Below is my email to INGEUS and yes, I have stopped all the fks Id been giving about this lot. Yes, its a bit of a moody mail, but hey, Im the one supposed to be getting help to return to work whilst still suffering my illness, Im not there to justify paying someone a wage for giving no help whatsoever. On a side note, they had a big board with all the employers theyre working with to get people back into work, these companies include, but are not limited to M&S, Poundland and B&M, all in Lincoln. I checked with those three and guess what? Yup, they have no positions available but will happily take FREE LABOUR in the form of workfare slavery. Unscrupulous employers willing to take advantage of those struggling with disability and long term illness by abusing them for work without pay, are not the sorts of people I wish to work for. Good day, I am in a bit of a bind here. I was referred to your service a couple of months ago but as of yet have received no practical help in my attempts to get back into work, just the opposite in fact. Allow me to explain a little more. I have Myalgic Encephalomyelitis. If you are unfamiliar with the condition, I suggest looking it up on a search engine on the internet before reading any further, otherwise the point of this email will, in all likelyhood, be lost on you completely. The issues I have are as follows....... 1. Despite having no issues with my CV in terms of content, format and anything else, my advisor has had to waste both their time and mine in redoing an otherwise perfectly acceptable, working, proven to be reliable CV. I was made to feel like I was in the wrong for not needing any help with my CV and told that the advisor had gone and messed with it anyway. I will not be allowing that CV to be sent on my behalf as it is not up to my standards. 2. Priding myself on honestly and openness, I have put at the top of my cover letter template that I have the disability mentioned above. The advisor wanted this removing and for me NOT to inform employers about my disability until much later in the application process. This is highly unacceptable. Again, I felt bullied and as if I was in the wrong for this with my advisor not letting it drop anywhere near soon enough. I do not have the level of health I need to waste time going to interviews and the likes only to advise of my condition and to be turned away. This is not me being awkward as was put to me earlier today, it is a necessity due to my disability. I am up front, open and honest. I cannot be coerced into lying to anyone, it is not an acceptable form of behaviour by any means. 3. My advisor is under the impression that I am a number of steps closer to getting work, however, this has not been based on reality. My disability is NOT being taken into account. Rehashing a CV does not make me any closer to gaining employment, neither does a second appt at Ingeus take me any closer either. This particular issue has me stressed as I am clearly no closer to being physically able to work now, than I was 2 years ago when I had to stop working DUE TO MY HEALTH. 4. I no longer keep a phone as it has been identified as a large part of the stress that aggrevates my condition. Despite this, I have been asked REPEATEDLY to take a phone so that employers may contact me. The excuse I am being given is that no employer will entertain getting back to a prospective employee by any other means than telephone. This is another blatant LIE from your staff as both myself and my partner have gained employment in the past by way of internet mail and other forms of communication. But again, I was made to feel inferior, inadequate and as if I was being awkward for the sake of it and this is clearly not the case in reality. 5. I have now been asked to compose a job description of your ideal job. This is the MOST OFFENSIVE of all. I am no longer able to work in my ideal job as my health prevents it. This task is just rubbing it in that I cannot do as much as I used to because of my disability. Besides, there is no ideal job for me, check out my condition and you see if you can find an ideal job for someone suffering from M.E. I would be most interested to know what you have found, if anything at all. In short, my time at Ingeus has left me feeling stressed, aggravated. worn out, ignored, berated, bullied, looked down upon, as if I have nothing to offer because I cannot comply with ridiculous demands on my lifestyle and my confidence and self esteem have taken the biggest knock ever, and thats saying something. I dont know what the answer is to help me out, but for the sake of others, you MUST retrain your staff and/or take a look at the current structure of the ESA work-group to something more suited towards people with illness and disability. I shall continue to attend, but I will not continue to be bullied and made to feel as if I am a lesser human than the next person just because of my disability. Im not slating the advisor, as her job demands are set, but the lack of understanding, respect and compassion shown to me is NOT helping me in my efforts to get back to the workplace. Regards
Posted on: Fri, 29 Aug 2014 14:05:45 +0000