Chronic illness and employment

hELLO pETE,  i know it may sound silly, but have you asked at the jobcentre for "disabled" advice with a view to employment ??? Or perhaps your local CAB can help....An interesting post from you. If I think of anything cosmic, will come back with another reply. Just going to beat google to death, !!!

Regards, George.

Hi Pete, just read your post and reply by George.  Both myself and my daughter suffer from relatively similar autoimmune conditions, this has led us both into difficult work situations, as whilst employment is so difficult to come by anyhow, persuading an employer to keep you on when you suffer in this way is virtually impossible.  Our solution was following the advice of someone in our support group to register ourselves as self employed and seek agency work.  This can be flexible to both parties and whether you are able to work for one week, one month or one year at a time doesn't really matter.  The big negative here is that this reduces your ability considerably to claim support from the Dept of work and pensions in later life unless you maintain a healthy national insurance contribution.  As George has said I would strongly suggest that you obtain information from the job centre, as whilst being absolutely useless at finding new employment, they are very keen to give you information to make you go away.  I hope this helps in some way.  I am 54 and my daughter is 24, we were in completely diverse occupations, but this has been a fairly successful route for us, even though I have now taken early retirement.

Thank you both for your supportive messages, they were very helpful. Will certainly look into both suggestions... Haha enjoyed the accurate description of the jobcentre :D

All the best,

Pete

Interestingly the research shows that 46% percent of an autism group reported having relatives with rheumatoid (and coeliac) diseases, as compared to 26% of the controls.

 

Peter

It can be very hard to find the right job for you.  If you're still unemployed, you might find it useful to look into life coaching.  There are a number of websites that may be helpful - a quick google search for self life coaching comes up with a number of sites linking to the wheel of life, and SMART goal setting - you may even enjoy the journey.

Also, in your early 20s you may also find the student room uk site helpful and be able to link up with other people facing challenges similar to your own.

 

Pete, if you are in the UK, look into applying for PIP (Personal Independence Payments). This benefit is for people with disabilities - this includes medical conditions. Make sure you look at the supporting documentation when filling out the form, perhaps the Citizens Advice Bureau (CAB) can help. There is a good example of how to fill in the form from an ME sufferer's viewpoint but much of the information applies to anyone with a cronic health condition.

Hello Pete and everyone else.  George has a point, my condition (RPF) made me elligible for PIP, it is not means tested and you can still get it whilst you are working.  There are two components 'care' and 'mobility' which are assesed seperately, the application form is more complicated than Windows 10, but the  hospital department who trests you will have a Social Worker who will helpyou fill it out. I started on the lower rate and as my condition worsened moved to the higher rate when I had to retire, it doesn't affect any other benefit but parts of it are subject to income tax.  Higher rate mobility PIP gives free car tax too. Have a look here https://www.gov.uk/pip/overview . This also works very well alongside self employment which I posted an article on some time ago. Good luck.