A letter arrived this morning to say that I’ve been awarded Disability Living Allowance. DLA is a benefit that helps cover the additional costs of having a disability. I’ll get a backdated payment from when I applied in April and I’ve worked out that this pretty much matches what I’ve spent since then on things to limit the impact of the tics, like gloves and plastic cutlery. But it doesn’t come close to what I’ve spent on travel, on replacing things I’ve broken or on my friends’ expenses when they’ve helped me do something I couldn’t do on my own.

DLA will mean that I can continue to get the things I need to keep me safe and improve the quality of my life. That’s if George Osborne doesn’t get there first.