Now what help do I get? I got quite a bit. I contacted my local Disability Employment Advisor, which they, they're all connected to each Job Centre, I think it's now called the Department of Works and Pensions now actually, and I said to them “Look, I'm going back to work, is there any help that you can give me?”
And I think if you do that within the first six weeks, there is tons of help and the help I got with, was with equipment and what they did was they sent someone along to assess me, what, what actual needs I want, I had to have. One was getting around travel wise, the other one was with the equipment, like office equipment.
So they bought me a chair, I had a specially designed desk, my height, all bits and bobs I needed to for me to work at a computer, it was brilliant and, what they said to me was that if within the first year this job don't suit you, or your condition worsens, you can come back into the benefits systems and you don't have to start off at the bottom of the ladder, you go back at where you finished.
And I thought, that's really good, that put my mind at ease 'cos I thought, you know what it's like, you're thinking “Right, okay I'm well now” but the fear is “But what happens if this job don't suit me” 'cos in most jobs you're expected to work, you know, thirty odd, thirty five hours, forty hours a week and you're thinking “Well hang on a minute, I'm doing nothing and now I've got to go to thirty five hours” that can be too much and it's frightening, you know.
I always say to people, try and do a bit of voluntary work first so that it gives you, you know be a responsibility getting in and out the house and increase that say two or three days a week then, perhaps, do a part-time job, so you build up your confidence as you go along. |
