Hi, my name is Tegan! New to being disabled and my world is falling apart

Tegan

Hi, I’m new to being disabled and my world is falling apart. 

I am not yet diagnosed but went from having a normal life to being unable to walk without a mobility aud and having pain all over my body. Yesterday the company I have worked for, for 3 years told me I’m up for dismissal because I cannot drive and can not currently walk the 35 minute walk to work. If I’m not healed within the next 2 weeks I’m gone under under grounds of capability. 

sorry to ramble just needed to get it off my chest as I live alone and have no one to share with.

poppy123456

Hi,

My first thought is Access To Work, have you looked into this? This can help you get to and from work and have adaptions in the work place to help you to continue to work. This link will help explain everything, you'll need to click on the different links at the top to fully undertand what it's all about. https://www.gov.uk/access-to-work

janer1967

Hi and welcome to the community 

As poppy says access to work could provide a solution 

Could you use public transport or a taxi 

You should discuss options with your employer rather than accept dismissal if you can perform your job and transport is the only issue 

I empathise with you I had my leg amputated and with that came losing my work and an element of my independence 

I have years of experience as a hr manager so happy to help if I can 

Ross_Alumni

Hello @Tegan

Welcome to the community, good to see you join us.

I am sorry to hear that you are finding it hard to cope with your new disability, although it is quite normal for people to have a period of adaptation where it feels as though everything is a bit too much to handle. It's important to recognise that you will learn to live with your condition and develop new ways of doing certain tasks, it's about taking small steps and ensuring you have support in place from loved ones and health professionals.

Speaking of, are you currently in contact with your GP or other health professional? Are they assisting you with a diagnosis and helping you manage your conditions?

Regarding your employment, Access to Work is a good option to look into as mentioned above, you can read further information about it here on the Scope website. 

Tegan

Thank you for the replies. I have a disability bus pass, but its a 20 minute walk to the bus stop one end and another 20 minutes the other side, so would have done 40 minutes walking before I have even started work so fatigue would overwhelm me 

I looked at local taxi but they would not allow daily pre-books and with the time of day it would be peak time and I could not afford it.

I looked into access at work too, but it seems without a formal diagnosis of what my disability is I  cannot use this service.

I have recently had Virgin Home Care do a home visit and they are helping me with things so I can manage things at home. I purchased a rotator walker which arrived today so hopefully I can at least get to the corner shop for basics.

They have ruled out many possible diagnosis - I feel like Im in a permanent state of waiting but my employer doesn't seem to understand that there are waiting lists and a pandemic going on! My next appointment is with a Neurologist on 25th October. I have offered to work for home which I did for 8 weeks during lockdown but apparently my job role has changed (Im a purchaser office based) - I offered to do some half days training so I could catch a taxi in, then work from home but they said it wasn't acceptable. I have been there 3 years and one sign of disability and Im being kicked out! - Im on the ground floor, there is an access ramp and disabled bathroom but the will not allow me to even come in and train?!?! Madness!