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