Can I join the police if I'm very badly disabled?

EltonJohnFan

Hi all,

I'm looking for some advice as I'm literally at the stage now of pulling my hair out in trying to find work. I was made redundant over 7 months ago now and for the first six months I claimed Contribations-Based JSA but after that was moved to Income-Based JSA and at that point I started to meet with a Disability Employments Advisor at the Jobcentre. I should mention that I'm a very badly disabled person and I have extensive care and mobility needs which means I currently receive Disability Living Allowance and have done for a good few years now. I have had absolutely no luck in finding work and everything I've tried has gotten me nowhere so I'm literally at the stage of giving it one last try now and if that doesn't work then I'll just give up completely and move over to Employment and Support Allowance as I can't take anymore rejection. The DWP has repeatedly told me that I'd be "better off" claming Employment and Support Allowance but if truth be told I think I'd be better off in work!

I have thought about seeing if I could maybe find some sort of job with the police? I'm well qualified and have lots of skills but as I say I'm very badly disabled and a full-time wheelchair user and my mobility is extremely limited. I also suffer from a degenerative bone disease and have very bad hearing and eyesight which doesn't help much either but I'm determined to not just waste away on benefits all my life. Are there any specific jobs I could do within the police? I'd be really grateful if you could give me some advice on all this as I tried an internet search and couldn't find anything that mentioned disabled people working with the police force. I have worked with deaf people and wheelchair users in the past if that helps any and I'm sure there's bound to be some sort of position that I could do? I haven't written myself off so other people shouldn't either and it's just such a great shame that these past few months have got me nowhere in my search for work. I hope something turns up and I'm trying my best to remain positive and not get too down about things, as hard as that is right now. If I definitely can't join the police force then could you maybe suggest some other career option that might be open to me? Thanks everyone and take care

MrsManda

Why are you looking at applying for the police?
Though you won't able to be a uniformed officer there are support roles in the police force as there are in most sectors. Have you had a look at the police recruitment website?
http://www.policecouldyou.co.uk/other/overview.html

What qualifications/experience do you have?

Are you able to take part in the Work Choice programme?
http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/DisabledPeople/Employmentsupport/WorkSchemesAndProgrammes/DG_187696

EltonJohnFan

Thank you for that link!

I have a very limited record of work mainly due to my disabilities but whenever I've been in work my work record has been exceptional and that's got to count for something. I have many years of experience in dealing with other people that have disabilities and I'm an expert user of computers which should be a good skill to have too. I have lots of things I think could work in my favour but I won't post them here as it's not an interview

MrsManda

One thing it may be worth doing is if you haven't worked for awhile is speaking to your disability advisor about doing voluntary work.
You can also speak to your local voluntary service and see what's available.
Voluntary work is a good way of proving to future employers that you're capable of working and it helps give you more confidence and the feeling that you are contributing to society.
It's a good way of making new friends and getting new interests as well

Have you thought about looking for jobs at your local council or the NHS?
There's a wide range of roles throughout the NHS which may suit you.
http://www.nhscareers.nhs.uk/details/Default.aspx?Id=521

http://www.jobs.nhs.uk/

gargantuan_2

I can't really add anything useful to the thread, but I just wanted to say that I admire your attitude, and wish you the best of luck with your job search. Plenty of people in your situation would be happy to let the benefit cheques roll in, but the fact that you want to better yourself is very refreshing.

Deep_In_Debt

gargantuan wrote: »

I can't really add anything useful to the thread, but I just wanted to say that I admire your attitude, and wish you the best of luck with your job search. Plenty of people in your situation would be happy to let the benefit cheques roll in, but the fact that you want to better yourself is very refreshing.

I can't help either but I second this post.

Best of luck EJF.

donquine

EltonJohnFan wrote: »

I was made redundant over 7 months ago now [...] I should mention that I'm a very badly disabled person and I have extensive care and mobility needs [...] I have had absolutely no luck in finding work and everything I've tried has gotten me nowhere [...]

I have thought about seeing if I could maybe find some sort of job with the police? I'm well qualified and have lots of skills [...] I also suffer from a degenerative bone disease and have very bad hearing and eyesight [...] I have worked with deaf people and wheelchair users in the past [...] If I definitely can't join the police force then could you maybe suggest some other career option that might be open to me?

EltonJohnFan wrote: »

I have a very limited record of work mainly due to my disabilities but whenever I've been in work my work record has been exceptional and that's got to count for something. I have many years of experience in dealing with other people that have disabilities and I'm an expert user of computers which should be a good skill to have too.

What did you do before you were made redundant? Has your health changed in a way that you cannot do this type of work anymore, or are you just struggling to find similar work?

Your thread tells us a lot about your disabilities, but very little about the type of experience and/or qualifications you have, which makes it difficult to recommend a career path for you.

Given that you can't think of any particular roles that would suit you, why are you drawn towards the police? As you've worked with other disabled people before, I rather suspect it's to do with the idea of helping others - an obvious way to fulfil this wish would be to work for a charity, but you should also consider working towards a management position in any company, where you have to develop and coach more junior staff. A customer service or HR role might also be worth exploring.

From what I gather, your health has made it difficult for you to work in the past and it is possible it may cause problems in the future, but in general, you're happy to graft, you have a wheelchair that is suited to you and despite poor eyesight, you can use a computer perfectly well. It's possible you're using special software to help you, but I wouldn't consider that a major issue.

Government organisations and big companies are happy to look at how they can accommodate a disabled person's needs, if they tick all the boxes for a particular role. I think some have a policy where if someone meets the criteria for a job and they disclose they're disabled, an interview is automatically offered.

It's perhaps therefore a better idea to try and match a role to you before considering how adjustments could be put in place to make sure you could do it properly?

It does sound as if you want an office based role and that you would be able to physically do this, but office based covers a whole raft of jobs from administrative/support roles to skilled professional work. I don't know what your background is, but retraining is possibly an option if required - to give you an example, a colleague of mine has very poor eyesight, so he gets extra time for reading in his professional exams, his exam papers are printed in an extra large font and he is allowed to use a reading aid to help him see the questions properly.

I hope you figure out what it is that you want to do and wish you the best of luck in your job search.

Coeus

Ever watched Family Guy?

EltonJohnFan

MrsManda wrote: »

Why are you looking at applying for the police?
Though you won't able to be a uniformed officer there are support roles in the police force as there are in most sectors. Have you had a look at the police recruitment website?
http://www.policecouldyou.co.uk/other/overview.html

What qualifications/experience do you have?

Are you able to take part in the Work Choice programme?
http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/DisabledPeople/Employmentsupport/WorkSchemesAndProgrammes/DG_187696

Hi,

Thank you again for being so helpful and can I just confirm? I'm now enrolled in the Work Choice programme. My DEA advisor at the Jobcentre spoke with me about this a few weeks ago and I'm really keen to give it a go as I want to find work and hopefully this programme will give me a chance because it's soul destorying to continually be overlooked because of how others percieve me. I may be disabled but I'm definitely capable of working and just need to be given a chance to prove this.

Rachel021967

Have you tried your local Independent Living Group. My brother worked for his local Independent Living group. It was mainly visiting people's homes advising them on making direct payments. A driver was provided as my brother is severely partially sighted. They also did some disabled rights campaigning work. My brother wrote a paper for them about the rebuilding of disabled friendly buildings after the Tsunami. He got to present it in Japan.
https://www.ncil.org.uk

Good Luck.

Limana68

HI there
The only thing is re getting a job in the police is that most forces are making redundancies, due to the financial cuts etc. Theres no vacancies being advertised at the moment, in my force anyway. Not sure which Force is nearest to you.
With regards to you being disabled, this has no bearing on things, so if you do see a job advertised and you have the skills then apply, and you should be treated the same as everyone else, then if you were successful then they would have to make reasonable adjustments regarding your role under the DDA .

Hope this helps and good luck!