Last week was all busy, busy, busy.
The Pysch Twins are going bigger and better each passing day with more and more support from local business. Which is wonderful. The results where posted of our final results for this year at University and am very pleased to announce that I received a resounding pass and proceed onto the 2nd year of campus. This is in effect will be the third year of my extended 4 year degree.
Jo and I have also been asked to do an hour slot talking to the new students in September for the level zero course during their introduction week which is great news and a fantastic chance to get some experience. On top of this we where also asked to take part in the marketing for Sunderland college. We had a lot of fun acting out for the photographer so looking forward to the results of that.
On other good news I was awarded my PIP (Personal Independent Payment). For those of you who do not know what that is it is a new benefit that is taking over from DLA ( Disability living allowance). It has been quite a controversial move by the government to replace the DLA with PIP as the rules governing the award have been tightened. This means that there are now more and more vulnerable people who need this money to get around in the form of a car on the mobility scheme, who are left without the money to aid in their day to day routine , getting out the house or being able to work. Along with cutting the Independent Living fund , reducing the amount of money available to support disabled people whilst in work and the rumors of student finance and help for disabled students being cut or abolished, more and more people with disabilities are finding it increasingly hard to to get a job or keep it.
You have heard of the undateable's? Well met the unemployable's
That's people like me and people like my colleague. I have so many health issues that I could more then likely fill a A4 sheet with it. What that means is that I may end up having days, like this weekend where I am in so much pain I can't sleep much and barely move. In a normal five day forty hour week this would cause issues and would mean time off work on a regular biases. This doesn't mean that I am past my best before date, I still feel I have a lot to still give . Experience, skills and knowledge.But then you add on the fact that as soon as some one sees you as an amputee in a wheelchair, never mind telling them about the other health issues and medication, they immediately write you off.
Then there is people like my colleague. She has two children one with ADHD and one with ASD. Needing to be available at all times for her children just in case their was a phone call from one of the schools . Then you need to look at the mental health issues we both deal with. Depression, stress, anxiety and panic attacks. Sometimes so debilitating that you can not leave the house. There are a million people out there with the same kind of issues that still feel they have something to give , still want to work.
I miss the days of not needing anything stronger then a paracetamol for a bad head. Being be able to sleep with out a machine to make sure I don't stop breathing. To pick a pen up and write without losing the feeling in my fingers and hands. To not drop pans because my grip goes. This is just some of the joys of Fibromyalgia, apparently brought on by trauma from the two amputations and lots and lots of other operations I had gone through.
Do I regret having my amputations? The first one,,no it give me a new lease of life but then things went wrong and I ended up with the second lot. Do I regret that? .......good question. Yes sometimes, these days more yes then no.There are so many things I miss not having legs/feet. The feel of a carpet, walking on the beach feeling the sand between my toes, being able to walk into the sea, swimming with out aids and hoists. Just anything straight forward like going out and not thinking if there is stairs or disabled toilets. Funny as it sounds, being able to sit where ever the hell I wanted.
I digress. That story is for another time, another blog. The fact that we want to work is why we have started The Psych Twins. This is a service, non profit and no staff...yet. we started up The Psych Twins to raise money for local North East charities who get over looked. We are currently working with the Carers Center in Sunderland to raise funds for them by holding a Halloween Monster Masquerade Ball at the Stadium of Light in October.
The initial expense is coming out of mine and Joanne's pockets, which is scary, so hopefully we will sell all the tickets . Once our costs have been covered we are hoping to raise in the region of £2000 plus for them.
The Pysch Twins are going bigger and better each passing day with more and more support from local business. Which is wonderful. The results where posted of our final results for this year at University and am very pleased to announce that I received a resounding pass and proceed onto the 2nd year of campus. This is in effect will be the third year of my extended 4 year degree.
Jo and I have also been asked to do an hour slot talking to the new students in September for the level zero course during their introduction week which is great news and a fantastic chance to get some experience. On top of this we where also asked to take part in the marketing for Sunderland college. We had a lot of fun acting out for the photographer so looking forward to the results of that.
On other good news I was awarded my PIP (Personal Independent Payment). For those of you who do not know what that is it is a new benefit that is taking over from DLA ( Disability living allowance). It has been quite a controversial move by the government to replace the DLA with PIP as the rules governing the award have been tightened. This means that there are now more and more vulnerable people who need this money to get around in the form of a car on the mobility scheme, who are left without the money to aid in their day to day routine , getting out the house or being able to work. Along with cutting the Independent Living fund , reducing the amount of money available to support disabled people whilst in work and the rumors of student finance and help for disabled students being cut or abolished, more and more people with disabilities are finding it increasingly hard to to get a job or keep it.
You have heard of the undateable's? Well met the unemployable's
That's people like me and people like my colleague. I have so many health issues that I could more then likely fill a A4 sheet with it. What that means is that I may end up having days, like this weekend where I am in so much pain I can't sleep much and barely move. In a normal five day forty hour week this would cause issues and would mean time off work on a regular biases. This doesn't mean that I am past my best before date, I still feel I have a lot to still give . Experience, skills and knowledge.But then you add on the fact that as soon as some one sees you as an amputee in a wheelchair, never mind telling them about the other health issues and medication, they immediately write you off.
Then there is people like my colleague. She has two children one with ADHD and one with ASD. Needing to be available at all times for her children just in case their was a phone call from one of the schools . Then you need to look at the mental health issues we both deal with. Depression, stress, anxiety and panic attacks. Sometimes so debilitating that you can not leave the house. There are a million people out there with the same kind of issues that still feel they have something to give , still want to work.
I miss the days of not needing anything stronger then a paracetamol for a bad head. Being be able to sleep with out a machine to make sure I don't stop breathing. To pick a pen up and write without losing the feeling in my fingers and hands. To not drop pans because my grip goes. This is just some of the joys of Fibromyalgia, apparently brought on by trauma from the two amputations and lots and lots of other operations I had gone through.
Do I regret having my amputations? The first one,,no it give me a new lease of life but then things went wrong and I ended up with the second lot. Do I regret that? .......good question. Yes sometimes, these days more yes then no.There are so many things I miss not having legs/feet. The feel of a carpet, walking on the beach feeling the sand between my toes, being able to walk into the sea, swimming with out aids and hoists. Just anything straight forward like going out and not thinking if there is stairs or disabled toilets. Funny as it sounds, being able to sit where ever the hell I wanted.
I digress. That story is for another time, another blog. The fact that we want to work is why we have started The Psych Twins. This is a service, non profit and no staff...yet. we started up The Psych Twins to raise money for local North East charities who get over looked. We are currently working with the Carers Center in Sunderland to raise funds for them by holding a Halloween Monster Masquerade Ball at the Stadium of Light in October.
What we would like to do eventually, would be to open a Center in Sunderland that would offer help, advice and counselling/ therapy free for any one and their families , adults or children in the North East who are disabled , whether it is a mental health issue, physical disability, amputee, wheelchair user, ASD, ADHD etc. We want to offer a drop in center for advice such as whats on in the area that is suitable for them, help that is available that they might not know about or just to pick up leaflets or application forms for services or help such as the Cinema card, attending a festival or looking at starting work or going to University. There is help out there but not very easy to find and the only reason I know is the amount of man hours researching it. But we also want to offer kids activities free such as support groups for parents with children who have ADHD or ASD for example where they can come and met and talk to people in the same situation while the children have fun doing activities or party or a sensory room. Support groups for amputees etc again where they can get together with others who are in the same situation and can support each other and not feel isolated. Also offer help applying for benefits etc but also offering counselling/ therapy for those people who need that extra one on one support.
Its a big dream but we are determined to make it a reality. We want to hold drop in sessions at various community centers which we will fund with bake sales and coffee mornings, then the big push is getting premises to open the center. what we would like is to get funding in order for us to take on the staff with us that we are going to need to run it and operate it as a business but keeping it a free service for people to access. This would be done by (hopefully) grants, fundraising etc. We want to hire staff who under normal circumstances would be classed as un employable by most people due to their health issues and disabilities, time they might need off. People who have the skills and knowledge and still want to work but are often looked over due to this.
My life is a bit of an open book lol but I hope that if just one person can see that their life is not over just because of their disability or it gives one person the courage to try something they never thought they could do , or one parent the comfort knowing that every thing will just be fine then Its been a success.
Depending how successful this years ball is, we would like to hold the ball every Halloween for charity. With any luck getting bigger and better !
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