Adventures of Pom

Sometimes it is the little things that get you through the day. As I get older, my condition declines and I often have days where I wake up tired, my muscles don’t want to work and getting through the day is a fight.   Living off of sheer will-power…! It is on these ‘will-power’ days that the little details are so important and one such detail for me is my Google Calendar. The tiredness has definitely increased since I’ve finished work and it is difficult to distinguish between feeling tired and lack of motivation.   Is the reason I find it harder to get up in the morning because I really feel tired or is it just because I know that I do not have to go to work?   No longer working, I can honestly say that I am never bored.   There is always something for me to do, be it cross stitch or reading or visiting with friends, going to the cinema, watching Syfy or spending time with my family.   However my Google calendar has become a very important par...

At the moment I am happy with the Care Agency I have.   Which is actually quite a big deal.   Having to have physical assistance with even the smallest task is not a very dignifying process and so having the right person/personal assistant/carer, or whatever you want to call them, can make all the difference. I hate having to have care, hate it hate it hate it...!  Its undignified and embarrassing.  However if you've got to lump it whether you like it or not, it might as well be good care... I have a lot of physical assistance with getting in and out of bed, dressing, showering, food preparation and other general day to day tasks – picking up things, reaching, feeding/cleaning my tortoises etc… In short without the assistance of others I could not survive but although that sounds like a depressing thought, it is not.   Having care is hard but it is something that you can learn to get on and deal with and live a productive life. I have had care thr...

There are no two ways about it.   Having a disability sucks.   No matter what form your disability takes, there will always be some way in which you are disadvantaged. HOWEVER There are some grants and concessions that you can apply for that are very cool and will go some way to easing your burden! Here are a few that I have taken full advantage of: (please check relevant eligibility criteria before you apply) Ø      Cinema Passes – carer/Personal Assistant (PA) goes free - with the high price of the ticket to the cinema these days, if you have to have someone with you it is even more costly and so be sure to apply for a Cinema Exhibitors Association ( CEA ) Card at  CEAcard Link Ø      Bus passes - my local council offers a free bus pass to wheelchair users and those with physical disabilities.   You can also have your pass endorsed so that a PA, if needed, can go free as well.   It is definitel...

I finished work last year after 10 years as an Admin Officer at a Magistrates Court .   I liked working, liked earning my own money (be it a modest wage) and liked being able to say ‘I have a good job’. So the decision to stop working due to my disability was not an easy one to make. Because my condition is a degenerative one, as well as deciding whether I could cope with the work considering my current condition, I also had to take into account my future condition.   I.e. do I stop now while I still have the ability to do some things and enjoy my life or do I just want to keep working until I can’t do anything any more… The decision for me was made slightly easier by the fact that I was finding it more and more difficult to keep up at work.   My colleagues and even those I had trained found it increasingly easy to surpass me and although my bosses did offer me concessions and (after some persuasion) adapted the workplace for me as fully as they were able to, I...