What counts as disability?

rogerblack

Claiming DLA is quite irrelevant.
You need to tell your employer about your condition.
If you don't, then you can't claim discrimination on the grounds of disability, as I understand it.
They have to make 'reasonable' adjustments to the workplace.
(Funding for some of this may be available through 'access to work'.)

Reasonable does not mean 'any'.
They can still fire you, if you can't do the job, and they have made reasonable attempts to accommodate you.

It sounds extremely unlikely you can claim DLA with success.

On a silly suggestion that's unrelated to this - try washing up in warm water, with more detergent.
I find it's almost as effective.

Olokia

rogerblack wrote: »

You need to tell your employer about your condition.
If you don't, then you can't claim discrimination on the grounds of disability, as I understand it.
They have to make 'reasonable' adjustments to the workplace.
(Funding for some of this may be available through 'access to work'.)

Reasonable does not mean 'any'.
They can still fire you, if you can't do the job, and they have made reasonable attempts to accommodate you.

Thanks,

They do know, I told them as soon as I was diagnosed.

They don't need to make adjustments as its a desk job and I am ok sitting here if I feel well that day. I am worrying about the amount I am taking off when I feel ill, which at the moment is quite frequent.

eighties_girl

intranicity wrote: »

To young to be disabled/not looking disabled.

I get odd looks all the time, I'm 45, drive a nice car and park in Blue Badge bays. I don't use a wheelchair either but it does annoy me that people abuse the bays, especially at supermarkets, It would be great if Tesco's and the others actually policed these bays.

Luckily, when people see my blue badge, and I explain that I'm a War Pensioner, with a spinal injury, and the fact I don't use a stick is because it cause's me more pain and I can afford a new car because I get it on War Pensioners mobility supplement, they normally look sheepish and wish me a good day.

I've been asked on several occasions by traffic wardens to see the photo on my badge (Which I wish they would do far more often, to the 'Old' disabled as well as the young......

Only real problem I had was when a Community Support Officer said that there had been a complaint that I shouldn't have/be using my Blue Badge, after showing her my photo and explaining, she turned to her collegue and said "Oh, he has a Blue Badge and theirs nothing we can do!!!" I wasn't very amused :mad: by this and pointed out that didn't she mean, "Thanks for your help Sir and have a good day....."

THERE IS FAR TO MUCH ABUSE OF THE SYSTEM and it does need policing, but it also needs to be polite when you are disabled!!!

Do you know my husband has chronic arthritis of the spine and also neuropathy. He is 50 and he also gets funny looks and comments as he also does not use a stick. When he cannot manage to get out of the car at the supermarket he sits and watches other people. and he gets really mad also at people that practically runs into the supermarkets. He also says that they ought to be policed aswell.:mad:

eighties_girl

eighties_girl wrote: »

Do you know my husband has chronic arthritis of the spine and also neuropathy. He is 50 and he also gets funny looks and comments as he also does not use a stick. When he cannot manage to get out of the car at the supermarket he sits and watches other people. and he gets really mad also at people that practically runs into the supermarkets. He also says that they ought to be policed aswell.:mad:

I mean under his breath get mad not at other people lol.

Olokia

Thanks for the advice about my work.

Turns out it doesn't matter anyway. Of the 30 people working at my work, 25 are being made redundant and the last 5 will probably be soon after. (I am one of the 5).

Melllvar

on the subjet of disable parking the co op supermarket imformed me when contacted thier customer servies dept
"It was up to customer’s moral conciseness if they parked in a disabled bay when they are not."!!!
I found very disappointing! as they are always stating their ethical stand point!
When the other major super market’s are in effect enforce bays so they are able to be used bydisabled persons.
they dont even diplay a sign just Fade lines on the tarmac ( egremont cumbria co op)

Bigmoney2

eighties_girl wrote: »

Do you know my husband has chronic arthritis of the spine and also neuropathy. He is 50 and he also gets funny looks and comments as he also does not use a stick. When he cannot manage to get out of the car at the supermarket he sits and watches other people. and he gets really mad also at people that practically runs into the supermarkets. He also says that they ought to be policed aswell.:mad:

Maybe they have continence problems and are running to the toilet.

babushkava

Well, Olokia, I have Ehlers-Danlos too and find it odd that all the definitions of disability don't even touch on hypermobility syndrome. People do not generally understand that it is at least as troublesome to be over-mobile as to have limited mobility. For example, I can't stand in a queue for more than about 5 minutes, because my spine will buckle painfully and it will remain painful for 24 hours or more. So that's airports, railways and most supermarkets out of the question. Then carrying stuff, OK if it's two well-balanced light bags of four pounds weight, for a few minutes, not a problem. But no suitcases, heavy carrier bags, backpacks or electric drills. Then there is bending, one careful bend is OK, eg to get milk out of the fridge. A physio told me 9 bends a day, maximum. But sometimes on the second time of bending, my spine buckles and I am 24 hours in pain, tablets or not. I could not live alone, as my walking tolerance is about ten minutes and the challenge of shopping, which would have to be daily, because of weight limits for carrying, would be likely to trigger a spinal buckle if there was a wait in the shop at all, or nowhere to sit down. If I stretch upwards, without planning the distance, that's my back into spasm. There are so many normal activities I can't do and places that I cannot go. I would like a blue badge, so that I could park a couple of minutes from the shops and this would give me some extra minutes to collect items in the shop. It would also mean that I could make several trips back to the car, rest and then return to the shop. But I can walk more than 50 yards without a stick, probably about 100 yards, on a better day, I wonder why there is no scope to help people like us?

sweetiex

having read through a few of these posts theres too many pages on this thread to read them all,i can definitely relate to the issues with disabled parking bays,also the ignorance of the older generation who think because they are old they are more entitled to use these,i used to let these kind of people bother me but now i try keep my cool and not look for it,just because you dont look disabled doesnt mean your not.
my hubby is a young guy who through having a serious genetic heart condition(dilated cardiomyopathy),ended up finding himself seriously ill and required a heart transplant,this was a terrible recovery,were he ended up with end stage kidney failure requiring 3 times a week dialysis to keep him alive,he had pulmonary hypertension high pressures in his respiratory,this ended up damaging his new donor heart,right side heart failure and severe regurgitating triscupid valve,constant breathlessness and low blood pressure which was maintained with iv noradrenaline,he also has pains in his legs and bottom and chest were the pins are holding his sternum together,the consultants said it is a miracle he survived at all after having countless infections on top of that,he was put on antidepressants while still in intensive care as he was blocking everyone out and facing the wall,it was horrible and i nearly lost him a few times and even though this was 3 years ago we still take each day at a time,life is hard and difficult and being his wife and full time carer i try my best to keep his spirits up,like everyone else im worried sick about all these benefit changes,i have enough to worry about:(

LauraLeah91104

my husband was at a works charity event in june 2011, he was taking part in a football tournement raising money for a few charities that his employer actively supports.
His company (which i wont name, but it is a very large chain of supermarket) organised the event and ran it. management etc were in attendance and it was managers against colleagues.
Anyway he was in goal and sustained a serious injury to his hand, he came home and his hand was the side of a football.
To cut a long story short, after a visit to a&e, they docs had to cut his wedding ring off, pop his joints back in, he had also fractured two of his fingers. the following day he had an emergency operation to put a pin in his hand and finger. he had 3 months of intensive physio-therapy, and regular visits to his consulants the injury was not healing.
Even now, almost a year down the line, his finger is still badly swollen and the size of two fingers size by side. he has no grip in his hand what so ever and cannot even open a jar or bottle of anything without assistance, and he cannot drive in the winter as the cold get into the metal plate and he lives on painkillers. he cannot write as he has no grip for the pen, he can only just a say manage his signature
i was advised by my mortgage company to see if we were entitled to any benefits as his employer only paid him for the first month which he was on the sick and he was on from june to november.
Ive received a form for indstrial illness benefit and that says if he has suffered an accident in work or in relation or linked to work he may have a claim.
Ive started filling it was but was just wondering whether there is anyone out there that can tell us whether its worth a try. i have copies of letters from his consultant to his doctor that i am planning on sending with the application in the hope that they will support my application, but i guess im just after abit of re-assurance as his loss of money has had a real effect on or finances and any extra benefit wold certainly help alittle bit in getting us out of the brown sticky stuff.

thanks to all who read and or reply