Disability Discrimination

Hi there!

Well, I did promise that I would try to blog every Sunday, so here I am again....not feeling my best for the last few days - trepidation, resurrection of hurt feelings all coming back from my terrible time during the Summer last year when I was forced to resign due to disability discrimination and constructive dismissal....

I began getting ill during July 2007 - we now know, after much diagnostics, researching, numerous visits to various medics, gathering information from the Internet and finding the Hughes Syndrome Foundation, that I have Hughes Syndrome - well, undifferentiated Connective Tissue Disease - symptoms of Lupus, Sjorgrens and Hughes Syndromes, although bloods are negative, the symptoms are severe and debilitating on a daily basis. Medics suggest I don't work full time and have said that there is treatment but no cure for my condition.

My employers accommodated me working from home part of my working week, they also eventually agreed to me further reducing my hours from 30 down to 23 over 4 days, 50%of these working from home. As I needed to attend fewer medical appointments and I adjusted to my condition, medication and treatments, my performance at work improved in the 3 months immediately following my reduction in hours. I was able to take more rest breaks and found that my productivity improved as I paced myself better. The medics were still disagreeing about what my diagnosis was at the time, although one thing was for sure, I had and am always going to have degenerative disc disease as well as whatever else was causing my other symptoms. My symptoms were there, no matter what it was called, even if it was in my head (which it wasn't!!). The symptoms were there, no matter what it was that I had....The medics were saying that a treatment plan would take time to improve how I felt and that there were no promises that I would get better and be fit enough to work back at my usual hours and location. I wanted to be better enough to do this, I also wanted to be better enough to play football in the park, but reality was that it probably wasn't going to happen. Wanting something to happen and what can actually be achieved is something quite different....don't we all WANT to win the lottery?? what is the reality though??? Getting someone to get better to order is only going to make them worse?? I was treated like a burden, not as an asset to the business who had worked through thick and thin for 15 years, making the business hundreds of thousands of pounds over the years.

On a Friday 13th, I was cornered in a room and it was explained that it was not possible for me to work from home and do reduced hours any more (even though my performance was 2nd highest in a team of 8 people all working full time hours) then they would have to seriously consider my position within the company and may look at dismissal on the grounds of incapability!!! A grievance process followed and they did withdraw this, but wanted to constantly monitor me returning as soon as possible to 4 days in the office. Not wanting to be under this pressure to get better from a condition that is incurable, I resigned, under duress and was left heart broken and floundering in a world that I found completely callous to my circumstances. I did not choose to be ill or disabled or in pain, yet I was being held responsible for not being well enough to work. I was still being productive and making the company money, however politically it was not the "norm" and hence not something that they wanted to support me on...

I will never be employed again and be in the hands of another person's judgement of what I am capable or incapable of doing. They are even now saying that they didn't know I was disabled - my back injury (1st operation was 3 months prior to commencing this employment back in 1993) causes me sufficient problems to be in receipt of Disability Living Allowance, so surely under the Disability at Work Act (where you are disabled for being incontinent??!!) I AM disabled, have been since 1993 and still am, will always be. Never mind the horrendous pain, fatigue and depression that is caused by Hughes Syndrome on top of the back problems!!

So I am to be cross examined tomorrow until Wednesday on my version of events of 15 months ago, so that a Judge can award me compensation for the hurt and loss of earnings and career/lifestyle that I have suffered....I have to justify my position of how I feel and how ill I am, so that my ex-employers can be proved to be money grabbing and heartless in their approach to me.

I am not looking forward to the whole situation and proceedings, it has to be done though if justice is to be served... we shall see eh??

Much love to all.....

Wend x x x x

Summer to Remember!

Hello all!!

Again my apologies for not posting for a while...busy summer getting my life back together, whatever the challenges!!

Job front - well, I tried to continue on in recruitment, got made redundant, the bottom has fallen out of recruitment consultancy, with over £3million unemployed again, who in their right mind is going to spend £2k to recruit someone, when all they have to do is place a free ad and wade through the response for nowt??!! I am sure that all will come back to them again in time, but quite a long time...not for me any more..16 years was my lot!
Telesales from home was fine, for a very short time, until I did the call lists too quickly and they ran out of customers for me to call!!! No good when childcare had already been booked and paid for in advance!! So?? what to do - I need to earn a good income, work from home as I am not well enough to do a normal 9-5 job, work around the kids as well, trying to avoid childcare after school costs - £14.60 a day!!!
I dismissed this opportunity back in May when I was first job seeking....Kleeneze - running and building my own business - retailing products via catalogue drops and also recruiting, training and mentoring a team to do the same as me...I use crutches to walk around - I get tired easily, I am in pain quite a lot....give it a go Wend and see how we can get around my "issues". Well, I learned that there are quite a few disabled people already in Kleeneze who are doing well...I read up on how they do things - trolleys to hold your catalogues, pacing yourself - delivering to 100 houses a day takes me 2 hours, it would take a healthy person about 45 minutes - but hey?? who's in a rush?? Introducing the opportunity to other people - I can do that!! I love to talk, all I have to do is pass on the opportunity DVD and tell them how I am doing, I don't have to sell any more!!! The catalogue items sell themselves, the opportunity sells itself, I just enjoy doing what I want, how I want (following a successful system) and when I want. I have no child care. I collect catalogues on a Monday that I have delivered the previous Friday and Saturday. Tuesday and Wednesday I deliver more catalogues, Thursday and Friday I collect them back up. I do some fliering and put shop cards in windows, I hand out business cards and have a website where I attract people into the business. I do as much as I want to do every day. I don't have childcare costs, I take my kids to school every day and collect them too (they love this!!). I have even offered to pick up another mum's son to reduce her childcare costs...I feel in charge of my own destiny at the moment. My Hughes symptoms are controlled, I have to take medication and I have to take lots of rest breaks and make sure that I eat sensibly. The extra exercise and fresh air that I am getting is doing me good! I may even lose some of the weight that I have gained in the last 2 years (fingers crossed).
When you have a condition like Hughes, you have to live with it, rather than against it...Hughes is not going away..I thought that I would get a cure after diagnosis - not the case, I got "management" after diagnosis, the best it is going to get..so after the disappointment of finding out that I am not going to get better...you have to do something that gives you back your power and challenges you on a daily basis...I feel mentally strong and I am confident that I can really make my life work now successfully. I aim to increase my earnings significantly and reasonably quickly, I am on my way to recruiting 2 into my team - it is called the "Let's Do It Now" team - because that is what we have to do - Do It Now - tomorrow may be too late!!! No-one else is going to do it for you. I am grateful every day for the rest of my health, my husband, children, home and abilities. I really do try not to moan about the things I want to change or that I am not happy about, because I think that dwelling on negative things, brings more negative things to you..I try..it is not easy every day..but every day I try..

This is not an advert for you all to set up a Kleeneze business - but if you are interested, see my website www.letsdoitnow.co.uk!!! It is however letting you know that although having Hughes Syndrome is many things - painful, depressing, debilitating, scary, unfair, sad and many many other things... it is not the end of your life and can be the beginning. Once you learn to live with it and not against it. If I had a choice of having Hughes or not, I would not have it, obviously, but I am grateful that having Hughes lead me to becoming self employed, finally spending more time with my family and making me happier and more content (and in time richer!!).

I thank you all for reading and again promise to post every week (probably Sundays).

Much love

Wend x x x x