Looking for general work advice after major surgery

JimmySavile

Hi,

This is actually in regards my brother but thought someone might have some useful tips.

2 years ago he was fit and healthy and doing different types of manual labour, building sites, driving forklifts, crane operation etc.

He was then diagnosed with a tumour on the middle of his spine which ended up being the 2nd case the doctors had ever seen, he had major surgery with 50/50 predicted survival rate, was laid flat in bed for 3 months with a further slow recovery. He's still wearing a back brace to keep his spine supported.

As this pretty much put an end to the manual labour jobs, he decided to train in physiotherapy to try and help people with similar problems. He completed a 1 year college course to get the qualifications he needed to go on and study at university.

He's recently been told he will be unable to do the degree due to his back. He's been on benefits/disability money for the last year while getting back on his feet although 3 months ago they stopped the disability money as he was able to pass their basic tests of picking up a cardboard box etc. It's still under appeal but no sign of it coming back.

He's been applying for jobs and basically trying to work out what to do with his life as he hates being on benefits and wants a career. He applied for things like the Orange call centres and McDonalds, anything to bring some money in while he could work out what to do longer term but their response was he was overqualified. He even applied for night shifts in a food factory this week and passed all the numeracy/english/mechanical tests with scores of 95-100, but they had similar reservations in that he might have to push bins around and things so it was a no from them.

He's never had an office job so doesn't have that sort of experience but is pretty much willing to try anything.

Just wondering if anyone has had any similar experiences and has any brainwaves to get him into a job.

Thanks for your time

Dunroamin

Is he still thinking of university?

dancingfairy

Hmmm. I sadly think physiotherapy might be out of the question, I presume you have to manouevre people and stretch them out and that sort of thing, help them up and onto a bed etc etc?
I guess his best option might be a professional career in an office - perhaps in IT,law,accoutancy that sort of thing?
Do you have a nextstep adviser in your area they might be able to do a career aptitude test? I presume he is going through the job centre to try and get benefits etc - can he ask to see a disability adviser?
I guess his best route to getting experience/admin/office work is pretty much to do voluntary work if he can. Perhaps he can support a charity that helps people get back on their feet after accidents/illness etc like HelpforHeroes or Headway or something?
Perhaps he can go into planning/consultancy or something in the building sort of industry - ie ordering parts etc, scheduling jobs, rining the contractors - something that doesn't involve a lot of lifting/carrying etc but still related?
df

heretolearn_2

What actual qualification did he get at college? Access to science? Why doesn't he see what other science/medical careers he could use it as a stepping stone to, which don't need that much physical work. Sorry to say this but I would have thought it would be obvious that physiotherapy is a physically demanding role not suitable under the circumstances.

so.. Pharmacy? optician? speech therapist?

Racheldevon

It's still possible to work in many of the helping professions, if 'giving something back' is something that he wants to explore further.

It might be useful to think about whether there's any preference for the type of environment he would prefer to work for, the type of client group - adults/children/older people/additional needs etc. Some of the health based professions have requirements around health prior to starting certain courses etc, but there are many roles that would fall broadly under the helping professions that are worth considering

Once in a role, access to work i've found very helpful as someone with a joint based disability. They can provide a whole range of useful adaptations/specialist equipment like egrodynamic chair, keyboards etc.