes showed us that some people are worse off in work. I do not think that this means the benefit system is too generous, more that the support given to those in work is inadequate
Hello elektra
Sally will be along to answer your query before long. it certainbly seems as if all of us are being given quite different information!
Hi lindsaygii
I haven't replied before becasue Sally C will usually reply on this thread, but I did want to say to you that on the positive side, you do get 80% of your childcare paid if you are on Working Tax Creidt (working 16+ hours a week), but on the negative side there are deposits to be paid and people with older children find that although they have more childcare expenses in the school hols, the childcare subsidy is spread through the year so the parent has to suddenly find a lot more money in the school holidays. So, yes, it's all about money......
That's tough indeed, linsdaygii. It must feel like you're banging your head against the proverbial brick wall.
By the way thanks for your contributions to the boards since you have joined, it is good to have you with us!
Hello harissa
Your WFI sounds an absolute nightmare, talk about ticking boxes! I am constantly amazed at your local office staff's complete lack of sensitivity in not considering your hearing difficulty and allergies when they conduct interviews or recommend different courses of action to you. As you say, so much has happened just lately that you just must be sick of it all. Have you managed to get the boiler repaired? What about the washer? You can get a budgeting Loan for a new one, as I am sure you know. Or could your ex=partner help at all?
I do think, however, that it is worth getting an appointment with your GP and spelling out the impasse you have reached. At the very least, whatever the lack of diagnosis may mean, the GP could confirm in wiritng that there are certain types of work that you are not able to undertake and environments that are detrimental to you. As for JSA in March, firstly try not to worry too much in advance and secondly even on JSA all the staff are doing is ticking boxes and I guess that the best course of action is to think about how we can get them ticking them. I understand you can continue to do voluntary work as long as the organisers appreciate that you may have to leave with little notice. Are there any courses of study available to you? What work could be done at home?I totally understand that you don't want to be thought of as unemployable (and indeed it is clear from your contributions on here that you have a great deal to offer) but if you could get onto ESA rather than JSA then there might be greater regard to health issues.
You can ask the school for an assessment with regard o a statement. It does not have to be via the GP. I think the issues you have recently had could well justify an assessment, irrespective of the work requirements.
Oh heck...
The educational psychologist who has seen my son since he was 5 says he has aspurger's/autism, while the psychologist at chams said she couldn't give his problems a label...
I'm just sorry you're facing all this harissa.
The whole system is a total minefield. How ridiculous to have to pretend your child has a disability in order to get any justice!...especially when they won't even accept that you have some health difficulties yourself. I expect you will be glad to see the back of 2009 harissa. Hope that you are going to be able to enjoy Christmas, despite all this. :)
That Benefit Busters program did indeed seem to focus excessively on emotional barriers and, in my experience, a lot of the back-to-work courses concentrate on confidence building and psychology!
My obstacle is something fairly unusual in that it is a combination of medical issues.
I have an underactive thyroid which went untreated for 10 years, during which time I became so ill, overweight, suffered constant pain, weakness, memory loss and exhaustion. I feel that I missed the job-boat when I was still in my prime and the job market was just that bit better. Finally I managed to get treatment in March 2008 and am astonished that I now feel human again. I do still have problems and am still undergoing medical monitoring and appointments with specialists in the hope of ironing out the residual symptoms. From a thyroid support online forum, it is clear that thyroid problems hinder many women's working ability. Stress can and does cause relapses for many. I know that certain types of stress do completely flatten me still.
My family was also unfortunate in being subjected to low level chronic carbon monoxide poisoning for 10 years. The long term consequences of this for me is that I am am now chemically sensitive to most industrial carpet cleaning solutions, fresh paint, bleach, petrol, creosote, air fresheners and many common personal care products. I have been known to collapse in buildings where I am exposed to these things for any length of time. This effectively rules out me being able to stay too long in the school (carpet cleaner), leisure centre (swimming pool fumes), industrial kitchens (chlorinated spray from industrial dish washer, surface cleaner) and even charity shops (airfreshener spray and washing detergent fumes). In fact any public space where there is a crowd of people wearing strong antiperspirant - lynx is the worst - causes a problem. I now have to carry an inhaler at all times in case! Even something as trivial as sitting next to a person reaking of cigarette fumes has made me ill. The day after an allergic exposure, I tend to swell up and be in pain all over.
Possibly as a consequence of the CO poisoning, I also lost my hearing in one ear and a lot of the hearing in the other quite suddenly in 2002. My ability to hear varies from day to day and depends on the environment, background noise and even air pressure! How I HATE noisy fans and air-conditioning systems! Some days I am totally dependant on my hearing aids though generally I prefer to rely on my residual natural hearing and just stand really close and attentively to whoever is talking - only one voice at a time mind! :o)
Being hard of hearing is quite a challenge at times. Ironically the brain compensates by unhelpfully making noise appear louder. It is disorientating and can cause a loss of balance. Engine noise from buses and the electronic beeps from supermarket tills can be absolutely excruciating for me. Apparently it is a condition called hyperacuasis and the only solution is to wear ear protectors to cut out the sound - fat lot of use that! I have a 30 minutes limit on noisy, rattley buses beyond which my hearing tends to pack up altogether though might return in a few hours if I'm lucky. So, I tend to go everywhere in a 1 and a half hour radius by bicycle, sticking to quiet paths rather than roads with noisy traffic. It would make commuting a bit of an obstacle course. At least cycling also reduces my exposure to perfumes and deodorants!
In the past year I am also noticing that I am get dizzy and nauseous in some public buildings and shops which never used to be a problem. The culprit, as I learned when I enquired at my local library (now parts of the upstairs are no-go areas for me. Dammit, I wanted to work there!) is the new energy saving lighting they have installed. It flashes at a different frequency to the previous lighting and creates a strobe effect which apparently only effects some people. One librarian admitted off the record that she now suffers migranes on a daily basis but didn't want to lose her job by making a fuss. How appalling! This lighting is being installed in many more places and so is likely to become quite an issue for me and I daresay other people too. I have energy saving bulbs at home but they do not strobe in the same way as the public lighting.
At home I have modified my environment and equipment around my "handicaps". Artificial smells, obviously, are banned. Redecoration is on hold for now, so the house looks a bit shabby unfortunately. I have a normal telephone but it has adjustable tone and volume and flashes when it rings. Likewise my doorbell and safety devices have flasher units attached. Importantly my floors are carpeted and act as accoustic dampeners. Since my hearing loss, I find large echoey spaces impossible, especially if there is background music playing. The voluntary jobs I have done have all been in buildings and environments which do not affect me adversely.
In a kind environment I am a NORMAL person and able to work effectively - it is brilliant! In fact my colleagues would have no idea that I am any different to them. In environments where there are problems, it is a different ball game - I become unable to concentrate, feel dizzy, weak and tired and even lose my hearing after a while. Worryingly it would force me to become sick and need sick leave - something I dread as I am, by nature, a hard-working conscientious person. As it is a physical problem and not a psychological one, merely changing how I think or feel simply does not help. I have learnt through trial and error how best to deal with it.
Before I apply for a job I am sure to visit the place first to check out the environment, and only then do I fill in the form. That means at an interview, I really only have to be upfront about the hearing loss and not scare the interviewer with all that other stuff as that shouldn't be an issue. It means I tend only to apply for jobs which I know will not make me ill but it does limit the field considerably. Before I became ill I had worked in a variety of positions inferior to my qualifications and skills. These jobs included school dinner lady, public buildings/leisure centre cleaner, hospital kitchen worker and canteen person and working in an insurance office (100 phone calls per day). So, I'm not fussy or proud! These job vacancies still come up and would fit in with school-life. Only problem is I can no longer work in those environments. Grrrr!
One thing which worries me a lot is being forced to do ANY available job. If I land in a "hostile" work environment it would not only compromise my hard-earned health but would also damage my reputation as a competent reliable worker. I am really scared of relapsing back to the extremely ill condition it has taken me so long to recover from. Likewise I do not want to be written off as disabled and unemployable when I know that I am not! The sort of help that I require at this stage, simply is not available as far as I can tell. Unless you know better...