If you have a disability and work/want to work

[Glassesofmilk]

What support and adjustments do you have/would you need?

Im reading so much about cuts to welfare, plans to make PIP harder to claim but don’t see much about what support would be needed because employers are going to need to make a lot of adjustments and colleagues of disabled people are going to need to be understanding (I see a lot of threads about how someone has more breaks etc or has time off and everyone resents them as they get paid the same for less hours/work?)

Will the government be consulting with employers and making changes to offer more protection and support to those who are pushed back to work and may struggle? Maybe things like more sickness / holiday allowance for those with disabilities or a different type of leave they can access if experience a flare up of a condition? Appointments for medical issues due to disability or MH covered in the same way antenatal appts are?

Also maybe a block on UC sanctions for those with disabilities

This forum probably isn't the best one to ask on seeing as I've seen both posts complaining about non-working disabled people 'raking in' benefits and those complaining about adjustments made for disabled people in the workplace.

I feel we are witnessing a societal uptick in ableism encouraged by poisonous government rhetoric that started with the coaliton years.

To answer your question, no, I don't believe this government has any real understanding of the difficulties facing sick and disabled people in the modern world. The increased pressure, the increased pace, the ever increasing drive for profit, the dog-eat-dog mentality that has overtaken the consciousness of society and is incompatible with many 'healthy' people let alone those with disabilities.

It is interesting how they have a very clear plan as to how to punish those on UC even more than they are but a rather amorphous concept of 'helping the disabled back into work'. Which, as any benefit claimant can tell you often translates to (funnily enough) punishing those on UC. See what they did there? Killed two birds with one stone. And yes, people already have been killed due to the last Tory government's policies.

To take away money from the very sickest in society while Thames Water gets away with pissing money away and makes it up by doubling consumer's water bills and the very richest get richer is frankly unconscionable and, I would suggest, automatically precludes anyone who can concieve of it from having the first clue about the barriers facing the general population, let alone the most vulnerable.

I agree with you . There seems to be no focus whatsoever on support needed just a quick cut to make money and no thought to those who will be affected. No plans put in place to make employment accessible and fair and no protections in place so that disabled people aren’t subject to sanctions

I work in NHS and there are protections in place for people with long term conditions already, where sickness triggers can be adjusted. I don't think extra annual leave would be particularly fair but maybe extra appointments. The key to me is working a sensible amount of hours if you have fatigue/pain you are dealing with daily and if possible having a bit of flexibility in how you work those hours, especially if your days/symptoms are variable. So if you are employed for 22.5 hours a week( 3 days) but wake up one morning unable to work but feel better the next day, then do your hours on the day you feel well enough. If there was more flexibility on both sides I am sure many people with disabilities would be able to work.

Extra costs faced by households with a disabled adult or child average £975 per month https://www.scope.org.uk/campaigns/extra-costs

Sadly I think a lot of people are unaware of this . I do think those on UC with disabilities should be exempt from sanctions

I think attitudes need to change. If you mention a disability before an interview, you definitely won't get the job (well, in my experience anyway). So it has to be underhand and you have to keep it from them until you have a job offer. Which is impossible for people who use a wheelchair, etc. It all comes down to realising that disabled people want to work as much as non-disabled people, and we have skills that are useful in the workplace. I feel workplaces see us as an inconvenience and don't want to deal with reasonable adjustments so they just won't hire us (but will say the reason is something else eg. You just weren't right for the job, someone else was more qualified...)

Also more remote jobs. I can't seem to find any any more, everyone wants you in office.

Exactly. There needs to be an equal
amount of discussion around what needs to be done to support not just how much the cuts will save ! Expectations seem to be only on one group of people and these in a lot of cases will be unrealistic expectations when nothing has been asked of employers and no changes have been made to accommodate needs. It’s extremely one sided.

Totally agree and making SE income count towards the AET

I’m not disabled but I do have a disabled child.

i was out of the workforce for 8 years because meeting his needs and working wasn’t viable. I tried and came close to a breakdown and that wouldn’t help anyone.

now he is more stable I have been back at work (part time term time only) for 3 years. I have a very understanding boss who appreciates that sometimes appointments will be scheduled for when I am supposed to be working. I also have a very good support network of people trained to look after him so if he is off school they will happily step in.

the skills I have acquired through caring for DS actually help me massively in my job to

I have a disability (mental health and long term health condition). Employers have given time off for appointments eg weekly therapy. I have not used excessive sick leave but have had time off when absolutely necessary. I am not in receipt of any benefits. I work hard and am good at my job.

I think some of the ‘hate’ comes from the sheer number of people now recognising ‘disability’ in themselves eg ASD, ADHD, anxiety, depression and on the one side giving themselves permission to not push themselves to burn out but on the flip side (and think possibly perceived as) not just getting on with it which the majority of people rightly or wrongly did until recently. Ie a shift in sick leave/claiming of disability benefits etc. It may also appear to be pathologising normal feelings that everyone experiences at times and continues to work through eg temporary low mood or feelings of anxiety even where this is not pleasant, simply because a) you need an income and b) to not impact others negatively. It is understandable (even if arguably unfair) that these people may grow resentful of those who they perceive to not do the same.

In my family members case they have a disability that means a full time job just isn't possible. They would love to work part time but couldn't fulfill the amount of hours that universal credit required from her. So she was told to apply for LCWRA which she was assessed for and now receives. So now she's in the not fit for work category. She's hoping these reforms will allow her to work part time without losing her UC top up or being sanctioned if she has a relapse of symptoms and needs time off or reduced hours.

For me, it's hybrid working and flexible hours. (Don't follow 9-5 pattern and can work by night, weekends just whenever I get a good spur i can clock in)

I don't need any extra holiday or sick days, due to flexible hours and a contracted set of hours I can work around appointments and bouts of illness and make up hours whenever. For me this works so well, I haven't actually had any sick days at all and still yet to book annual leave.

It does help that I went back to work with condition under control so its keeping it at bay rather then trying to work whilst very poorly.
What helped mostly isn't adjustments but company attitude. When your treated well and that your work matters, the confidence and motivation that built for me enabled me to sort the rest and be proactive and preemptive with my health as I didn't feel a burden or useless like previous employers made me feel.

I work and I also receive PIP.

I have both a long term physical issue and mental health issues/PTSD.

Being able to work from home is what keeps me in employment because I don't have to use public transport and I can spend more time getting the physical therapy and mental health support I need to keep going and try to better manage my conditions.

I have had many issues though with employers over my 25 years of working because of my health.

I have employers who tried to minimise my mental health issues and one who tried to dismiss me on capacity ground when I was struggling with physical issues that resulted in me needing various surgeries.

Employers are also reluctant to employ people who declare health conditions in the first place.

Until attitudes in the workplace change and reasonable adjustments are better implemented then barriers will remain for people who disabilities who can work to gain and stay in employment.

I worked until recently.

I use a wheelchair.

My reasonable adjustments were:

Using the lift,
Not having to go outside during fire drills (the meeting point was inaccessible for wheelchairs).

At various points while I worked there - ten years - the lift broke. This meant I had to crawl up or down stairs which I felt wasn't ok.

I began staying at home when the lift broke as it would normally take a few days to fix and I couldn't face the upset of crawling up and down stairs.

The disabled toilet never worked in the ten years I was there and they never fixed it.

I always had to leave the building (via the lift) and go to the next building over which had a disabled toilet on the ground floor.

How does this work in practice though? I make reasonable adjustments for people who work for me, adjust absence triggers, medical appts in work time are all accommodated.

But if I have work that needs doing on Tuesday and the person doesn't feel up to working that day but can work Wednesday (probably, it won't be certain until the day) but I need the work on Tuesday that doesn't work. The result would be being short-staffed some days, over-staffed other days. Need x number of people at work each day for safety reasons.

I think that’s a big problem as you really know if you declare a health problem at interview stage that you are not going to have a good chance of getting the job and that needs to change. They talk about incentivising claiming sickness benefits but perhaps they need to incentivise employers employing people with health conditions and disabilities

Employers need to be more willing to employ people, with a range of disabilities, and make any reasonable adjustments, to enable a person to perform their duties. I do not see that happening any time soon. It is not possible in all positions, of course, but something needs to change.

This is the nature of disabilities sadly and if the government want to cut back on sickness benefits they need to engage with employers so that they can come up with solutions . Otherwise it’s putting it all on disabled workers to act as if they don’t have a disability. It has to be an equal partnership if they want to make cuts they have to give back in return to make sure the disabled do not suffer

Those things are truly unacceptable and I'm sorry you had to deal with that, your employer was wrong not to fix those things

I too fail to see how all this will work, I work for a 'disability friendly employer'. We have a number of employees in my office who are wheelchair users and the building has plenty of access points etc, but I'm not disabled so I don't know for sure how others find working for the company with a disability. I have a health condition so have some adjustments which works well for me, but I'm office based and the main adjustment is I can work from home more than others if needed, that simply doesn't work in so many other jobs like retail, healthcare etc
There aren't infinite number of jobs where people can be super flexible and it feels like it is flexibility that would be required.

Remote working is definitely something that needs to be acceptable as recently there seems to have been a huge push in back to the workplace. For a lot of people the commute is going to be the barrier to employment as it could be impossible to navigate.

I have MEcfs. I have a job which has some flexibility. I can work from home 2 or 3 out of 5 days usually. I can spread my part time hours out so I do less daily hours over 5 days.

I managed to get a blue badge so I can park close to my building. I can use doors other people are not allowed to.

I have a quiet office so I can rest at breaks (in theory).

I have some understanding with deadlines at times though often I meet them earlier than colleagues.

The biggest thing is that I had the job before I got ill. No idea how I would have coped with trying to get support in a new job. Can't even imagine coping with the recruitment process.

Employers need more practical and financial support to make employing people who aren’t able to do the full job, viable. I’m sure that sounds harsh but businesses are really struggling at the moment, with another round of expensive and burdensome regulation due next year. Reduced targets, extra time off, restricted duties - the work either has to go on other staff or doesn’t get done.

They are rushing into cuts but should have first looked at all these issues