Feminine chronic medical issues - Considered disability?

Kimmie30

Hi all,

I'm hoping someone can help me determine if feminine issues such as Endometriosis/Dysmenorrhoea/Fibroids/PCOS are not considered long term illness and therefore qualify as a disability? I can't work full time as I'm always in pain and thinking of going to part time but I'm really worried about what my income will look like if I do... 

elsien

They could be. In some circumstances. It’s not going to be automatic.

https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-questions/detail/2022-03-14/139617#:~:text=The%20Equality%20Act%202010%20(the,on%20the%20grounds%20of%20disability.

Spoonie_Turtle

Chronic illnesses can most definitely be debilitating enough to be disabling.

Just to highlight the definition in that link above - a disability is defined as "a physical or mental impairment which has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on their ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities."  It doesn't depend on a diagnosis - if something is disabling a person, it's a disability whether they have a name for the cause or not.

Miss_Riot

Endometriosis & PCOS are both long-term conditions; Fibroids can be too. If they are causing, as the above poster said, "substantial and long-term adverse effect on their ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities." As stated in the equality act 2011, yes it counts. 

Kimmie30

Thanks everyone, I really appreciate it. I did look it up but I always feel like it's not confirmed until and actual person agrees...

JKS$(

I calculated that I’d spent the equivalent of a decade bleeding heaving & in pain that could be eased, but not removed. At least half of that time I was usually housebound, on the days when I had to work, look after children etc., I could be changing pads every hour or dealing with frequent leaks because I couldn’t get to a toilet in time. My male GPs told me I was making a fuss, that women had to put up with this entirely natural process 🤬

For those of us unlucky enough to suffer so much during this natural process, no, I don’t think we should just put up with it.

My periods affected every area of my life for almost 40 years. I gave up sports, missed nights out, chose self employment so I could plan my work timetable. It affected my children’s lives too - long journeys became a nightmare, swimming an impossibly, everything needed to be planned & often birthdays, holidays, life couldn’t be neatly scheduled to fit into my cycle.

I hope women aren’t dismissed as casually as l was. Keep on demanding help if you are. 

Yes, women’s problems can be disabling, long term, life altering conditions.