Civil Service blog - Personal Disability Stories - Kays story (ME sufferer)

[Sly Saint]

In January, I shared Emma’s and Therese’s stories of having an autoimmune condition. This struck a chord with many readers and generated lots of comments.

One such reader is Royal Navy Commander Kay Hallsworth, who has kindly been in contact to share her story of working in the Armed Forces whilst living with Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME).

ME, sometimes known as Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, is a long-term, fluctuating neurological condition that affects many body systems, including the nervous and immune systems. The most common symptom is tiredness, but people with ME can also experience a range of symptoms, and relapses that can impact on everyday activities.

It is estimated that 250,000 people in the UK and 17 million people globally are affected by ME.

I will let Kay explain how the condition has affected her, the coping strategies that she has adopted, and the support that she has found helpful.

https://civilservice.blog.gov.uk/2019/05/03/personal-disability-stories-10-kays-story/

 

[chrisb]

It is just a shame that the civil service does not seem to have such a concern for those not in its employ.

 

[NelliePledge]

May not be immediately obvious but this isn’t a standard Civil Service example. She is a member of the armed forces not a civil servant. Civil servants get treated like employees in any large organisation depending on their immediate line managers it could be fair or it could be terrible. Occupational health advice is all on a private contact. Whereas health in the military is in house to an extent.

In this individual case she clearly is accepting so far despite her relapse of the NHS approach or at least not willing or able to say anything different here. I didn’t pick out any mention of severe ME or of many having to give up work. I hope she is able to get back to work in the summer it will be interesting to hear how she is doing in 12 months time.

This is in true civil service style representing the status quo. However I take a couple of positives out of it in the references to energy management and even a link direct to Jason paper. A mention of ME awareness which this is clearly timed for and at least it links to ME Association for more information.


ETA. I should make it clear that if I had written this when I was doing the very gradual phased “return to work” my manager was flexible enough to allow I would have written a similar article. I had absorbed the AFME materials and believed it was achievable to return to working 85% of full time which was my contract at the time. I aimed for 40% of full time which I did achieve but only by continuing to go beyond my capacity and it was not sustainable.