Hey folks. Some background here: I (24f) am living in the UK. Almost a year ago I began to develop worrisome and debilitating symptoms. As it turns out I have some particularly aggressive relapsing remitting multiple sclerosis, a chronic auto immune disease. My body attacks myelin, the sheath around our nerves, resulting in lesions on my brain and spine (which cause my broad range of symptoms).
Just like that, at a time I thought would be productive and promising for me, my world was wrenched out from under me. It is so incredibly difficult to now find a suitable job for my disability. I've been applying for Employment Support Allowance, which I qualify for, but due to a clerical error on their end I'm now FIGHTING to get access to a benefit that won't even fully support me.
I don't qualify for Universal Credit because, and I shit you not, my savings are too high. I did everything right. I worked, I saved. And now I'm being left high and dry unless I eat through my savings and the small inheritance my grandfather left me. Even with Universal Credit, unless I move to the middle of nowhere, away from my entire support network, I won't even come close to living on benefits.
I just feel I have so much to contribute to society still, but because I can no longer adhere to a strict 9/5 slog, I feel I have been completely written off by society. I've been left with no future, but it doesn't need to be this way. It SHOULDN'T need to be this way for people like me.
This post wasn't to demand answers, but more as a general discussion /place to vent. I'd love to hear other people's thoughts and experiences xxx