Anyone with a job or disability?

Welcome to the Coping With Epilepsy Forums

Welcome to the Coping With Epilepsy forums - a peer support community for folks dealing (directly or indirectly) with seizure disorders. You can visit the forum page to see the list of forum nodes (categories/rooms) for topics.

Please have a look around and if you like what you see, please consider registering an account and joining the discussions. When you register an account and log in, you may enjoy additional benefits including no ads, access to members only (ie. private) forum nodes and more. Registering an account is free - you have nothing to lose!

so if you would like to say it on here go ahead.There is no judgement here . Or if you want to pm me please do so. Teresa
 
i tried to get dla, they turn me down :( spose i could try now.... due to high side effects but doubt it.
 
I have been on disability for my seizures and how my TBI has affected me for almost a year now, but have been told once my VA benefits kick in, I will no longer receive disability and I am only 28. Age does not matter as long as you put in enough years of work and paid in to social security long enough.
 
hi

Hi , I have not had a professional job in about 15 years . I worked 2 years . Iget extra $ from ssi &ssd , food stamps . I own my own house so because of that I get extra cash they keep in their files from the electric co. . Not only do I get the star program but my taxes are cut in half . You really need to look into this stuff to get it . Hope I helped . jenn
 
Im quite lucky at the moment work wise,im in forestry and my boss knows about my condition and is fine about it he doesnt hold anything against anyone.As long as you do your work he is happy.A quick note about disability,years back i tried to claim disability but was refused,the reason being according to the pen pushers my epilepsy didnt effect my everyday life,apparantley.

I was told the same thing, even though when I was working, my seizures got significantly worse. I was having them weekly. The only thing I qualify for here is a discount bus pass--that is to say, a pass that gives me a reduced bus fare. Kinda lame...
 
When I was in College I went to the "Students with Disabilities" office and was approved for accomadations when needed. Now that I work, my boss and co-workers are aware of my E and I have even had seizures at work before. I work part-time but sometimes it does feel like too much whenever I am feeling sick either from the E or side effects from my medications. They all say they "understand" but make me feel guilty when I can't come in or have to leave during the day. That just makes it worse. I have applied for other jobs and have also been looking for work at home opportunites but have come up with nothing in that area. Right now I am living with my mom because I am not allowed to live alone (I'm 24) but my boyfriend and I plan to move in together once he graduates college and gets a job so I want to be able to contribute income. I just keep going around in circles as to what decision to make
 
Disability

My employer of 30 years forced me to take an early (medical) retirement (at 47 years old) because my meds were "slowing me down" and the employer was receiving complaints from clients.

As a result of this, I was able to receive full salary for 3 years, plus DISABILITY (while I sat on my ass) as well as my pension.

I'm pissed off because I still had several years of service left in me.

Randy
 
I'm worried about losing my job. I've been making a lot of mistakes. My jobs is very stressful and causes a lot of issues as far as seizures go. I am fortunate the job allows me to work from home but is very time sensitive and tight deadlines. Since starting all these new meds I find myself having a hard time keeping up and working past the end of my day just to try and keep caught up.
 
I currently work 2 part time jobs to keep up the bills
It's very tough as my memory is completely shot and my thought process headed much the same way due to my medication and my main employer is very good, they offer paid sick pay if the absence is seizure related and very understanding. Bit stressful at times which brings on seizures in itself. New employer has been nothing but a pain in the backside even threatening me with disciplinaries because they'd lost my response to a medical questionnaire about my epilepsy.
My previous employer was the worst though, I switched medications whilst with them and then needed water around continuously and they refused to let me drink it. Had to ask permission! It ended up being too dangerous to work there.
I looked into help (out of curiosity - I don't really consider myself disabled) and there's nothing for people with epilepsy here as it's not enough of a daily struggle apparently. I do get a free bus pass though which is ridiculously useful out in the sticks
 
When I was first diagnosed at 17 I dropped out of college and was on Severe Disablement Allowance for 10 years. I had about 8 T/C seizures a week and I don't think anyone would have employed me. But I did study part time for my a levels and eventually my degree in English Lit as I began to gain more seizure control I began doing a lot of volunteering work which up skilled me and when people aren't paying you they don't really care if your sleeping of a T/C under a pile of coats in the corner of the office.

My first paid gig was 9 hours a week working part time as a youth worker and I had my 'last' T/C there. I went 10 years without a seizure rose up the ranks became a trainee where I was paid to do another degree in youth and community work and on graduating got to manage my own project.

But youth work isn't the most E friendly job although hugely rewarding it can be stressful, the hours are long and often late and self care can be poor and I had a breakthrough seizure April 2012 after 10 years free and 8 years of meds. Painfully I decided to give up working full time and asked to be relocated to a centre closer to home.

Work have mostly been fabulous and flexible. Was workin 3, 6 hour days but at the moment with my one woman zombie apocalypse impersonation doing 5, 3 hour days. They're pretty cool that I have lost the ability to read emails and the kids and colleagues have been awesome. They a pretty damned epilepsy aware and could put you in the recovery position pretty damn quick. They held an awesome purple day for epilepsy awareness!

Q
 
I turned 60 in June 2013 and since I am a widow, I qualify for my husband's ss. I also take care of my 2 yr. old grandson and my son's disabled adult sister-in-law. My son pays me for the baby in cash but his sister-in-law I am officially caregiving for thru DCF. Due to the fact that it is only part time I can have that additional income along with ss. I just can't go over a certain amount. I AM VERY LUCKY! and I thank the Good Lord everyday for taking care of me.
I feel bad for those of you struggling and hope that things will get better for you.
M
 
I have three jobs and I just sent off for a license I'll need for a fourth. One full time gig, one part time (about 30 hours a month) and the other is 2 hours a week with a lot of prep. The next will be on-call/when I feel like it.
 
Hello everyone! Lets see if there's any newbies or people have missed this question. Bump
 
I was fired from my last job (never happened in my life and I've been working for 25 years)-- it was a high level job that I had worked hard to get for the past 12 years--my dream job making more $ than ever. :( At the time I didn't know what was happening to me (hadn't been DX'd yet), only that my memory was gone (I was missing deadlines and meetings b/c I couldn't remember scheduling it, mistakes, etc.) and that there many times where I couldn't understand what what people were saying to me or couldn't speak (no good when you are interviewing someone!)

I applied for Disability three months ago and was denied the first round--there are 2 more appeals left for me to get approved. I'm keeping my fingers crossed--in a few months I may not be able to pay my mortgage. Never thought I'd be here, but food stamps may also be my next option. But, I'm nowhere near being able to work yet. Still having 3-4 simple/complex partials a week even after trying 3 meds. Ugh!!!
 
How ironic. A few days after I posed here I lost my job. I was on unemployment for 6 months. I tried to find a job in my field. Hard to interview for a job when you can't drive a car to get to the interview so I did apply for disability. And to my surprise I was approved on the first try. I think the fact my depression is so deep I believe that helped my get the disability. We all know that Social Security approves disability for Epilepsy. I have been on disability since August last year. I've used this time to go back to school full time. Working on getting seizures under control and fight the depression. My goal is to finish my degree by this time last year and then the next goal will be getting off disability. For those of you fighting the appeals process I wish you luck. I feel for all of you and I know I am extremely lucky and I will never take that for granted
 
Back
Top Bottom