Help a blind man back on his feet!!

jpe20

Hi folks,

I would like some advice really on the best ways of finding some kind of useful role in life. I have a hearing problem as well as being registered blind and my sight has deteriorated to the point where I need a guide dog. I can still read certain types of large print etc though have bad tunnel vision. My mental health has not been so great either over past 10yrs so I assuming that I will find it impossible to find work.

I have seen my local DEA a few times who paints me a deoressing picture each time I go so I do not bother anywmore. I am thinking more realistically to start up a small business for myself where I can dictate my own hours around what I can cope with. What is the best way of me going down this route considering the severe nature of the disability I have, I am sure I can do something or at least try to do something.

Also I fear I may be in a benefit trap as my housing benefit + income support come to about 15H a year so I would need to earn an awful lot of income to cover this from the start of the business. I assume what I earn with the business simply comes off the benefit ... is there any financial incentive (carrot) for me in this situation?? Obviously from the self esteem/worth angle I want to have a go or at least investidate the possibiity of starting up something for my future or I may as well cease to exist as sitting around in my home is getting really boring now!!!

Sorry for the bleak nature of this post but I think it reflects the situation I am in at the moment and how I feel.

I would like really advice on the planning etc of starting a business up and maybe find out if there are any special mentoring programmes for blind people.

Any tips appreciated

Jools

Conor_3

The only financial carrot I can think of is that you'd qualify for working tax credits with the disability component which will soften the blow somewhat but if you're going to go into self-employment, there's not really much chance of avoiding some financial impact until it starts making money.

I know how you feel with things looking bleak as I had to stop working with a spinal injury and was looking like I couldn't do the job any more. Although I only had 10 months out of work, I was climbing the walls. In the end, I went self employed to get started again.

There are schemes available but getting them is like trying to draw blood from a stone.

Off the top of my head, I have no ideas. My daughter has visual impairment but is studying nursing at Northampton University and has a placement working with blind people so when I can catch her on MSN, I'll have a word with her and see if she can come up with any ideas. Actually, there's always the fallback of becoming an Ebay trader.

If employment ends up not being an option and it's as much about combatting the boredom as anything, why not expand your knowledge and do a degree or two?

jpe20

Already had a degree and a half in Chemistry b4 had serious eyesight and head trouble!!! The chemistry degree is not much use with virtually no eyesight so thats out.

Have thought of doing OU degree in law with possible volunteer legal advisor at the CAB say though that would be a big step for me I dunno how useful a LLB in law would be in the job world at 40ish or how hard it would be to set up as a solicitor straight after getting the degree!! I would have thought you need a few years experience in a law partnership first.

Tried once already being a Ebay trader did not go that well .... tried buying in cheap academic books from the states and seling them here. Still got two massive boxes of Mail Lite jiffy bags and a 60 books I can't shift!!!! Though I would not rule out trying again with another idea though competition is tough as everyone seems to be importing something from china and shifting them on ebay.

Jools

zzzLazyDaisy

Hi, just to confirm, you don't need a law degree to qualify as a solicitor. As you already have a degree you can do a conversion course (one year f/t or two yrs p/t). You then have to do a postgraduate vocational course for your solicitor's exams. You then need a firm of solicitors to take you on for a two year training contract, which is basically on the job training. Once you have completed that training you become a qualified solicitor.

But you have to have three years post-qualification experience before you can set up on your own. Though to be honest, the Law Society puts so many obstacles in the way of sole practitioners that it is hardly worth the aggravation.

autismmum

my friend works for lyndley blind assosiation she has two guide dogs one is retired, and enjoys helping others, have you though of working for the rnib or similar organisations?? they like mentors for those suddenly blinded, just a thought.

jpe20

autismmum .... what's mib???

Lazy Daisy : About the law stuff .... there is a local law college near me so I will check out the degree conversion stuff out of interest. Not sure though what my job prospects would be at 40ish of getting into a law practice!!!


Got alot to deal with over the next year anyhow with getting the guide dog and maybe taking the plunge and learning that Braille stuff!

Jools

Conor_3

mib - it was R N I B in lower case - lol, I can see how that looks like MIB in lower case - I guess for you that the r merges into the n making it look like an m. RNIB - Royal National Institute for the Blind.

jpe20

lol ... i was muttering to myself Men in Black surely not!!!!!

Fleago

I second Conor. RNIB can give a lot of help to people with visual impairments who want to return to work. Here's the employment home page for their website.

Fleago

PasturesNew

Have you contacted Remploy? They find jobs for people with disabilities.

There is news coverage of them closing factories at present, but this is because they own/operate factories where they employ people with disabilities and the cost of doing that is MUCH greater than the cost of them finding a real job in a real company for somebody to do.

And, you'd probably be better off in a real job in a real company than working in a factory full of miscellaneously disabled people.

http://www.remploy.co.uk

Savvy_Sue

The alternative - if you can manage on the benefits - is to look into voluntary work, maybe with CAB. Have you also talked to the R N I D about ways to cope with your hearing loss?